Our Awards

The UK Dykes Medal is the premier award of the iris hybridising world. It was initiated in 1927 by John Rikatson Dykes, a founder member of the RHS and author of the ‘Genus Iris’, published in 1913.

Bryan Dodsworth won the coveted medal twelve times. No one has been awarded the UK Dykes Medal previously more than four times, in over ninety years. His record of Award Winning Bearded Irises is unlikely to be beaten and makes him without question the most celebrated twentieth century British Hybridiser of Tall Bearded Irises.

This is a list of his Award Winning Bearded Irises:

1977 Annabel Jane
1980 Kildonan
1981 Jill Rosalind
1983 Dovedale
1984 Bewick Swan
1985 Roman Emperor
1987 Buckden Pike
1988 Wensleydale
1990 High Peak
1991 Wharfedale
1997 Whooper Swan
2001 Darley Dale

Bryan’s first started exhibiting with the British Iris Society in 1967 when he won the Peckham Cup, and was an active exhibitor until the late 1990’s. Over forty years he won a wide assortment of trophies including the Fothergill, Romney Townrow and Insole trophies, and some of these on several occasions, as well as several RHS Awards of Merit.

Barry Emmerson
Barry has been exhibiting with the British Iris Society since 1995. During this period he has won a wide assortment of trophies including the Fothergill, Romney Townrow and Rainbow Challenge. He has also received Awards of Garden Commendation and an RHS Award of Garden Merit. In 2014 Barry was awarded his first Dykes Medal for Iceni Sunset. This is a fitting tribute to the preeminent hybridiser of British Tall Bearded Irises today.