Objective and history:
The European Garden Heritage Network EGHN, with its partners in 21 European countries (Germany, France, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Austria, Spain, Switzerland, Russia, Hungary, Latvia, Malta, Greece, Czechia, Ukraine) and the Schloss Dyck Foundation, Centre for Garden Art and Landscape Culture in Jüchen, have been awarding the European Garden Prize since 2010.
The European Garden Award therefore does not only evaluate particularly spectacular garden art or traditional garden elements, such as the best-maintained perennial beds. In keeping with the tradition of the EGHN and its competencies and objectives, the award is broad in scope and cross-sectional in nature. It focuses on projects that exemplify how garden culture can be preserved, further developed and made sustainable for the future.
For nominations and awards, innovative concepts in implementation and management, urban planning aspects, sustainability issues, special offers for visitors or civic engagement are just as important as high quality in the creation or restoration of a park or garden. The nominees and, above all, the winners should be an inspiration or model for other projects.
Categories:
The annual award (not presented in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic) has a number of categories. Two ‘standard categories’ are announced each year. Other categories supplement the range of topics from year to year or have only been added in recent years.
The two categories awarded annually are:
‘Management or development of a historic park or garden’
‘Design or concept of a contemporary park or garden’
As an open category, the ‘Special Prize of the Schloss Dyck Foundation’, Centre for Garden Art and Landscape Culture, complements the range of topics when, for example, pioneering, innovative planting concepts, an innovative kitchen garden or special achievements in educational work are honoured.
Since 2014, ‘Large-scale green development concepts’ in cities or regions have also been honoured in some years.
In 2018 and 2019, the European Garden Award was expanded by two categories as a contribution to the European Cultural Heritage Year SHARING HERITAGE: ‘Protection or development of a cultural landscape’ and ‘Garden cultural heritage in Europe’. The theme of cultural landscape was continued in 2021 and 2022.
In 2022, ‘Climate adaptation measures in parks and gardens’ was introduced as a new permanent category in order to address this current and urgent task and to present exemplary solutions. In response to the current situation in Ukraine, the jury also awarded a ‘Special Prize of the International Jury’ in 2022.
Prize winners:
For each of the categories open in a given year, the jury usually selects one winner of a 1st prize and two winners of 2nd prizes. However, it may also agree to deviate from this rule. Information about the approximately 140 prize winners from 2010 to 2025, from 23 European countries, can be found via the selection list in the menu above under ‘Garden Prize’. .
The search for potential prize winners is by no means limited to the gardens or countries represented in the EGHN garden network, but is open to anyone who meets the criteria and objectives.
Nominations:
Each member of the international jury nominates parks, gardens, urban projects, initiatives, projects, individuals, etc. for each category based on their expertise, current contacts, experience and literature research. The different nationalities and areas of expertise – e.g. garden conservation, modern landscape architecture, practice, research and teaching – cover a broad spectrum.
Since 2021, the proposals have been supplemented by open calls, in the context of which external nominations can be submitted. If these are appropriately documented or commented on and meet the criteria, the jury includes them in its decision-making process. This takes place in a joint jury meeting (usually in January or February), where the winners in each category are voted on.
Jury:
The jury currently (2026) includes: Roswitha Arnold (Germany), Ed Bennis (Great Britain), Jacob Fischer (Denmark), Davorin Gazvoda (Slovenia), Maren Köhler-Prehn (Germany), Mikael Löfving (Sweden), Philipp Sattler (Germany), Jens Spanjer (Germany), Lieneke van Campen (Netherlands), Michael Walker (Great Britain).
Award ceremony:
The winners are announced and the awards presented to all prize winners at the end of June/beginning of July during an event, usually at Schloss Dyck, but also at other locations, e.g. in Hamburg in 2015 and in Berlin in 2017.
For 2026, 3 July has been set as the date for the award ceremony and an accompanying workshop at Schloss Dyck.
Funding and sponsorship:
From the outset, the European Garden Award has been supported by the Rhineland Regional Council (LVR) and the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Council. Since 2024, the Green City Foundation has been supporting the communication of the award.
Financial support, particularly for symposia held in the context of the European Garden Award, has been provided in recent years by the Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Construction and, in 2018 and 2019, by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
For 12 years, the European Garden Award was supported by the Lorenz von Ehren tree nurseries in Hamburg. Since 2022 the European Garden Award is sponsored by Garpa Garden & Park Furniture.
