Nominations invited for Association awards
Each year since 1974 the Arboricultural Association Award has been presented to recognise significant contributions of an individual to the arboricultural industry or profession, and two awards introduced in 2021 – Best Student of the Year and Young Arboricultural Professional of the Year – seek to recognise the passion and drive of students taking their first steps and the young professionals already making a difference in our industry.
The deadline for nominations for the 2025 awards is Monday 30 June.
The AA Award 2025
Each year the Association seeks to recognise a significant contribution to the arboricultural industry or profession by the presentation of the Arboricultural Association Award to an individual.
The process for nominating a candidate to receive the award is as follows:
- Nominations must be submitted by individuals, not companies or organisations.
- Nominations must take the form of a reasoned case of no more than 1000 words detailing the nominee’s achievements and background.
- Nominees need not be Arboricultural Association members.
- Nominations must be formally proposed and seconded, and must be accompanied by the proposer’s and seconder’s names and written confirmation that they endorse the nomination.
- Nominations must be made by third parties; self-nomination will not be accepted.
- Nominations must be submitted to the CEO of the Association by email to john@trees.org.uk with the subject line ‘Association Award Nomination – private and confidential’ by 30 June.
- The CEO will convene a panel to consider the merits of the various nominations, its deliberations to be concluded by 31 July.
The Award criteria
The overriding criterion to be considered when deliberating the relative merits of the nominations is ‘a significant and positive contribution to arboriculture’: the panel will consider nominees’ excellence or their advancement of practice, research, writing, teaching or other relevant service. It is the role of the award panel to consider the relative merits of the nominations. If the quality of the nominations is unsatisfactory the Association is not obliged to make an award.
Presentation of the Award
The award will be presented to the recipient at the Association’s Annual Conference.
A list of previous recipients appears on the Association’s website at www.trees.org.uk/AA-Awards
Best Student Award
Sponsored by Tree Life
Prize
- Free entry to one day of Conference OR a free one-day course.
Eligibility
- Anyone, any age, any location, any level, studying arboriculture and/or urban forestry in the UK.
Criteria
- Shows outstanding passion for the profession.
- Shows outstanding drive to develop their knowledge/skills.
- Developed an impressive piece of work in last 12 months.
How to nominate/apply
Short written summary explaining why you or the person you are nominating deserves the award (less than 300 words), to be submitted online at www.trees.org.uk/2025-Award-Nominations by 30 June.
Young Arboricultural Professional Award
Sponsored by Nicholsons
Prize
- Free AA membership for the year.
- Free entry to one day of Conference OR a free one-day course.
Eligibility
- Anyone under the age of 35, working in arboriculture in the UK.
Criteria
- Shows outstanding passion for the profession.
- Works towards delivering the vision of the Association – Inspiring, supporting and promoting the tree care community.
How to nominate/apply
Short written summary explaining why you or the person you are nominating deserves the award (less than 300 words), to be submitted online at www.trees.org.uk/2025-Award-Nominations by 30 June.
Nominate yourself or someone else