It’s the news that the home and giftware industry has been waiting for! After a live judging event at Spring Fair, the judges’ votes have been counted, and The Giftware Association (GA) is delighted to reveal which six products are the official finalists in each category for the Gift of the Year 2023 awards. View the finalists here.
The winners and highly commended products will be announced at The Gift Awards, to be held at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel on May 11.
The GA said: ‘The live judging event, held at Spring Fair for the second year running, was a resounding success with it being held for four days for the first time – allowing judges to come and go when they had completed their time at Spring Fair. We saw more than 60 judges, which is a record for any of our live judging days. It also attracted non-judges to the area who were on the lookout for products that were featured in the shortlist, with a lot of trade contacts shared and interest in all the shortlisted products.’
GA PR & marketing manager Chris Workman commented: “It was great to be back at Spring Fair to live judge again and for longer, allowing more judges to complete their in-person judging which we know is so important.
“What we learned from this year was that the area also attracted a great deal of attention from non-judges who were looking for great products, so we hope that businesses who were exhibiting got traffic from our stand, as well as those non-exhibitors still getting interest and follow ups. Being able to hold the judging during Spring Fair – the most important exhibition in the gift industry’s calendar – makes perfect sense for the future and, speaking to judges on the day, we found that this was a great time for them to buy and meet the companies behind the products.”
In addition, Gift of the Year finalists are in with a chance of winning the coveted Judges’ Choice award, presented in previous years to Gingko, Go La La and Willsow.
GA CEO Sarah Ward said: “We are delighted that Gift of the Year 2023 has been so well supported by the whole gift community – from Hyve Group’s commitment as headline sponsor to our strong roster of category sponsors – in addition to the widespread engagement from the suppliers who entered, and the great care and attention to detail from our enthusiastic judges. I can’t wait for everyone to celebrate together at The Gift Awards on May 11!”
Once again, The Gift of the Year awards will be announcing the People’s Choice award, which is judged by the general public, enabling everyone to vote for their favourite product across all of the categories, so there is still an opportunity for a shortlisted company to get through to become the People’s Choice winner.
To view the GOTY finalists, click
To find out more about The Gift Awards and book tickets, click