This year's edition of Gaja Club's Tree of the Year competition received nearly 50 applications. From this group, the jury selected sixteen finalists. Their stories and photos are posted at the competitions' website - drzeworoku.pl - where the online vote takes place as well.
"One vote per email address can only be cast, also confirmed by clicking the link in the mailbox. The winner will be announced on July 1st at noon"
- announced the coordinator of this year's Polish Tree of the Year competition, Jolanta Migdał of eco non-profit Gaja Club. Throughout June, the number of votes cast for each of the trees will remain hidden. Only on June 6th, 13th and 24th will the ranking update be published.
This year's finalists include a 120+ years old apple tree Perpetua (meaning Eternal) from Kowalowa in Lower Silesia, southern Poland. There is also a 400-year-old Reymont linden from Prażki near Łódź, central Poland. Another contestant is elaeagnus Onufry, previously voted Warsaw Tree of the Year 2024. The oldest title runner is a monumental 500-year-old oak Aleksander from Jarcewo in northern Poland's Pomerania province.
"We are not looking for the oldest, tallest, thickest, most beautiful or rarest trees. We are looking for the most beloved tree. A tree with a story. A tree that stimulates the imagination and unites people. The winner will represent our country in the European Tree of the Year 2026 competition"
- Jolanta Migdał added.
Last year, Lower Silesian Dalków's 300-year-old beech named Serce Wzgórz Dalkowskich claimed the title - with more than 10,500 internet users behind it. It is now competing for the title of European Tree of the Year, which currently belongs to another Polish beech, growing in the arboretum in Wojsławice in Lower Silesia. In previous editions, the European Tree of the Year title has also been claimed by three Polish oaks: Fabrykant from Łódź, Dunin from Przybudek and Józef from Wiśniowa.
Poland's Gaja Club, the non-profit behind the contest, was established in southern Poland's Bielsko-Biała at the turn of the 1980s and 90s - to defend the rights of animals and ecosystems. It also implements educational projects and campaigns that deepen the understanding of humans' relation to nature.
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Source: PAP