European Tree of the Year competition is heating up: Cast your vote now!

Will it be the handsome Polish beech, the majestic French contestant, or another tree entirely?

The European Tree of the Year 2024 race is moving into its decisive final week and for a competition that features immovable objects, we must admit that it’s quite exciting.

You see, up until today the preliminary results were showing that The Weeping Beech of Bayeux, from France, was ahead in preferences, but now it appears that a Polish beach tree called The Heart of the Garden has come out ahead. And there’s still a week of voting time left, so who knows how things may turn out at the end?

You can throw your lot in the game and cast your vote for your favourite to determine the grand winner. People have until 22 February (4 PM CET) to send their preferences.

Voting, on the official website of the competition here, is a rather straightforward affair so take a couple of minutes to admire some of the gorgeous trees that you can find in the Old Continent and wouldn’t be out of place in a movie set.

The voters are certainly spoiled for choice with 15 impressive finalists, which show what the plant kingdom is capable of in terms of beauty and magnificence. There are different species from different countries showing the natural variety in terms of large plants that one can find in Europe. You can get acquainted with the story of each one of them and peruse their photos.

The winning tree will be crowned soon

There will be an official award ceremony, too, although we imagine that the winner will not be able to attend in person since it will take place at the Yehudi Menuhin Amphitheatre at the European Parliament in Brussels on 20 March.

This year, the contest is supported by the Czech Ministry of the Environment, which traditionally plays a positive role in supporting this relationship. 

The contest itself has its roots in the Czech Republic where it has been locally organized since 2002. In 2011, however, the Czech Environmental Partnership Association decided to expand the concept to the entire continent, and it has been steadily attracting more and more attention since then.