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Challenge: Your interpretation of red in the garden or in nature. Symbolizing passion, love and vitality, red flowers and foliage stand out with their bold and captivating hues and hold a special place in our Canadian hearts and gardens. (15 entries).
Location: Canada.
Judge's Comments: "The winning entry best exemplified the category and is well composed, exposed and the post-processing is not too heavy-handed; the clear winner for this category".

Challenge: Photo of any artistic structure, sculpture, ornament, carving, topiary, wall, wood or stone art, or prop that complements or provides a focal point or horticultural element. (14 entries)
Location: Open
Judge's Comments: "The winning entry is an excellent photographic illustration that could easily grace the cover of a décor magazine. The dramatic lighting and the effective display give a pleasing, warm, emotive touch to the image. This was a strong contender for best overall; well done."

Challenge:  Show us your best edible garden harvest (fruits, vegetables, edible flowers). Can be an in-ground single item or collection, a garden bed, an artfully posed harvest display or a mouth-watering salad or fruit plate offering. (6 entries)
Location:  National Capital Region
Judge's Comments: "The winning entry has a pleasing geometric layout. The cropping is a little asymmetrical but this image would work strongest with a more symmetrical crop; a square crop would likely also be a very strong cropping option. This image would have been a contender for best overall if not for that but it still wins the category easily; a very good entry".

Challenge: Photo of a water feature (natural or fabricated) in the garden or in nature, and in which a horticultural element is highlighted. (19 entries)
Location: Open.
Judge's comments: "The winning entry has a nice layered composition though could have been focused a little better. It did the best job of conveying the category theme of a water feature with the horticultural context. Many of the other images were equally nice but didn't fit as well with the category requirements". 

Challenge: Close-up or full view of colourful spring blossoms (flowers, shrubs, trees) that herald the awakening of our gardens. (19 entries)
Location: National Capital Region.
Judge's Comments: "The winning entry has great composition and is exposed well. The subject is well focused and the background is not distracting. On my first time looking over the entries, I also knew it would be a strong contender for best overall; very well done".

Challenge: A colourful mixed garden bed, cottage garden, mass of blooms, or informal grouping of flowers and shrubs. No people in images, please. (13 entries)
Location: Open.
Judge's Comments: "The winning entry shows some care had been taken in the composition to elevate the image beyond just a snapshot. The clear winner!".

Challenge: Photo of your favourite houseplant, flower arrangement in a case, terrarium, or indoor/outdoor container planting in full bloom; one that would be the envy of a Renaissance Master! (11 entries)
Location: National Capital Region
Judge's Comments: "The winning entry has the best technical merit, being well composed and exposed. It also was well fitted to the category".

Challenge: A photo of an interesting flower or garden bed.

Although Class 8A received no entries this year, we look forward to seeing your creativity in next year's photo competition.

Challenge: A photo that fits the theme of any of the 7 main classes. (1 entry)
Location: Canada
Judge's Comments: "Although the winning entry was the only entry, it is a very good photograph and would very likely have placed in the top 3 in a couple of the other main categories had it been entered there.  Great composition, well exposed. Some care and thought was taken when composing the image; nice to see".