The Golden Gourd Awards
Celebrating excellence in community gardening!
The 2026 awards will be held at the Urban Ag Session on January 15th, 2026
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The 2026 awards will be held at the Urban Ag Session on January 15th, 2026 〰️
The 5th Annual Golden Gourd Awards
Community gardening is hard work and DEUFFC wants to recognize you and your garden’s accomplishments by hosting an awards presentation during our annual Urban Ag Session as part of Delaware Ag Week.
How to Submit Nominations
This contest is open to any community garden or community gardener in New Castle County, Delaware. There is no limit to the number of submissions for each garden/gardener, but each nomination must be submitted individually. Self nominations are also allowed.
-Click here to go to the Nomination Submission Form-
Please review the specific submission criteria for each category before submitting (see below). Some submissions require photos
For categories that require photos as part of the submission: You will need to send submit the photos separately from the nomination form. These photos should be sent to deuffc@gmail.com and files should be labeled with the nominees name and award category. Anyone who wishes to submit photos for a category that does not require them is also welcome to do so. We never say no to garden photos!
Award Categories
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Garden Hero
Know someone who’s worked tirelessly and been instrumental to the success of a community garden? Give them some love and nominate them as a Garden Hero!
Submission Requirements: Nominee’s Name, email, and a brief description of why you think this person is a Garden Hero (up to 1,000 characters)
2021 Winner- Cecelia Rich, The Village Tree
2022 Winner - Robin Billy, The ORCHARD
2023 Winner- Rob Pfeiffer- 7th and West Community Garden
2026 Winner - Jamila Davey, Green for the Greater Good
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Rookie of the Year
Nominate a garden noobie who’s done an outstanding job their first year in the garden.
Submission Requirements: Nominee’s Name, email, and a brief description of why you think this person is an excellent first time gardener (up to 1,000 characters)
2022 Winner: Katelynn Scott, The NEST
2023 Winner: Jason Aviles, Wilmington Green Box Garden
2026 Winner: Stephanie Hall, LCS People’s Garden
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Can- Do Cultivator
recognizes a gardener who fully embraces the the innovative and tenacious spirit to breathe life into a garden project. Individuals or community gardens as a whole may be nominated.
Submission Requirements: Nominee’s Name, email, a brief description of how they demonstrated an innovative spirit (up to 1,000 characters)
*New *2026 Winner - Barbara Boese
2023 Golden Gourd Awards
The gallery below contain pictures from our 3rd Annual Golden Gourd Awards held in 2023 at Bright Spot Farms. Congratulations to all our nominees and winners. Due to several scheduling conflicts with our winners, more photos will be added as folks received their awards.
2022 Golden Gourd Awards
The gallery below contain pictures from our 2nd Annual Golden Gourd Awards held in 2022 at Bright Spot Farms. Congratulations to all our nominees and winners.
2021 Golden Gourd Awards
The gallery below show highlights from our 1st Annual Golden Gourd Awards held in 2021. Congratulations to all our winners!
