Last year the CMA were pleased to announce the presentation of a new award focussing on creating magic within our woodlands. The deserving winners of the inaugural Award for Woodland Magic were the National Trust Lydford Gorge in Partnership with Plantlife. Read all about the winning project in the Winter 2025/26 issue of Ranger Magazine.
Now the search is underway to find the most deserving project, initiative or innovative practice that has made or is making an outstanding contribution to the conservation, management or community/educational use of woodland for the George Mist ‘Woodland Magic’ Award in 2026.
Crafted by CMA Honorary Fellow George Mist, the award is presented annually, with the ‘trophy’ being passed to the next recipient.
The Award is a way of acknowledging the hard work and commitment of people who contribute to protecting, enhancing and promoting the UK’s woodland. Each year CMA will look for a person or a group of people for whom sharing their knowledge, skills, experience and enthusiasm has resulted in an exceptional contribution to the management of woodland within the countryside or urban greenspace of the UK. Let’s showcase the amazing woodland work that we all know takes place across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
If you would like to submit an entry for 2026 please complete and return the nomination form (link below) by midnight on Sunday 13 September.
How to apply for the inaugural George Mist Award for Woodland Magic
You can nominate a person or organisation that you feel deserves to be the winner of the Award, or you can put forward one of your own projects. Nominees do not have to be members of the Countryside Management Association.
Nominations are welcome for/from:
- Employers
- Other organisations/groups
- Volunteers
- Individual countryside management staff
For transparency and to avoid bias, members of the CMA Board may not submit an entry.
George Mist Award for Woodland Magic – Nomination Form
