The horticultural ‘Oscars’ highlight gardening as a force for good!

Eliminating plastics from our gardens, the social prescribing of gardening and the leafy love affair of millennials and their houseplants, were just some of the varied subjects being championed by gardening’s greatest influencers, at this year’s horticultural ‘Oscars’, the Garden Media Guild Awards.

The awards is one of the biggest events of the horticultural calendar for those who tweet, write, blog, photograph and broadcast about one of the nation’s favourite pastimes.

Held at the Savoy, Thursday’s (21 November) event was attended by over 350 of gardening’s great and good.  The event has 15 sponsors including Westland as headline sponsor.

The 18 award categories attract entries from the UK’s leading gardening trend-setters from the new, blossoming stars of social media, through to the evergreen, celebrated garden writers and broadcasters.

This year’s award winners included Sally Chandler who won Social Media Influencer of the Year for Beth’s Chatto’s Plants & Gardens website. Sally has created a celebration of the life of one of the UK’s greatest gardeners and has used excerpts from Chatto’s Notebook to compare the garden then and now, with beautiful up-to-date images illustrating the plantswoman's inspiring words. 

The winner of Practical Journalist of the Year was won by gardening national treasure Alan Titchmarsh for his articles for Gardeners’ World Magazine, including those on creating plants for free and advice on how to grow super spuds!

The prestigious Life-Time Achievement Award was this year presented to a doyenne of gardening - presenter and plant guru, Carol Klein whose natural, down-to-earth approach has made her a popular and trusted figure amongst the British public over the last 30 years.

The inaugural Beth Chatto Environmental Award was scooped by Sally Nex for her writing on plastic-free gardening in The Garden magazine.

Co-Chair of the Garden Media Guild Award Constance Craig Smith said: “It’s fantastic that so many of this year’s winning entries highlight the force for good that gardening can bring and across such a diverse range of platforms, from social media, vlogs and blogs to TV programmes and long-standing print magazines. The entire world of gardening media is in a wonderful position to highlight the increasing social, environmental and health benefits gardening, plants and being engaged with nature, can offer to everyone whatever their age.”

The 2019 winners are:

• Blog or Vlog of the Year, sponsored by Mr Fothergill’s - Alison Levey, Blackberry Garden
• Website of the Year, sponsored by Honda - National Garden Scheme
• Social Media Influencer of the Year, sponsored by Stihl - Sally Chandler, Beth Chatto's Plants and Gardens website
• Alan Titchmarsh New Talent Award, sponsored by Hayloft Plants - Tom Brown for writing and broadcasting (head gardener at West Dean, formerly at Parham)
• Radio Broadcast/Podcast of the Year, sponsored by Evergreen - Sarah Wilson, Roots and All podcast
• Roy Lancaster TV Broadcast of the Year, sponsored by the Horticultural Trades Association - Great British Gardens, Channel 5
• Peter Seabrook Practical Book of the Year, sponsored by the Garden Press Event- New Vegetable Garden Techniques, Joyce Russell
• Garden Book of the Year - Kiftsgate Court Gardens, Vanessa Berridge
• Features Photographer of the Year - Jason Ingram
• Gordon Rae Photographer of the Year, sponsored by Candide - Jason Ingram
• News Journalist of the Year, sponsored by Briggs & Stratton - Marc Rosenberg
• Practical Journalist of the Year, sponsored by Thompson & Morgan - Alan Titchmarsh
• Beth Chatto Environmental Award, sponsored by Beth Chatto Education Trust - Sally Nex
• Journalist of the Year, sponsored by Viking Cruises- James Alexander-Sinclair
• Dr David Hessayon Garden Columnist of the Year, sponsored by Vitax - Marian Boswall
• Garden Publication of the Year, sponsored by Westland Horticulture - Garden Design Journal
• Cover of the Year, sponsored by Cobra - The Galanthophiles
• Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by Westland Horticulture – Carol Klein

More information at www.gardenmediaguild.co.uk/awards.