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It's not always these days that the media are praised for the work that they do. But almost 350 gardening press, authors, photographers and presenters gathered in London on 30th November, had every reason to be proud as they celebrated the best of their industry with 21 Awards presented by the Garden Media Guild (GMG).
Joining the many gardening names and personalities at the glittering GMG Awards lunch, STIHL was proud to sponsor the Journalist of the Year Award for the eighth consecutive year. Congratulations go to this year's award-winner: Mark Diacono, for three columns that appeared in The Observer and The Daily Telegraph. Mark, who leads the garden team at the famous River Cottage gardens and whose own smallholding, Otter Farm in East Devon proves his clear commitment to sustainable and ethically produced food, somehow also finds time to write books and a blog as well as his gardening articles. And he had plenty to celebrate on the day of the Awards, as he not only won the STIHL-sponsored Journalist of the Year Award, but also won Book Photographer of the Year for River Cottage Handbook No 9 – Fruit, and Blog of the Year for Otter Farm, www.otterfarmblog.co.uk. He was also a finalist in three other categories.
Commenting on the Award for Journalist of the Year, where each entrant submitted three articles to be assessed, judges said : "We felt that Mark Diacono's writing stood out. Whatever he writes about, his voice is distinctive, authoritative, and he has the ability to immediately bring the reader in, and involve him or her in the article."
Speaking after presenting the Award to Mark Diacono, Robin Lennie, Managing Director of STIHL GB (pictured right with Mark Diacono), said: "We are very fortunate in having such a committed, quality and professional gardening press in this country and are proud to support them through our association with these Awards. Our congratulations go to Mark Diacono and to all shortlisted entrants of the Journalist of the Year Award."
Considered the ‘Oscars' of the garden media world, a record 21 Awards were presented at this year's Garden Media Guild Award lunch, covering five categories of books, press, broadcast, photography and multimedia. Two Awards were also presented for Lifetime Achievement as the Guild celebrated its own 20th Anniversary year. Attended by over 350 Guild members and guests from the gardening media, STIHL was proud to be joined at the lunch by two more award-winning guests: Anne Swithinbank who was named Practical Journalist of the Year for her monthly "Veg Plot" articles in Grow Your Own magazine, and Ursula Buchan, named Garden Columnist of the Year for more than twenty-five years writing for Gardens in The Spectator.