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The international jury is made up of local and international rose experts, rose breeders, enthusiasts and relevant professionals in the sector. Everyone who visits the Parc de Cervantes Rose Garden can take part in the voting for the 2022 Citizens' Rose.

Parc de Cervantes is hosting the 22nd International New Roses Competition, which is held every year from 6 to 8 May, to coincide with the first bloom of the roses and, according to the criteria of a prestigious international jury, it chooses the best new creations from rose growers around the world. The Rose Garden will open to the public on 6 May, at 4 pm.

All the rose species entering the competition are cultivated by expert rose breeders, through the hybridisation of existing species. Prior to the competition, they have never been seen by the public or marketed.

This year’s edition will feature 30 rose breeders from 11 countries, Belgium Denmark, the USA, Spain, France, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Poland and the Netherlands, who will be presenting a total of 102 new rose varieties.

This Barcelona competition is part of an international circuit that awards prizes for the best new rose varieties, thereby ensuring Barcelona’s status as a leading city in this sector.

Six different juries

This year’s edition of the competition will have six different juries. The expert jury is made up of 65 specialists from the world of roses, gardening and green areas, as well as academics, who will award the prizes for the best varieties in each rose category and their qualities and characteristics. This is an international body, made up of people from Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, France and Luxembourg. Some of these experts are also members of the Permanent Committee.

The Permanent Committee is made up of 10 local specialists and experts. Between the previous autumn and the month of May, they officially monitor and assess the evolution of the plants sent to them from breeders around the world. Between May and December, during the year’s plant cycle, four detailed assessments are carried out for each variety, prior to the expert jury’s full assessment. The committee awards points for factors that include vigour, development, foliage, fragrance, resistance to pests, durability, and the degree of novelty and interest in the flower. The second official assessment is made on site by the International Jury, during the competition. The jury awards points for the interest the flower generates, novelty, fragrance and beauty.

The Mestres Pefumistes jury is made up of five international specialists, who choose the rose variety with the best perfume, each writing their own description of it. This year, Barcelona Senior Citizens, the Castell de Sant Foix School, the Mare de Déu de Montserrat School and the Citizens’ Jury will all choose their favourite variety.

The 2022 Citizens’ Rose vote

Everyone who visits the Parc de Cervantes Rose Garden can take part in the voting for the 2022 Citizens’ Rose. They select their chosen rose via a digital procedure, on their mobile device. A QR code can be found in the competition area, which facilitates access to the website, in order to choose the Citizens’ Rose. Only one vote per device is allowed.

During the competition, there will be various environmental-awareness guided visits of the Rose Garden. In order to take part in these tours, you need to register at the park’s information marquee before the tour, subject to the availability of places (maximum 20 people per group)

The Parc de Cervantes Rose Garden covers 4 hectares and has nearly 10,000 rosebushes, with a total of 2,000 species and varieties. It was created in 1965 by the architects Lluís Riudor and Joaquim M. Casamor. It was later remodelled in order to showcase its botanical, aesthetic and educational values. The garden shows the history of roses, by means of a main route, or botanical itinerary, with wild roses grouped according to their geographic origins. The hybrids, which originated from wild roses, are arranged on either side. There are representative species from history and modern varieties, collections of wild roses, old and new hybrids, climbing roses and roses with intense fragrances.

In 2009, the Parc de Cervantes Rose Garden received the prestigious Garden Excellence Award, given by the World Federation of Rose Societies for the garden’s beauty, history and educational value.

Barcelona’s International New Rose Competition, which is holding its 22nd edition this year, was created to promote the Rose Garden and raise its public profile, faithful to a rose-growing tradition in Barcelona dating back to the early 20th century. At the Rose Garden, in addition to the permanent collection, you can see new varieties of rosebushes presented at competition, while the Jardí del Palmarès displays the winners from previous years.

On Sunday 8 May, at 12 noon, within the framework of the competition, the Rose Garden will be inaugurating an area dedicated to the memory of the Fourteen Roses. The area pays tribute to the thirteen young women shot in Madrid in August 1939 by the Franco regime as well as the women who were persecuted, repressed, imprisoned and executed during the post-war period, symbolised by a fourteenth rose.

Barcelona International New Rose Competition Prizes

Barcelona’s International New Rose Competition awards prizes in official categories (awarded by the expert jury and a permanent committee), as well as prizes awarded by associations and the general public.

Official category: prizes awarded by the expert jury and its permanent committee:

• Barcelona prize
• Prize for the best hybrid tea rose/ grandiflora rose
• Prize for the best floribunda/ multiflora rose
• Prize for the best landscape/ shrub rose
• Prize for the best carpet rose
• Prize for the best miniature rose
• Prize for the best climbing rose
• Prize for the most vigorous variety (Asociación Española de Parques y Jardines Públicos)
• Prize for the variety with the best flowers (Asociación Española de la Rosa)
• “Pere Dot” prize for the most original variety (Amics de les Roses de Sant Feliu de Llobregat)
• Prize for the most fragrant rose (Amics dels Jardins)
• Prize for the rose with the best fragrance (Mestres Perfumistes)

 Citizen and organisation prizes:

• 2022 Rosa Ciutadana prize
• Senior Citizen rose prize
• Escola Castell de Sant Foix prize
• Escola Mare de Déu de Montserrat prize