National awards shine a spotlight on community gardening excellence

The RHS is launching its Community Awards for 2025. These national awards, first introduced in 2024, celebrate the work community gardening groups are doing across the UK to address the climate emergency and shifting social landscape. This includes trying to increase biodiversity, encouraging young people to connect with nature, and gardening to improve health and wellbeing.

Five award categories

All Britain in Bloom and RHS It’s Your Neighbourhood groups can be nominated for the RHS Community Awards in one of five award categories:

• Community Engagement
• Gardening with Young People
• Health and Wellbeing
• Sustainable Gardening
• Wildlife Gardening

Regional Bloom and It’s Your Neighbourhood judges will visit and assess groups as usual. Judges can nominate groups that they feel excel in the five award category areas to their Britain in Bloom Region and Nation for selection. Each Britain in Bloom Region and Nation can select and nominate one regional winner per category into the national competition. All regional winners nominated for the national competition will receive an RHS certificate recognising their achievement.

In September, the national RHS Community Award winners will be selected by a judging panel comprising RHS specialists and experts. The panel will consider these standout projects that are having such a positive impact on our communities and select a winner in each category. The five winning groups will be invited to the Britain in Bloom UK Finals Awards Ceremony in October.

“As part of ensuring Britain in Bloom remains relevant and inspiring to today’s gardeners, we introduced the inaugural RHS Community Awards in 2024,” says Mark Porter, Chair of the Britain in Bloom Federation.

“Last year’s winners showed an exceptional depth of skill and understanding. It was heartening to see that many of the winners were RHS It’s Your Neighbourhood groups. These awards really are open to everyone involved with Bloom.”

RHS It’s Your Neighbourhood group Inverclyde Shed and Bloom group East Haven Together are two of last year’s winners. Inverclyde Shed won the RHS Community Engagement Award for helping improve Gourock residents’ health and mental wellbeing through learning skills to grow produce and social gardening. East Haven Together topped the RHS Wildlife Gardening Award category for the work they’ve carried out over many decades to protect the local coastal landscape and wildlife habitats.

“Working with our local communities is just something that’s in our ethos, we couldn’t imagine gardening without involving different groups,” says Bruce Newlands, co-founder Inverclyde Shed.

Examples of best practice

“The RHS Community Awards provide an opportunity to recognise and celebrate community gardening best practice across the UK,” says Lucy Ribeiro, RHS Senior Community Engagement Officer. “It is hoped that these awards will encourage many groups new to Bloom to take part in the campaign.”

The awards were developed by the RHS and the Britain in Bloom Federation to recognise a wide range of Bloom and RHS It’s Your Neighbourhood groups who excel in a specific area. The Bloom Federation brings the 17 Bloom Regions and Nations along with the RHS together with a vision to strengthen communities across the UK, by supporting and inspiring local people to garden together.

Community gardening groups not currently taking part in Britain in Bloom or RHS It’s Your Neighbourhood campaigns can do so by contacting their Britain in Bloom Region and Nation coordinator and registering to the appropriate campaign.