Askham Bryan students compete to be 'Ideal Young Gardeners of the Year' 2012
In Association with the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment
Channel 5’s TV Gardener, David Domoney, has joined forces with The Prince’s Foundation for a second year to officially launch the 2012 ‘Ideal Young Gardeners of the Year’ competition ahead of the Ideal Home Show’s return to London’s Earls Court next March.
Following the success of last year’s inaugural competition, six UK colleges, including Askham Byran College, North Yorkshire, will once again go head-to-head to create inspirational and sustainable show gardenswhich will all be exhibited in the forecourt of Earls Court during the 104th Ideal Home Show, which runs from March 16th to April 1st 2011. Last year’s debut gardens, each designed by emerging young talent in the industry, were visited by HRH The Prince of Wales at Earls Court, and Capel Manor College in Middlesex claimed 1st place.
Liam Stafford, a student from Askham Bryan, said: “We don’t want to give anything away about the design of our garden yet! The competition however, we hope, will bring us together as friends and as a team. None of us have ever done a show garden before, so it will be such good experience for us and will help us with our future career ambitions. It’s a real honour to represent both the college and our little corner of the UK and go up against all the other students.”
This year the participating colleges will be awarded gold, silver or bronze medals with two further prestigious titles also being awarded for Best At Show & The People’s Choice. This year’s colleges are:
- Askham Byran College, North Yorkshire
- Bridgwater College, Somerset
- Chichester College, Sussex
- Capel Manor, Middlesex
- Shuttleworth College, Bedfordshire
- Writtle College, Essex
Once again the competition will aim to highlight the very best examples of sustainable practice in British garden design amongst student designers. Each college will be given a 5.5m x 4m plot to both plan and design a unique and sustainable garden based on the theme of ‘landcraft techniques in an urban setting.’ A panel industry experts led by Domoney will judge the entries and award the prize medals.
The Prince’s Foundation has set clear guidelines for the competition based on organic and sustainable principles. In addition, each garden should inspire city dwellers, showing just what can be achieved in the most impossible of tight urban locations.
Hank Dittmar, Chief Executive of The Prince’s Foundation comments: “ The importance of green spaces both in urban living and sustainable lifestyle is often overlooked and we are pleased to once again be launching this competition, particularly ahead of the launch of our landscrafts programme later this year. The Prince’s Foundation considers this to be a great start to the crafts programme – giving young people at the start of their careers an opportunity to learn about sustainable garden design and craftsmanship.”
David Domoney, organiser of the competition says: “Last year over a quarter of a million people at the Ideal Home Show got to appreciate the show gardens designed by our young students and this kind of exposure, with support from The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment, can prove a great fuel injection in those young people's career paths and help them stand out from the competition when they come to apply for work.”
Each college will be given 1 week to build and plant their garden outside Earls Court ready for the Ideal Home Show opening day on the 16th March 2012. During this time they will be monitored and supported by Domoney in preparation for the judging panel.
Each garden will then be judged at the show on the 16thMarch, by the esteemed panel which includes not only Domoney but award winning garden designer Adam Hunt, who created the edible garden at HRH the Prince of Wales’s START festival at Clarence house in the summer 2010.
Every college that takes part will be in with the chance of winning a show medal with two individual prestigious awards, ‘Best at Show’ and ‘The People’s Choice’ also up for grabs. Over 275,000 people will view their creations over the course of the 2012 London show offering students fantastic exposure and a solid industry platform to build upon.
For more details on the 2012 ‘Ideal Young Gardeners Competition’ and the participating colleges visit www.idealhomeshow.co.uk
