Following a tradition of Bristol Garden History students winning the Garden History Society Essay Prize, doctoral postgraduate, Laura Mayer, won the 2010 competition with her essay: 'Landscape as Legacy: Elizabeth Percy, 1st Duchess of Northumberland and the Gothick Garden Buildings of Alnwick'.

The 2009 Garden History Society Essay Prize was won by Judy Preston and commendations were also awarded to Helen Lawrence and Janet Carter - all of which are graduates from the MA in Garden History. Since the Society established the Prize in 2005, Bristol students have won it each successive year, and their essays have been published in the Society's academic journal.

The winning essays were:

Judy Preston, 'A Polymath in Arcadia: Thomas Wright, 1711-86'

Janet Carter, 'Middle-Class Hegemony and the Working-Class Struggle for Autonomy in the ‘People’s Park’, Birkenhead'

Helen Lawrence, ‘Gentleman Traveller, Courtier and ‘A Favourite With The Rich’: New Light on Thomas Archer as Garden Maker’

Photo: Janet Carter, Judy Preston and Helen Lawrence at the Garden History Society Summer party