Jan 5, 2007

AARS Kicks Off Design CompetitionSource: AARS

For the second consecutive year, All-America Rose Selections (AARS) announces the call for entries to its Designing with Roses Competition, which recognizes and honors excellence in landscape architecture and garden design. The competition is accepting entries from professional and student landscape architects and designers until July 2, 2007. Additionally, in this year’s competition, U.S. public gardens will be judged in their own category.

Winning entries will be selected by a jury of experts, including members of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), and garden writers from trade and consumer gardening publications. The panel will evaluate entries for design excellence, creativity and execution in the fields of landscape architecture and garden design. To honor the AARS’s mission of introducing and promoting exceptional roses, all submissions must incorporate U.S. roses as a primary design element. The call for entries includes all types of landscapes, from commercial properties – including hospitals, corporate complexes and university grounds – to public gardens, private estates and homes.

Selected winners will be announced and honored in September at the 59th annual Garden Writers Association symposium in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Winners will be recognized in both professional and student design categories. The first place prize for the professional winner is a Sony VAIO laptop computer with landscaping and design software. A $1,000 cash prize will be awarded to the first place student entry. In addition, second and third place professional and student selections will be awarded, and all finalists will be publicized. For U.S. public gardens, first, second and third place recognition will include a plaque and national honors from the AARS.

For more information, visit www.rose.org.