With Royal Ascot, Henley and Wimbledon all happening in quick succession traditionally it’s the month of June that sees the ladies start grabbing the headlines but clearly when it comes to the world of Fresh Produce and Horticulture it seems that May is now the month that the girls like to make their mark as at both of the recent industry events sponsored by MorePeople – The Re;fresh Young Person of the Year and The IoH’s Young Horticulturalist of the Year, the top prizes were carried off by enterprising and determined young women!

At the Re;fresh awards, held at the Intercontinental Hotel on London’s Park Lane, Rebecca Dawson, Marketing Director of Tozer Seeds, was crowned the MorePeople Young Person of the year for 2010. Rebecca impressed the judges with the impact that she’s had on the business since joining in 2003. Over the last 7 years Rebecca has used her marketing and creative writing skills to great effect - initially in the development of the company’s fledgling Plant Solutions brand and then in the development and launch of Tozer Direct, a web based sales division that deals directly with market gardeners and small holders. For the last 12 months she’s been concentrating on the campaign to launch of a brand new vegetable – Flower Sprout. A cross between a Brussels Sprout and a Kale this new vegetable has just hit the shelves of Marks and Spencer. Described by the judges as ‘”An outstanding  talent” Rebecca has taken the step up to the main Tozer board in her stride and is certainly one to watch out for as she continues to develop an impressive career in the fresh produce sector. 

Just two days later Faye Steer (pictured, centre) beat off stiff competition to become the Institute of Horticulture’s Young Horticulturalist of the Year for 2010. Held this year at The Royal Botanic Garden, Kew Faye represented the Eastern region and showed great determination to come back after finishing 3rd overall in 2009 holding off the other 7 regional heat winners in a close run final that went right down to the last few questions. Faye, who is the Deputy Head Gardener at Cambridge University’s Madingley Hall, picked up the first prize of a £2,000 travel bursary from the Percy Thrower Trust to study plants of interest throughout the world and early indications are that the Yunan Province of China is where Fay will be heading sometime soon!

With Sara Phillips of Majestic Trees carrying off the MorePeople Salesperson of the Year Award at February’s Grower of the year award that’s a hat trick of victories for the ladies in 2010. One of the key reasons that we get involved in the sponsorship of these awards is to help promote the fresh produce and horticulture sectors to as wide an audience as possible and show everyone what great careers there are open to anyone with drive and passion – but what’s happened to the boys? It’s not only 3 out of 3 for this year but now 5 out of 6 in events sponsored by us over the last 2 years that have seen impressive young women leave the guys standing in their wake! So here’s a wake up call for 2011 guys - remember you’ve got to be ‘in it to win it’!