Enter Your Garden

We’ll be accepting 2024 entries beginning May 1, 2024.

The Chicago Excellence in Gardening Awards (CEGA) is once again reaching out to gardeners in all of Chicago’s neighborhoods. The awards provide recognition to the hard work and creativity that make our city a healthier, more beautiful place. They support the pride we take in our neighborhoods and help us build our communities. As always, our goal this year is to reach out to all 50 wards.

Should You Enter?

Yes! If you are proud of the garden that you, you and your fellow building tenants, you and your students, or you and your neighbors have created, you should consider filling out this application. It’s free and you’ll enjoy sharing your garden’s story with our judges. If you want to get a better idea of what we’re looking for, click here.

Categories include ornamental, vegetable, container and specialized gardens for small and large residential buildings, businesses, schools and organizations, as well as separate categories for community gardens and urban farms. The contest is open to residents of the City of Chicago.

And this year, entering your garden can simultaneously enter you in a raffle for one of five rain barrels provided by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, thanks to Commissioner Kim du Buclet.

How Do You Enter?

Here are the basics. There will be more specific instructions on the entry form. The first round of judging is based on this form and the photographs you submit. If your garden advances to the second round, judges will visit your garden in person. Among their criteria, they will be looking for a garden that is well-planned, well-maintained, artistic, creative, and connected to the community. But they will especially be looking for signs that the garden is environmentally sound–that it treats the earth gently, features native plants wherever possible and caters to birds and wildlife.

Entry Instructions

1. Submit only ONE entry.
2. Online entries must be submitted by end of day June 30, 2024.

OR
Write to us at ChicagoGardeningAwards@gmail.com and we will send you a pdf of the entry form. Fill it out and mail it to:
Attn: CEGA
3512 W McLean Ave
Chicago, IL 60647

3.  Include TWO photographs of your garden either by uploading digital photos on the online entry form  (preferred) or by including it in your regular mail entry. These can be photos of your garden from last year. (Printed photos should be clearly reproduced and sized between 4” x 6” and 8” x 10.” Note: images will not be returned. Please send no bound presentations, staples, paperclips or tape.)

Mailed entry forms must be
postmarked by end of day June 30, 2024. Judging will begin in July.