The Jill Smythies Award for Excellence in Botanical Illustration
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The Jill Smythies Award is made annually to a botanical illustrator - for excellence in published botanical illustrations.
"for publishing illustration, such as drawings or painting, in aid of plant identification, with the emphasis on botanical accuracy and accurate portrayal of diagnostic characteristics. Illustrations of cultivars of garden origin are not eligible".
The award comprises a silver medal and a prize of £1,000.

It is usually (but not always) awarded annually by the Council of the Linnean Society of London to anyone not at the time a member of Council. 

Individuals nominated for the prize are invited to submit work. Submissions are then scrutinized by a Committee appointed by Council of the Linnean Society and chaired by a Secretary of the Society.

​The award was established, via an endowment by Bill Smythies  in honour of his wife Jill  whose career as a botanical artist ended due to an accident to her right hand.

REFERENCE: 
  • Medals, Awards, Prizes and Grants by The Linnean Society of London, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BF, UK. The Society aims to promote the study of all aspects of the biological sciences. Through awarding medals and grants, the Society acknowledges and encourages excellence in all of these fields.
  • ​You can find out more about Jill Smythies and her work as a botanical artist at the bottom of the page.
Picture
The door into the Linnean Society at Burlington House in Piccadilly

How the nomination and award process works
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​What's required
  • ​Excellent botanical art (drawing or painting) that is 'an aid to identification and a portrayal of diagnostic characteristics'. It should include two or more items of the same taxonomic group for comparison.
  • The nomination must include the full citations of at least two published works that include botanical illustrations by the nominee

​Exclusions / Ineligible
  • Illustrations of cultivars of garden origin are not eligible.
  • Flower paintings that are merely artistic
  • Paintings en masse of seeds or fruit, which do not portray diagnostic features. 

Nominations
  • Potential candidates for the award must be nominated using the form on the website.
  • The closing date for nominations each year is 30th September.
How to submit work
  • Examples to be provided either as an off print, at the candidate's (or the nominator's) expense. 
  • Access to electronic examples of the nominees published work e.g. in electronic journals, or on their own websites, should be considered if available. 

What happens if you win
  • The winner will be asked (when notified of their win) to provide high quality copies or the originals of publications not already in possession of the Society, to enable the Librarian to mount a suitable exhibition at the Anniversary Meeting in May.
  • In addition, an electronic montage of the winners' entries will be posted on the Society's website, and a half tone/colour plate (as appropriate) in The Linnean as a supporting image.

What happens if you are not successful
  • Artists may be invited to resubmit in successive years if unsuccessful initially (but not otherwise, unless they consider that they fully meet the entry criteria).

​Recipients of the Jill Smythies Award (1988-2025)
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​A list of the recipients of the Jill Smythies Award is maintained in the Linnean Society of London website.
While the award is made by the Linnean Society of London, it is an international award and not all recipients are British. 
If the award winner has strong associations with a particular botanic garden I have indicated this.
2020-2029
Sue Wickison is an extremely accomplished botanical artist with field experience in many areas, namely the Solomon Islands, where she collected and recorded orchids. She has also worked on endangered species, depicting their life cycles, and has most recently illustrated Kew’s The Plants of the Qur’an: History and Culture by Dr Shahina Ghazanfar, with an accompanying exhibition running until Sunday 17 September at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art.
2010-2019
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Niki Simpson - recipient of the Jill Smythies Award in 2018 - with some of her work at the Linnean Society
“Deborah Lambkin developed her interest in botanical art after she wrote a thesis on Visual Communication at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin in 1990. Deborah is now an established botanical artist, having been the ‘official’ Botanical Artist to the RHS Orchid Committee since 2005, contributing more than 400 fine paintings in that role. She provided the artwork for about 50 species accounts in Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, including the recently published issue on the Australian clade of Nicotiana, widely admired for the fine attention to detail and, in particular, the stunningly accurate representation of the leaf texture, which was highlighted by the panel of judges. Deborah has exhibited at the National Botanic Gardens and several  times at the Royal Horticultural Society where in 1999 she was awarded a Gold Medal for her work. She has painted a series of endangered Irish wildflowers used as posters for schools. Deborah is a member of the Watercolour Society of Ireland and the RHS Picture Advisory Panel.”
The Linnean Vol 35 (2 October 2019)
Anita Barley in the middle of the 2016 medal winners
2000-2009
1990-99
1988-89
  • 1989 - Christabel King (RBG Kew)
  • 1988 - Ann Farrer 

Who was Jill Smythies?
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Jill drew double-page spreads of typical plants of key Iberian habitats for a joint field guide written with Oleg Polunin, Flowers of South-West Europe: a field guide (1973).
Obituary: Bertram E. Smythies
  • 1935: won a school prize at Woodford School, Croydon, Surrey for two albums of pressed and painted wild flowers
  • 1964 Bertram Evelyn Smythies (known as Bill) - age 52 - married Florence Mary Rogers (known as Jill) and retired from the Sarawak Forest Service
  • 1964 - the newlyweds moved to Spain. Jill began painting the flowers of Estepona
  • 1967 and 1969 - studied at Flatford with Derek Erasmus
  • 1968 - studied with Mary Grierson
  • Flowers of SW Europe was co-authored by Oleg Polunin and Bertram Evelyn Smythies and included line drawings by Jill Smythies
  • Took the role of botanical artist for John Carr's expeditions to record plant distribution in Cádiz, Málaga and Granada
  • 1973 - an accident to her right hand ended her drawing and painting and career as a botanical artist
  • 1979 - left Spain and relocated to Richmond - by which time Jill had completed completed 787 illustrations
  • July 1979 - studied monochrome illustration at Nettlecombe Court with Claire Dalby
  • 1986 - Endowment offered by Bill Smythies FLS to The Linnean Society of London for 'The Jill Smythies Award for Botanical Illustration' - a prize for botanical drawing which contributes to plant identification.
  • 1988 - first Jill Smythies Award made to Ann Farrer
  • 1989 - Jill suffered a minor stroke
  • 1992 - Jill suffered a third stroke which destroyed her balance; died 14 June 1992
  • 1994 - presentation of some c. 970 paintings (and a few pencil drawings) of plants (mainly from Spain) by Jill Smythies to The University of Reading Herbarium - with details of collection locations ​
  • 2003 - data from the 970 paintings and drawings by Jill Smythies was added to The University of Reading Herbarium Database, BRAHMS (Botanical Research And Herbarium Management System). An Access database was then created to make this available to all via the Herbarium website, together with all the illustrations using the Centre for Plant Diversity and Systematics Server. (Further info.)

The above draws on and summarises the account by Dr Stephen Jury and the Herbarium newsletter.
She was not born an artist like Walter Hood Fitch, who could draw a plant freehand on a lithographic stone and get it right first time, without having to correct a line. Jill's pictures only emerged after much toil and sweat, erasing of lines and redrawing. To improve her technique she enrolled in the Flatford course three years running: 1967 and 1969 with Derek Erasmus, 1968 with Mary Grierson. 
​Bill Smythies
Following an accident to his wife's right hand, which cut short her career as a botanical artist, he endowed an award through the Linnean Society, established in 1988 and now consisting of a silver medal and pounds 1,000, given annually, "for published drawings or paintings, in aid of plant identification, with the emphasis on botanical accuracy".
Obituary: Bertram E. Smythies
REFERENCE: