Central to IGPOTY as an organisation is to display photography that has meaning and purpose. The images we exhibit lead a global conversation in how we think about plants and gardens, the importance they have on our lives as citizens of a diverse green planet and the responsibility we share in ensuring they exist around us for generations to come.

Botanic Gardens Conservation International then are natural partners. If you haven’t heard of them, they are the largest plant conservation network of botanic gardens in the world. Its members include the largest, most renowned gardens on the planet – Kew, New York, Missouri, Singapore, Sydney and Shanghai – but they also include many smaller gardens situated in the world’s plant diversity hotspots.

And just as the BGCI joins together organisations that are passionate about plant conservation, IGPOTY brings together individuals who are passionate about representing, interpreting and documenting plant life through photography.

To strengthen and reinforce shared objectives of awareness and conservation, IGPOTY and BGCI will be launching a new ‘Threatened Plants Photographic Award’. Winners will be selected from images entered into the Beauty of Plants.  Simply enter as normal and BGCI and IGPOTY judges will choose an image that displays both compelling photographic skill and threatened plant life, which tells a captivating and vital story about conservation.

Indeed, conservation is a central part of this new partnership. It’s one thing highlighting a threatened plant but it’s another to conduct conservation work to actively protect the species. This is what botanic gardens do every day all around the world. Part of this award then is about celebrating the work of botanic gardens in protecting plant life.

The award will launch at the start of Competition 12 on February 20 2018. The winner will feature in the latest edition of the IGPOTY book and receive special prizes from BGCI.

Working together we can always achieve greater, better, more meaningful things. So, when you find yourself on that freezing mountain pass, or lonely forest path, remember you’re not alone on the journey and that individual actions can have global resonance.

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