Tasmania hosted the 2025 Festival of Landscape Architecture and the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) National Awards this month, with the awards ceremony held at Glen Albyn Estate in Taroona on Tuesday, 21 October 2025.
In a standout result for the state, local design studio Inspiring Place Pty Ltd won a Landscape Architecture Award for Community Contribution for 24 Carrot Gardens—a school garden program transforming education across nine Tasmanian schools. The program creates living classrooms where students engage hands-on with gardening, food production and sustainability.
The Hobart-based team—Adam Holmstrom, Jordan Davis, Edwina Hughes, Emma Sheppard-Simms, Spencer Arnold, Sayali Rahurkar, Rosa Virgo and Tash Burgess—has supported the initiative since 2018, providing design and documentation on a pro bono or at-cost basis as part of the firm’s social sustainability commitments.
Tasmania was one of 36 award recipients nationally across 17 categories.
Media release – Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA), 21 October 2025
Lutruwita/Tasmania hosts coveted Australian design awards
Lutruwita/Tasmania continues to attract the country’s best and brightest creatives. The island recently hosted the 2025 Festival of Landscape Architecture — an annual think tank of the country’s leading landscape architects. This year’s theme, DARK, highlighted the power of the profession to navigate challenges brought about by a ‘world of excessive light and constant noise’.
On Tuesday 21 October, the festival culminated in the presentation of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) National Awards. Winners were revealed in a ceremony held at Glen Albyn Estate, Taroona (near Nipaluna/Hobart).
AILA’s National Jury presented 36 awards to projects spanning 17 categories. AILA National Jury Chair Kate Luckraft summarised the impact of this year’s winning work:
“Across the board, projects enriched by First Nations collaboration and interdisciplinary thinking exemplify how landscape architects are shaping resilient, climate-conscious places that reflect a deeper understanding of Country and community.”
Among this year’s winners was 24 Carrot Gardens, by local design studio Inspiring Place Pty Ltd. Notably, 24 Carrot Gardens was awarded a Landscape Architecture Award for its Community Contribution. This award-winner is a program delivered across nine Tasmanian schools — empowering students through a participatory design process that creates inclusive, productive and calming spaces for growing, harvesting and learning.
The Awards Jury summed up the project’s powerful impact: “By embedding skills and knowledge around food production, nutrition, waste management and sustainability into the heart of education, the gardens promote environmental stewardship and community resilience while improving student wellbeing and engagement.”
What is landscape architecture and how does it benefit all Australians?
Landscape architecture brings nature into the heart of daily life, shaping parks, precincts, wetlands and public spaces that invite us to gather, connect and belong. Well-designed landscapes strengthen local economies by attracting visitors and creating jobs, but their deeper value lies in cooling our cities, restoring ecosystems and caring for Country.
The 2025 AILA National Awards celebrate the projects and practitioners reimagining how we live with landscape and each other.
Photography MelanieKate and Yasmin Mund.
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