You may know George White as president and COO of Up With Paper and UWP Luxe — these are fantastic, award-winning houses of pop-up cards renowned for their complex engineering and beautiful rendered artwork. But I invited George here because he's also president of The Greeting Card Association (GCA), and to say that organization has had a crazy year is a huge understatement.

The GCA was to hold the second edition of Noted: the greeting card expo in San Francisco on May 1; the event was to encompass the LOUIE Awards, which recognizes stellar design in greeting cards, as well as the Noted @ *Noted Product Awards, which I actually sponsored under The Paper Chronicles banner.

As you can imagine, COVID-19 threw a wrench in all those plans … and I had a front-row seat to see how everything was reconfigured. Now, getting anything done by committee can be super-difficult, and I was in awe of how George kept everyone on task and in agreement, and pulled off an amazing virtual event. Which is great, because that’s not going to be the only virtual event on the GCA’s plate in 2020.

First off,  The LOUIE Virtual Awards, sponsored by the Atlanta Market, are July 30. It was a big accomplishment to put this together — and I'm sure the 2020 finalists who have been waiting since May can't wait to hear the results! Through Noted: A Focus on Diversity, held Thursday, July 16 at 2 pm EST, Black makers had the chance to "pitch" their greeting card line to a panel of top retailers, sales reps and or international distributors — plus a large group of retailers online. This pitch panel features Vanessa Raptopoulos, Awesome Brooklyn; Chandra Greer, Greer Chicago; Kristina Burkey, Calliope Paperie; and Kyle Williams, Paper Source.

George also shares how we can all, regardless of role, help #savethepostoffice — and how doing so is anything but a partisan act.

**Thank You Sponsors**

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Kitty Meow Boutique was founded on the idea that your paper goods don't have to be a snooze fest. These stylish, laugh-out-loud selections are by turns sassy and sweet, all the while maintaining a consistent cool.

Music Credits: “Your Treasure is Your Self”; written and performed by Sharon Glassman; Courtesy of Sharon Glassman/Smile Songs. smilesongs.com

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