Europeans had until 4 p.m. to cast their votes on the contest’s website, at treeoftheyear.org/vote.
In the final week of voting, the detailed results were withheld from public view, according to Jacek Bożek, the head of environmental and animal rights NGO Klub Gaja, the local coordinator of the event.
Representing Poland is a 200-year-old beech that in 2023 was chosen as the national Tree of the Year.
Preliminary data released last Thursday showed the Polish tree topping the leaderboard with over 21,000 votes, followed closely by a beech from France and a millennia-old olive tree from Italy, Bożek said.
The winner will be selected from among 15 trees in different corners of Europe that have won national competitions. It will be unveiled on March 20 during the Tree of the Year 2024 awards ceremony held in the European Parliament in Brussels.
Bożek says the contest aims to uncover trees with captivating narratives and to galvanise public awareness around these arboreal wonders, which are an important element of natural and cultural heritage worthy of preservation.
Nicknamed Serce Ogrodu (Heart of the Garden), the Polish beech grows in the village of Wojsławice some 50 km south of Wrocław in the country's southwest.
Wojsławice’s arboretum, a collection of trees of a variety of species, is part of the University of Wrocław’s botanical garden.
Poland’s winner last year, a 180-year-old oak nicknamed Fabrykant (Factory Owner), which grows in the central Polish city of Łódź, went on to win the European Tree of the Year 2023 contest.
(mo/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP
Click on the audio player above for a report by Radio Poland's Michał Owczarek.
