UK: CIHort Young Horticulturist of the Year finalists

The Grand Final is to be held at the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin on May 7th where some of the brightest young talent in the horticultural profession will be competing for the title of CIH Young Horticulturist of the Year 2016. The winner will receive the £2500 Travel Bursary provided by the Percy Thrower Trust and will be able to use it to further their horticultural career anywhere in the world.

Following the eight regional finals during March, the eight winners who will be competing at the Grand Final have now been announced:

Scotland – Lachlan Rae
Ireland – Francis Mulholland
Northern – Sally Newbrook
North West and North Wales – Joshua Stevens
Midlands and South Wales – Lydia Mackay
Eastern – Fern Champney
South East – Lawrence Wright
South West – Miriam Petry

Andrew Gill CHort, FCIHort, President of the Chartered Institute of Horticulture said, “I am excited about the Chartered Institute of Horticulture Young Horticulturist of the Year competition which just gets better each year and I am looking forward to the Grand Final in Dublin. Last year over 1,800 young horticulturists from around the UK and Ireland competed for the title. Since the competition started in 1990 an incredible estimated 25,000 people have participated in this prestigious annual competition which attracts more positive coverage for the profession each year. We are indebted to our national sponsors: The Shropshire Horticultural Society, which is the major sponsor of the competition and who, through the Percy Thrower Trust, provide the Travel Bursary prize for the winner and also the considerable sponsorship of the Grand Final, the recruitment company MorePeople, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) and Wyevale Garden Centres Ltd. There are also many regional and local sponsors and I am also delighted for 2016 to welcome The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA), as a new Gold national sponsor.”

Simon Badrock from the Shropshire Horticultural Society said, “The Shropshire Horticultural is very pleased to once again sponsor the Young Horticulturist of the Year Competition. The Society strongly believes in the promotion and support of horticultural education and the Competition achieves this in a positive way.”

2015 YHoY winner Jessica Evans, Senior Gardener at the National Trusts Tintinhull Gardens in Somerset: “I am delighted to have won the Young Horticulturist of the Year 2015 competition and look forward to using the travel bursary to further my training in horticulture. Having finished second in the competition last year, my over-whelming emotion when the final scores were announced was relief, especially as this was the last year I would be eligible to enter. I would now really like to support the running of the competition, and to encourage others to take part, as it is vitally important to celebrate the quality and knowledge of young horticulturists.”

For more information:
Chartered Institute of Horticulture
cih@horticulture.org.uk
www.horticulture.org.uk