The Shirley Sherwood Award for Botanical Art
The Shirley Sherwood Award is an accolade presented once a year in recognition of an artist’s contribution to Botanical Art. The prestigious award includes a prize of £10,000 and a dedicated space in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to display a selected artwork for a year.
2025 - Vicki Thomas
Vicki Thomas (b.1951) spent her youth in Zambia and started botanical art at the age of 27. She was instrumental in forming the Botanical Artists’ Association of South Africa in 1999. Since then, Vicki has worked tirelessly to develop the Grootbos Florilegium and depict rare and iconic Indigenous plants in the Grootbos Nature Reserve, South Africa. She has taught botanical art at Stellenbosch University, the University of Cape Town, Hampton Court Florilegium and other locations across South Africa and the UK.
“My job is just to look… I think that’s why I’m here. It’s my greatest pleasure. It’s what makes life worth living.” – Vicki Thomas
In addition to having fifteen works in The Shirley Sherwood Collection, her artwork is in the Highgrove, Transylvanian, and Sydney florilegia and in many scientific publications and books on botanical art.
Vicki won the Cythna Letty Medal, awarded by the Botanical Society of South Africa, and is an honorary life member of the Botanical Artists’ Association of South Africa.
You can see Vicki Thomas' work on the Shirley Sherwood Collection site here.
Previous Recipients of the Shirley Sherwood Award for Botanical Art: