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AS we move into the New Year, schoolchildren all over Bahrain will be giving finishing touches to their Riffa Views Eden Challenge 2009 project entries.
Riffa Views Signature Estates, running the environmental competition for a second year following last year's success, is looking forward to receiving a wide range of imaginative creations from the 80 schools who registered 159 individual category entries, before the contest closes on January 12.
Escaping the cold of the UK, Riffa Views' own 'Flying Gardener', Chris Beardshaw will be returning to the island to head the panel of judges tasked with deciding on the four category winners and the Overall Winner of Riffa Views Eden Challenge 2009.
The same four judges, who presided over judging at last year's inaugural competition, will decide the winners.
Shaikha Muneera bint Ahmed Al Khalifa has already provided an insight into what she will be looking for when she judges the project entries. This week we ask another of the Eden Challenge judges, Matthew Rushton, what his main focus will be.
"A combination of uniqueness, creativity, imagination and artistic exploration," is what Mr Rushton, who worked for Natal's largest landscape contractor before moving to Bahrain 10 years ago, said he will be looking for in the exhibits.
He added that it is 'not so much the technical skills'. But rather, like all the other judges, he is keen to see the final entries as 'I have no doubt the kids will have put their hearts and souls into their creations'.
Mr Rushton, who runs Landscape Solutions Consultancy, a successful landscape design and consultancy company in Bahrain, thinks the Riffa Views Eden Challenge is a great opportunity for the children because 'it helps them think independently and they begin to learn that they can solve problems and come up with ideas themselves'.
Once the judging process is complete and the winners announced, Mr Beardshaw and Mr Rushton will then work on the design and construction of the Riffa Views Eden Challenge 2009 stand to be included in the Riffa Views Bahrain International Garden Show 2009, due to be held at the Bahrain Convention and Exhibition Centre in April. The Eden Challenge 2009 stand will bring the winning entries to 'life' and, as Richard Browning, CEO of Riffa Views, is keen to point out, it will showcase the very real connection that the youth of Bahrain have with their environment and the way Eden Challenge inspires, educates and encourages them to understand their natural surroundings.
This week's question to win an ipod is: When is the closing date for entries for the Riffa Views Eden Challenge. Please send your answers, as always, to secretary@gulfweekly.com
