A TALENTED florist from Delabole, Emma Hawke, has been awarded a prestigious bronze medal in the RHS Young Chelsea Florist of the Year competition at the world-famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Emma was amongst the pick of the UK’s professional florists who qualified for the Chelsea finals, having beaten hundreds of potential contenders in the nationwide competition heats.

Emma and her fellow finalists in the RHS Chelsea Florist of the Year competition were given six weeks to design and make a floral kite using mostly fresh flowers along the theme of ‘Urban Streets and Summer Skies’.

As the show opened to the public, the floral kites were suspended in mid-air from the rafters of the floristry zone in Chelsea’s Great Pavilion, against a sky blue backdrop.

Emma said: “I am absolutely thrilled to have won a bronze Chelsea medal. It’s been a really challenging six weeks in the making, so I am delighted to have achieved such a fantastic result.

“Reaching this point in my floristry career has had its challenges. From a young age, I always knew this is what I wanted to do as a career, starting with my granddad growing flowers and competing at the local village show. I then went on to compete with Girl Guides in the floral categories, which I started to get a real buzz from.

“I admired local florists and watching florist demonstrations growing up, which started to make me become more creative and interested in taking the floristry life even further.”

Emma explained that she had never been an ‘academic learner’, but being creative was the route she has always been interested in following.

As she began to take part in more competitions, she received more awards and she knew that that was to be her pathway after leaving school.

She went on to attend Duchy College for floristry courses, where she studied for three years, gaining the knowledge and skills that helped her get to where she is today.

She added: “I’ve had to push myself through lots of hoops to get where I am today. Through all the competitions — including several years competing at the Royal Cornwall Show in the flower tent and with Young Farmers — gaining all these experiences has really paid off.

“It has been my dream to compete at Chelsea; I’ve always looked up to it as being one of the top florist goals of all time, so I’m amazed to have reached the point of competing with some of the top florists in the country.”