Panel Judge: Donna Cornish

Donna Cornish, proprietor at Flowers by Donna Cornish. Donna’s love for flowers started as a child gardening and flower arranging with her Grandmother’s. Donna has been working in the floristry industry for just shy of 20 years, running her floristry business Flowers by Donna Cornish since the summer of 2009.

Donna strives for perfection each day while running her florist shop and being a busy Mum to her two young daughters. 

Donna just has won the British Florist Association’s Florist Shop of the Year in both 2020 and 2021 as well as coming second place in 2019. Her latest award was just last month in the Muddy stilettos awards for ‘best florist 2022’ for the third time. Donna is looking forward to her latest challenge of being part of the judging panel for 2022. 

Panel Judge: Hannah Dunne

Hannah has worked in the flower industry for 15 years, starting out at her local flower shop before moving onto write for The Florist magazine and manage floral PR campaigns. She now contributes to a range of floral publications including BFA Florist, while working as a consultant in marketing and project management for companies across the global flower sector. With a long-term passion for sustainable and ethical trade, she is now undertaking an MSc in sustainability where her research is focused on floriculture at every opportunity.

Panel Judge: David Ragg

David Ragg has been surrounded by flowers for all of his life. As a third generation florist, he spent his formative years helping out at his grandparents business in Henley-on-Thames and followed that by managing his parents’ florist business in Berkshire.

Since 1991 David has been at the helm of the very successful Lansdowne Florist in Bournemouth which has now relocated to a brand new unit and now trades as Born to Bloom – a phrase which sums David up perfectly! David is clearly engaged now in raising the profile of the Floral Industry and is a deep believer that in order for the industry to survive as we know it there needs to be some radical changes afoot. One of which is ensuring the professionalism within the floral world. To be recognised as a Professional Florist or Floral Professional is tantamount to the success of many small businesses. “Too many consumers see what we do as just “playing with flowers” with little regard to the skills necessary”, David explains, “We, as Floral Professionals, need to show that our talents far outreach just making up simple bunches of flowers. We need to be demonstrating to the consumer that true floristry is all about understanding trends and colours; utilising new techniques and exploring commercially viable design offerings!”

Panel Judge: Jonas Zwiterlood

Jonas Zwitserlood is a communication expert and language artist, and the owner of a boutique communications consultancy business in The Netherlands.

He has a Bachelor’s in Information Technology and a Master’s degree in Socio-Cultural Anthropology from the Free University of Amsterdam. This background in the social sciences has equipped him with strong analysis skills, and helps him excel at navigating the subtleties of cross-cultural communication. As a ‘digital native’, he knows the ins and outs of internet-based technologies and social media.

For more than ten years, Jonas has been the Communication Manager for FLORINT, the International Florist Organisation. FLORINT is the non-profit umbrella organisation that represents and supports the florist associations of the world – with 22 member associations worldwide, including the BFA.