Young Horticulturist of the Year 2014 competition is starting with local heats. The Institute of Horticulture Young Horticulturist of the Year (YHoY) 2014 competition is forecast to be to be another excellent competition, with over 2000 young horticulturists, who are either studying horticulture or working in the industry, expected to take part. Prizes valued at more than £10,000 are on offer, including the coveted Percy Thrower Travel Bursary of £2000, which is sponsored by the Shropshire Horticultural Society. The local heats will be taking place across Great Britain and Ireland from early January until late February 2014. Once all the heats are completed, eight regional finals will follow in March to select the top eight contestants from across the UK and Ireland. The 2014 Grand Final will be held at the John Innes Centre (www.jic.ac.uk) in Norwich on 10 May 2014.
The 2014 competition is open to any horticulturist who is below the age of 30 on 31 July 2014. Visit here to find out more and to try out some previous questions from the competition.
Past winners have found it a great boost for their CV and career prospects. After the 2013 Grand Final at Liverpool University Botanical Gardens, Ness, winner, Jez Stamp, said ‘It was an excellent competition that highlights all the exciting opportunities that horticulture has to offer as a career. Plants are my passion. I have thrown myself in 100% and am proud to have won this competition. My travel bursary will give me a chance to continue my studies of woody plants and I will be looking at Western China and Taiwan as possible locations.’
Douglas Mackay, the 2012 Grand Final winner said “Competing in the Institute of Horticulture Young Horticulturist of the Year has been a fantastic experience over the last three years, meeting like-minded people from all over the country.”
Whilst most of the heats are held at horticultural colleges for student entrants, the Institute is keen to encourage young people and apprentices working in all industry sectors to enter. In recent years the Royal Parks Apprentices and a number of young employees from Garden Centre Group have taken part alongside staff from Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and various heritage gardens.
The Institute of Horticulture is delighted to welcome David Domoney FI Hort on-board as a supporter of the competition. David said “The Institute of Horticulture Young Horticulturist of the Year is an outstanding platform to promote excellence in horticultural knowledge within the rising stars of the UK’s plant world. It’s a competition that enables the industry’s new blood to flex their intellectual muscles which they have built up over their education in “Hortal Combat” to find the best of the best in the plant industry.”
Leigh Morris FI Hort, Institute of Horticulture (IoH) President said “It’s exciting that the YHoY will soon be under way again and I am personally delighted that the 2014 Grand Final will be held at the John Innes Centre in Norwich. It is also fantastic that the competition is being championed by IoH Fellow David Domoney FI Hort, who I know cares passionately about young people in our industry. I encourage all those eligible to have a go and good luck to all those taking part!”.
Ireland branch
In Ireland, local heats of the competition are run in all major Horticultural Colleges. Anybody from outside the Colleges and still under 30 who is interested in taking part in the competition in Ireland is very welcome. Please contact Paul Fitters in the College of Amenity Horticulture in the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, by Phone (01, 8040218) or mail (paul.fitters@teagasc.ie) to arrange a time and place.
The Ireland Branch of the Institute of Horticulture is very grateful for the continued support they get from their sponsor Bord Bia.
Other sponsors for the 2014 competition, include the major sponsor the Shropshire Horticultural Society, who, through the Percy Thrower Trust, provide the £2,000 Travel Bursary for the winner, the recruitment company MorePeople, The Garden Centre Group, the R&D levy body the Horticultural Development Company (HDC) and Bulldog Tools.
Host venue for the Grand Final on 10 May 2014:
