It is summer again and the Merlin Trust is very pleased to announce the latest winners of its annual prizes, the Valerie Finnis Prize for the report demonstrating photographic excellence and the Christopher Brickell Prize for best overall report.
The Merlin Trust funds young horticulturists to help them explore the horticultural world through travel to visit and work in gardens around the world, to see plants growing in the wild and to undertake work experience or specific training to enhance their careers. A requirement of the funding is that each award recipient, or Merlin, must submit a report to the Trust within three months of the end of their project. The report provides a permanent record of what they undertook, helps to inspire or inform others (so forms an excellent resource!) and also demonstrates transferable skills such as report writing to future employers.
Every year, a panel of judges drawn from the Merlin Trust trustees, meet to discuss eligible reports received over the last year. This year, a panel of four judges reviewed 29 reports to find the two winners of the £500 prizes. The judges reported that this year was particularly difficult given the incredibly high standard of the reporting and so have introduced a new category of ‘Highly Commended’ for reports that provide excellent examples of writing and photography.
Congratulations to Bertie Swainston, winner of the Christopher Brickell Prize for best overall report, and Zac Willitts, winner of the Valerie Finnis Prize for best use of photography in a report.
Bertie, Head Gardener at National Trust Sizergh Garden, was awarded the Merlin Trust’s Schachen Alpine Garden Grant and visited the garden in summer 2024 to work alongside the garden team in this fantastic alpine setting. Bertie is returning this year and was pleased to accept the prize to contribute to this return trip.
Zac, who was studying Landscape Architecture at the University of Sheffield at the time of his award, developed a project which explored climate resilient planting in France and Spain to inform future planting in UK cities. The judges were very impressed by the quality, extent and use of photographs in Zac’s report.
(Image: Prize winners Bertie Swainston (left: front of photo with Schachen colleagues) and Zac Willitts (right))
Congratulations to the Merlins receiving the first ever ‘Highly Commended’ certificates: Anya Digby, Phoebe Jayes, Henry Merrick and Ellyn Baker whose projects took place in France, UK, Slovenia and Singapore respectively.
All Merlin reports can be seen at the Merlin Trust website: look out for those by the prize winners and ‘Highly Commended’ category. Perhaps it will inspire you to explore the many horticultural treasures that are out there!
To find out more about Merlin Trust reports, please visit our website: https://merlin-trust.org.uk/projects/reports/
