Cornwall Celebrates With Garden Media Oscars

In celebration of its first anniversary, the Gardens of Cornwall campaign is to sponsor the Garden Writers’ Guild Radio Broadcast Award - one of 15 categories at the 2005 Garden Writers’ Guild Awards, the media Oscars of the gardening world.

Joining the Cornwall Gardens team (Mike Nelhams of Tresco Abbey, Dave Meneer of the Eden Project and Claire Vickers, Campaign Co-ordinator) for the celebrations will be VIP guests: freelance journalist and ex-head gardener of the Lost Gardens of Heligan, Tom Petherick; Tim Hubbard of BBC Radio Cornwall; and Cornwall-based freelance journalist and Daily Telegraph contributor Lucy Hyslop.

Held annually, and in their 14th year, the Guild’s awards recognise the highest standards of garden writing, photography, publishing and broadcasting. The Garden Writers’ Guild Radio Broadcast Award is open to the makers of national and regional radio gardening programmes, including magazine strands, features, documentaries, interviews and phone-ins. Each award is judged by a panel of Guild members and invited specialists in each category.

In addition to the media categories, there is a special lifetime achievement award acknowledging outstanding and sustained achievement by an individual - previous title holders include Alan Titchmarsh, Joy Larkham, Roy Lancaster, Geoff Amos and Penelope Hobhouse.

Claire Vickers, Gardens Co-ordinator, says “This is a great vehicle for boosting our marketing opportunities. It‘s a chance to share a stage with some of the most pre-eminent garden communicators - the journalists and presenters that help encourage people to visit our gardens - and remind them of Cornwall’s wonderful collection of gardens”.

The 2005 honours list will be announced at a prestigious awards lunch at The Savoy hotel in London on 24 November. This year’s Master of Ceremonies will be garden designer, writer and TV presenter James Alexander-Sinclair.

The Garden Writers’ Guild brings together garden writers, photographers, broadcasters and allied trades in a bid to raise the quality of garden writing and broadcasting and keep members up to date with what’s going on in the world of gardening and horticulture.

For more details on the Gardens of Cornwall visit www.gardensofcornwall.com or call 01872 322800 for a Cornwall Gardens Guide. For full details of the awards see www.gardenwriters.co.uk

Laura Griffiths
Gardens of Cornwall
9th November 2005