Trees can be nominated in the contest by any formal or informal community group, families, group of friends, companies or municipalities, NGOs, etc. A professional jury will select 12 of the nominated trees to enter the final and the public can vote online to select the winner. The tree that receives the most votes will be the awarded the title “Tree of the Year”!

In addition to the title, the nominators of winning tree will receive a voucher for special health care treatment for the tree. If the tree doesn’t need the treatment, the nominators can use the amount awarded to plant trees in the same environment as the winning tree.

Two special awards will also be presented in addition to the Tree of the Year award. The “Hero Tree” award is given to a tree whose life or natural environment has been or is still in danger and where the nominators are fighting to protect it.

The other special award is given by the National Forestry Alliance for a tree they choose from the finalists.

The voting started on the 10th of September at evfaja.okotars.hu/dontosfak and will last until the 5th of November.

The result of the voting is confidential and will be revealed at the official award ceremony.

The Hungarian winner participates in the international contest organized at the beginning of next year, and the winner will receive the European Tree of the Year award. In 2013, the international prize was won by a Hungarian tree for the second (THIRD?) time; in 2011 a lime tree from Felsőmocsolád; in 2012, a Plane tree from Eger became the winner from among the nominees in seven countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Hungary Poland, Romania, Slovakia)!

This year the finalists are from a wide variety of species: a pediculate oak tree, a mulberry tree, two pear trees, a sorb tree, two lime trees, a hackberry, an oriental plane, a poplar tree, an elm and a sweet chestnut, as follows:

- White poplar from Nyíregyháza
- The tree of Frakk (hackberry) - Vecsés
- Legendary old wild pear - Gödöllő
- The tree of the Basa (pedunculate oak tree) - Nagykőrös
- Old elm tree of Tapsony
- Ancient mulberry in the Tabán - Budapest
- Sweet chestnut - Zalaegerszeg
- Oriental plane at the Szamos - Tunyogmatolcs
- Pear ripening with the barley at Solymár
- 300 years old sorb tree in Teleki
- Our lime (small-leaved lime) - Gyönk
- The two limes of Abaújvár

More information from Éva Sólyom by clicking here

Ökotárs Foundation (Hungarian Environmental Partnership Foundation) is a not-for-profit, politically independent organization promoting environmental improvement and awareness among civil society and the general public.

The Tree of the Year contest aims to raise awareness of environmental consciousness through the role and importance of trees. The contest is connected to the European Tree of the Year competition organized by Nadace Partnerstvi, the Czech sister organization of Ökotárs. The Hungarian partners of the contest are the National Forestry Alliance, Budapest Zoo and The Body Shop Hungary. Media partners are the Civil Radio, The Rural Life Magazine and the Eco lounge.

Proofread by Paul St. Pierre