Iowa PBS Receives 2025 GardenComm Media Award

Iowa PBS has been honored with the 2025 GardenComm Gold Laurel Medal of Achievement for “Speaking and Broadcast Television Series (Overall),” presented by GardenComm: Garden Communicators International. This international award recognizes individuals and companies who achieve the highest levels of talent and professionalism in garden communications. 

Gardening with Steil host Aaron Steil earned the Gold Laurel Medal of Achievement for his work with the digital series in which he shares current trends and tips for successful gardening. Iowa PBS produced four seasons of Gardening with Steil between the summer of 2020 and early 2024. 

“These awards recognize the best of the best—communicators who inspire, inform, and elevate the gardening world through outstanding storytelling, imagery, and innovation,” says C.L. Fornari, president of GardenComm.

The 2025 competition drew more than 125 entries from around the globe across 40 categories. Winners were announced at the 2025 Annual Honors and Awards event on July 11 at 6:30 PM ET, held during the GardenComm Gather & Grow Mega Meetup at Cultivate, July 11–14. The full list of winners is available on the GardenComm website. For more information about this award, contact Chris Sabbarese at info@gardencomm.org.

Since the early 1980s, the GardenComm Media Awards program has recognized outstanding writing, photography, graphic design and illustration for books, newspaper stories, magazine articles, and other works focused on gardening. GardenComm, Garden Communicators International, is an organization of professional communicators in the green and garden industry including book authors, bloggers, staff editors, syndicated columnists, freelance writers, photographers, speakers, landscape designers, television and radio personalities, consultants, publishers, extension service agents and more. Learn more at www.gardencomm.org.