America In Bloom unveils new evaluation form

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, America in Bloom (AIB) announced the adoption of a new, streamlined, and simplified evaluation form for participating cities. America in Bloom is the only national awards program that offers onsite consultation with participants and a written evaluation. To date, nearly 200 towns in 40 states have taken advantage of this opportunity to jumpstart improvements to their quality of life.

Jack Clasen, AIB’s contest chair said, “The new evaluation form took 17 months to develop with input from participants, judges, and board members. In addition, we surveyed the ‘state of the art’ in evaluations offered by similar international programs including Communities in Bloom in Canada, Britain in Bloom, and many others.”

The new evaluation format reduces the evaluated criteria from eight to six: Floral Displays, Landscaped Areas, Urban Forestry, Environmental Efforts, Heritage Preservation, and Overall Impression.

The new criteria can be considered as three pillars: horticulture, heritage, and environment, with a fourth pillar: pride. Registration for the 2012 awards program is now open and ends on Feb. 28, 2012.

A live webinar called “The New & Improved 2012 Evaluation Form - You Asked, We Listened” providing details on the new format will be presented by Jack Clasen and Diana K. Weiner, an AIB judge, on Tuesday, November 15, 2-2:30 p.m. EST. Register for the webinar at www.americainbloom.org.