Talking up the GWAA Awards

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Who’s talking?  Who’s not?  We all love communicating about gardening, but more people need to know there is a group of professionals who do this for living.  In order for the GWAA Garden Globe awards to become what we all want them to be – a prestigious award recognized by gardeners – we need to talk about them. 

Thank you in advance to those who have posted stories.  And let me ask those of you who have not to take this opportunity to “talk up” fellow garden communicators and let the world know there is a group of professionals that do an outstanding job cover gardening news.

Garden Writers "Top 10" Are Eyes and Ears for 66 Million Gardeners

Washington, DC - May 14, 2002 - A book looking at how we should and can get along with insects, a newspaper feature on how Lewis and Clark continue to influence our landscape today, and a photographer's interpretation of van Gogh's paintings as inspiration for backyard gardeners all took "Top 10" honors from the Garden Writers Association of America (GWAA).

Martha Stewart Living magazine, The Oregonian newspaper and a research entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture were among the five individuals and five companies selected out of a field of more than 300 entries to receive a 2002 Garden Globe Award for Best Talent or Best Product for work they produced last year.

"These are the best books, magazines, writers and photographers in the country today," says Nona Wolfram-Koivula, president of GWAA and executive director of the National Garden Bureau. 

"These are the people who interpret the latest trends, styles, products and methods for the 66 million Americans who garden," she said. "They are the people and products gardeners should be looking for to help them become better gardeners."

The book Insects and Gardens, which received two Garden Globes, looks at the life of insects and how they "work" to our benefit in our gardens. Author Eric Grissell, a research entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, received the Garden Globe for Best Writing and publisher Timber Press received the Best Book award.

Two awards also went to The Atlanta Botanical Garden.  Its Fuqua Orchid Center Press Kit received Best Trade honors and Barbara Cohen, of Cohen and Company, received Best Graphic Designer for the web site www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org.

Other 2002 Garden Globe recipients include:

* Best Magazine:  Martha Stewart Living #88: Special Gardening Issue, published by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

* Best Newspaper: The Oregonian for The Natural Legacy of Lewis & Clark feature.

* Best Photographer:  Derek Fell of Pipersville, PA, for Van Gogh's Gardens published by Simon & Schuster.

* Best Electronic Media:  Donna Balzer and Todd Reichardt from Calgary, Canada, for the HGTV show Bugs and Blooms.

* Best Illustrator:  Clyde Wachsberger of Orient, NY, for the book Of Leaf and Flower published by Persea Books.

* Best Electronic Media:  StroLuch Productions Inc. for its video "A New Garden Vision."

    Each "Best Talent or Product" award now becomes a finalist for the Garden Globe Award of the Year, the highest honor bestowed on a horticultural communicator.  This award will be announced at the 54th GWAA Symposium in Seattle on August 5, 2002.

    GWAA is an international organization of more than 1,800 professional communicators in the $50 billion lawn and garden industry.

To view the 2002 Garden Globe recipients on-line, log on to www.gwaa.org/awards.