Garden Writers' Guild

The British Garden Writers' Guild, or GWG (renamed the Garden Media Guild in late 2007), is a trade organisation for garden writers, photographers, broadcasters and members of allied trades. The Guild was established in 1991 to improve the quality of garden writing, photography and broadcasting by improving links between the gardening mass media and the horticultural industry.

Guild activities

The Guild members organise GWG Briefing Days, during which the horticultural trade and GWG members are made aware of new developments and exchange views; occasional Publishing Days are also held to discuss aspects of that subject. The Guild itself publishes a bi-monthly newsletter for members and an annual yearbook of members.

The Garden Photographers' Association is part of the GWG.

GWG Awards

The Guild has held its prestigious GWG Awards Lunch since 1994. The annual ceremony is currently held at the Savoy Hotel, London, each November. The number and titles of the awards presented at this lunch have varied over the years: three new multimedia categories were added in 2006. Awards are now made for outstanding contributions in the following 17 categories:

Books

(for new hardbacks or paperbacks)
*Practical Book of the Year (previous winners Garden People, ’07; The Great Veg Plod, ’06)
*Reference Book of the Year (RHS New Gardening, ’07; Irises, ’06)
*Enthusiasts’ Book of the Year (RHS Encyclopedia of Perennials, ’07; Growing Bonsai, ’06)

Consumer press

*Newspaper of the Year:(the newspaper with the best gardening content; previous winner the Telegraph, ’07; the Telegraph, ’06)
*Magazine of the Year:(the magazine with the best gardening content; Gardens Illustrated, ’07; The Plantsman, ’06)
*Journalist of the Year:(for the best three gardening articles in a magazine or newspaper; Jane Boore, ’07; Ambra Edwards, ’06)
*Practical Journalist of the Year:(for the best column, single article or selected article from a feature or series in a magazine or newspaper; Andi Clevely, ’07; Carol Klein, ’06)

Trade and technical press

*Trade Journalist of the Year:(for a selected column or article from a feature or series published in a professional horticultural or trade journal; Graham Clarke, ’07; Marc Rosenberg, ’06)

Photography

*Photographer of the Year:(for a portfolio of garden and/or plant photographs published in diverse media; Andrew Lawson, ’07; Jonathan Buckley, ’06)
*Features Photographer of the Year:(for a themed assignment illustrating a book, feature, series or website; Michelle Garrett, ’07; Jonathan Buckley, ’06)
*Photographers’ Choice:(for a single photograph from the Garden Photographers' Association exhibition; Jonathan Buckley again, ’07; Derek Harris, ’06)

Broadcasting

(for national/regional TV/radio gardening broadcasts, either single programmes or selected programmes from a series or strand)
*Television Broadcast of the Year (Grow your own Veg, ’07; The Gardener’s Year, ’06)
*Radio Broadcast of the Year (Gardens of Faith, ’07; It's all Gone Pear Shaped, ’06)

Multimedia

(first awarded in 2006)
*Environmental Award:(for an article or broadcast on an environmental or ‘green’ topic; John ‘I hate you all, sob’ Walker, ’07; Leigh Hunt, ’06)
*New Writer Award :(for the best article in any medium by a new writer or journalist in their first year; Louise Zassy-Bang'em, ’07; Helen Billiald, ’06)
*Electronic/New Media Award:(for complete websites, website blogs, podcasts, interactive TV programmes, CDs or DVDs; Camilla Phelps, ’07; RHS Online, ’06)

pecial Award

*Lifetime Achievement Award(decided by a poll of Guild members):Past winners include: Rosemary Verey, Graham Stuart Thomas, Christopher Lloyd, Beth Chatto, Penelope Hobhouse, Roy Lancaster, Alan Titchmarsh, Geoffrey Smith and Ken Muir.

External links

* [http://www.gardenwriters.co.uk/ The Guild's website]