In its 15th edition, a Lithuanian tree claimed the prize for the first time. The Oak of Laukai’s win came after changes to the online voting system, which previously favored larger nations and sparked conflict between Polish and Spanish tree enthusiasts in the past year.
Poland had triumphed in the last four contests, largely due to backing from followers of the Polish Instagram humor page Make Life Harder, which strongly endorsed Polish entries. However, last year’s competition was marred by a Spanish TV comedy show campaign that derided the tree.
The online tension and ceremonial discord contrasted with the contest’s goal to unite communities in appreciation of nature.
A new “tree points” system replaced individual vote counts, giving greater weight to votes for trees from smaller countries over larger ones.
“I’m very grateful to my colleagues … who had enough courage to design this system and implement it,” said Petr Kazda, CEO of the Czech Environmental Partnership Foundation, which supports the contest, during the ceremony.
Out of about 200,000 votes, the Oak of Laukai earned 6,153 tree points, Slovakia’s apple tree received 4,766 points, and Poland’s elm got 4,720 points. The UK’s Argyle Street ash, located on a major Glasgow road, came in last, 12th with 536 points. It is truly the Eurovision of trees.
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