Join us in a global competition that has been inspired by London 2012! The Botanic Garden is co-ordinating entries from the Eastern Region to this year’s competition organised as part of the Fairchild Challenge by Botanic Gardens Conservation International. Taking London 2012 as inspiration, secondary school pupils aged 11 – 19 years are being encouraged to create an Olympic wreath from native plants to celebrate the Olympic Games. Encourage your students to find out about the plant biodiversity of the UK and make a wreath to represent this.
The relationship between sports and plant life began with the Olympic Games over 2,700 years ago in ancient Greece by the crowning of the winning athletes using olive branches. The olive tree (Olea europaea) was considered sacred and symbolized peace and victory. Native to the Mediterranean Basin, the olive was important for nutrition and health, and was valued economically.
For the competition, students are asked to research plants that represent their country’s biodiversity and select at least three that could be woven together to produce a stunning wreath - leaves, flowers, stems, even roots could be used! At least one plant selected must have a conservation message.
Entries need also to comprise a 500-word rationale for the plant selection, including one sentence about the plant that has a conservation message and should be accompanied by a list of plants used (including the Latin names of the plants). Most importantly, include a colour photograph of the student wearing or holding the wreath! The winning photographs will be displayed at London 2012.
For full guidelines on the competition, please follow the BGCI Plant Champions link to the left. You can also download a flyer about the competition from the link left.
Please submit your entries by email to education@botanic.cam.ac.uk or by post to:
Plant Champions
c/o Cambridge University Botanic Garden
1 Brookside
Cambridge
CB2 1JE
All entries must arrive by Thursday 5 April 2012.
The Cambridge University Botanic Garden judging panel will forward on the top five entries to Botanic Gardens Conservation International for the final round of global judging, and the winnters will be announced in May 2012.
