Garden Media Guild Awards 2023

The Garden Media Guild Awards took place on 17th November 2023 and I was thrilled to attend this year not only as a guest, but a finalist! I was pleasantly surprised to learn back in October that I had been shortlisted for ‘Portfolio Photographer of the Year’ along with three other photographers. The brief was to submit 8-10 images on a common garden theme along with a written statment. My portfolio featured plant portraits of dahlias taken at Aylett Nurseries in St Albans.

Each year the awards are held at The Savoy where festivities begin with a formal champagne reception at midday followed by a delicious three-course lunch. It was also a fabulous opportunity to dress up for a change!

It was wonderful to connect with many people in the garden media industry that I knew from social media but hadn’t yet met in person. Being a freelance photographer especially, you get quite used to your own company, so the fact the Guild brings everyone together like that is so welcome.

The awards began mid-afternoon and were introduced by Guild Chair Mike Palmer and hosted by Manoj Malde. It was a brilliant atmosphere of celebration with lots of ecstatic winners. No win for me in my category, but I can’t tell you how thrilling it was to see my work projected onto the big screen as a finalist. Considering this was my first year in the GMG and my first year entering the awards, I felt it was a huge achievement to be shortlisted alone.

I very much look forward to 2024 and the continued support of the Guild!