Written by Artist Relations

Last night, Mariam, our Founder & CEO, made a surprise appearance at the Salt Lake City Minted Meetup to officially announce that SLC Minted Designer Jill De Haan won 1st place out of 3,348 incredible submissions in our ‘Oh What Fun’ Holiday Card Challenge. Jill and the other Salt Lake City Minties had no idea Mariam would be there or that they’d be a part of our biggest announcement of the year!

More details about the meetup and the surprise to come soon. Take a look this sneak peek:

Congratulations, Jill!

Written by Mariam Naficy

By Mariam Naficy, Minted Founder & CEO

This is the final moment that truly makes September feel like the ‘most wonderful time of the year.’ Today, as we reveal the top results of our 6th annual holiday card challenge, we honor not only the ten individuals featured here, but also all of the designers who contributed to the success of these designs with comments, critiques, and encouragement.

I am always thrilled to see designers who are new to our community rise to the top of the charts. Likewise, I find it immensely gratifying to watch familiar faces grow over time by participating in our design challenges. There are even a few designers in this year’s top 10 who submitted to the very first holiday challenge!

We truly celebrate designers at every stage and are very grateful to have you all in our community. With that, I give you the top 10 ranked designs. Congratulations, designers!

1^st Place Winner: “Hand Lettered Christmas Wishes” by Jill De Haan

We were absolutely thrilled to see Jill De Haan’s “Hand Lettered Christmas Wishes” land in first place. Jill is fairly new to the Minted Community, but has made a huge splash with this design. The sweeps and curves of her hand-lettering make for such a beautiful layout. It takes incredible skill to make this artwork look so effortless. We love the flow of the watercolor and the unusual pairing of red and pinky-cream for a holiday card.

I was able to surprise Jill with the news last night at a Minted Meetup in her hometown of Salt Lake City, UT.  It was so much fun getting to know the SLC Minties and getting to tell Jill in person about her first place win! We’ll be posting all about the meetup and the surprise very soon.

Written by Mariam Naficy

By Mariam Naficy, Minted Founder & CEO

Today, we keep the holiday ball rolling with the announcement of the 11th-20th ranked designs from our ‘Oh What Fun’ Holiday Card Challenge. Looking at the designs below, it’s easy to see why they were so loved by designers and consumers alike. Congratulations to the exceptional talents behind these stunning designs!

11^th Place: “Merry Holly” by Fig and Cotton Paperie

Oh what fun this design is! We love Erin’s quirky font choice; those playful swashes and alternate letterforms add so much personality to “Merry Holly.” The sweet little sprig and berry provide just the right amount of color against the bright white type.

Written by Mariam Naficy

By Mariam Naficy, Minted Founder & CEO

Even though the phrase makes most people think of winter, here at Minted we think that September is truly the most wonderful time of the year. Summer was a whirlwind of submissions, critiquing, voting, and file requests, and now we have arrived at the very best part: announcing the winners. Today we begin our ‘Oh What Fun’ Holiday Card Challenge announcements with the winning designs that came in ranked at 21st-40th place, as voted on by the community of customers, designers, fans, and friends.

In this, our sixth annual holiday challenge, we received a record-breaking 3,348 submissions from 470 independent designers. Over the five and a half weeks of submission and voting, designs received a staggering 58,876 ‘likes.’ I think it’s safe to say that this was one of our best (and most competitive) challenges yet, which speaks even more highly of the incredible talent demonstrated in the designs listed below.

I want to thank each and every designer who submitted a design, provided feedback, voted in a design poll, or simply cheered on fellow community members. The design community is what makes Minted special and is what allows us to continue to provide customers with the most beautiful and unique designs in the world. So, without further ado, I give you the top 21st-40th place winners. Congratulations to our first batch of holiday winners!