James Hitchmough receives SGD Lifetime Achievement Award
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James Hitchmough pictured at the Knepp Estate
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James Hitchmough
Renowned horticulturalist, author and lecturer James Hitchmough has been named as this year's recipient of the Society of Garden Designers (SGD) Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented at the SGD Awards Ceremony in London on 2nd February 2024, is gifted by the Council of the Society of Garden Designers and granted to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the landscape and garden design profession.
Previous recipients have included Penelope Hobhouse, Piet Oudolf, Beth Chatto, Christopher Bradley-Hole FSGD, Andrew Lawson, Fernando Caruncho, Robin Williams FSGD, David Stevens FSGD.and Charles Jencks. Last year's the award went to to SGD Fellow, Sarah Eberle FSGD.
Speaking at the Ceremony after the presentation, SGD Vice Chair and Treasurer, John Wyer FSGD said:
“James Hitchmough has been one of the most remarkable and influential people in the landscape industry in the last quarter century, both in the UK and internationally. As a longstanding professor (now emeritus) at the university of Sheffield he inspired and trained a generation of students. However, to describe Hitchmough as a landscape academic hugely undersells this man’s influence and the breadth of his achievements.
"His work on pictorial meadows has provided great spectacle in many cities, but as he argued over and again, spectacle is not the answer to our problems. He reasons that the biodiversity and climate crisis not only needs a long view, but also continual re-engagement with sites. Hitchmough is also not afraid to pose difficult or unpopular views – he has always questioned the status quo – usually with great humour. Although he has stepped back from active academic life, do not think for a minute that he has retired."
The Award was announced at The SGD Awards 2024 Ceremony in London where a short film, made to mark the occasion, was shown to the audience.
"To be awarded the SGD Lifetime Achievement Awards is a really special thing for me. It's fantastic to be recognised." James Hitchmough
Images of all the winning gardens in the SGD Awards 2024 can be seen on the SGD website visit www.sgd.org.uk