The International Challenge involves winners from Communities in Bloom, Britain in Bloom, America in Bloom, Tidy Towns of Ireland, Japan in Bloom, Comuni Fioriti (Italy), Belgium, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia and other countries competing with each other based on population categories.

Communities in Bloom organizes the International Challenge (logistics, scheduling, and information) in partnership with the above national programs.

The program consists of communities receiving information and being evaluated by an international jury on the accomplishments of their entire community:

• Municipality
• Businesses and Institutions
• Citizens and community groups

The evaluation, which normally takes place in June or July, is based on the following criteria:

• Community Appearance
• Environmental Action
• Heritage Conservation
• Tree Management
• Landscaped Areas
• Plant & Floral Displays

Note: Community Involvement is taken into consideration in all criteria

Communities pay a registration fee (based on population), provide accommodations for the jury (2 international judges) while in their community (Communities in Bloom is responsible for travel between countries).

The judges visit the community for 1 to 2 days (as community involvement is an important element) using the Communities in Bloom Evaluation Form.

Communities receive a comprehensive report based on the evaluation criteria along with:

• Bloom rating ( 4 or 5 blooms)
• Bronze, silver and gold levels for evaluated communities who will have obtained 5 blooms
• Opportunity to submit for Outstanding Achievement Awards and Special Recognitions.

Thus, the process is the following:

Communities in Bloom send information on the program (elements of evaluations) to municipalities: elected officials, park managers, horticultural societies, garden groups.

Municipalities register in the program:

• pay a registration fee based on population
• provide transport from and to nearest airport or train station
• provide accommodation for the judges: normally 2 judges for 2 nights

Iinvolve their community (special activities, local contests and awareness)

• prepare for the evaluation: one or two days

Judges visit the community to provide comments and suggestions and prepare an evaluation report

•  meetings with local officials, stakeholders and citizens
•  visit of the community green spaces (municipal, institutions, businesses and residential)
• provide an evaluation document with observations and recommendations
• scoring determines the bloom rating ( 1 to 5 ) for municipality

Municipalities are invited to attend Symposium and Awards.

The 2023 National & International Awards Ceremonies along with the Symposium on Parks & Grounds, will be held in Wood Buffalo, Alberta Canada from September 27-30, 2023: International Finalists are provided with promotional opportunities during the events.

The program also provides for promotional and educational opportunities along with special projects.

www.communitiesinbloom.ca: CiB’s website gives visibility to our participants in the NewsComm section of our website. The website also includes a resource centre featuring information from sponsors and communities along with electronic copies of our magazines.

Social Networks: CiB participants are welcomed to send us updates, news and photos to post on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages: (www.facebook.com/communitiesinbloom ; www.twitter.com/cibcef; www.instagram.com/cibcef/)

Economic benefits

• Best practices and information exchange to maximize effectiveness of expenditures
• Valuable information and feedback from the judges
• Marketing and promotional opportunities
• Positive benefits for the tourism, hospitality and retail industries

Social benefits

• Increased civic pride, community involvement and improved quality of life
• Mobilization of citizens, groups, businesses and municipality working together
• Participation from all ages and walks of life learning more about their community
• Information exchanges with provincial, national and international communities

Environmental stewardship through the enhancement of green spaces

• Improving air quality through tree planting and preservation of green spaces
• Improvements in energy and water conservation
• Awareness of environmental sustainability

For further information, please contact Sonia Parrino, Program Specialist
(bloom@cib-cef.com or 514-694-8871)