From the 7th to the 9th of April, the Magazzini del Cotone exhibition centre and Florint, together with their sponsors, will be hosting the Europa Cup for Florists. It will make for a perfect time and place – in mid spring, at the gorgeous Italian Riviera – to celebrate world-class floristry.

History in the making…

Organizing floral design championships like the Europa Cup is intimately familiar to Florint. In fact, the very founding of International Florist Organisation Florint back in 1956 owes a lot to competitions. Back then our member associations wanted to learn about the different floral trends in Europe, so they organized the continent’s first ever florist championship. It ended with the crowning the Swiss competitor as the first official European champion. A tradition was born!

2016 will also mark Florint’s 60th anniversary since its inception in the city of Strasbourg. The celebration of the Europa Cup is without a doubt the perfect opportunity to commemorate the unique history of Florint and the European championships.

The value of floristry competitions

Florint firmly believes that competitions are the doors to innovation. They are an occasion for top-level florists to push the boundaries of their art form, nurturing new ideas, interpretations, and design styles. An occasion like the European Floristry Championship is a perfect opportunity for the world of floristry to showcase its talents, in front of fellow florists as well as fans and consumers.

The importance of good judging

All this innovation is fostered through Florint’s certified international judges and 100-points judging system, which together guarantee a level playing field for all competitors. The judges and system are the guardians of fair innovation, and have been widely acknowledged as such. They are present both in national and international contests, the latest occasion being at the Interflora World Cup in Berlin.

The participants

Candidates for Florint’s Europa Cup will be presented by our Member, candidate and linked associations. All of them have been eagerly awaiting the moment that their national champions will demonstrate their skills and proudly represent their country’s floristry sector. Pre-registration is open as of now until October! If a competitor from a European country wishes to compete and there is no national association in their country that is a member of Florint, please contact Florint’s manager.

The Europa Cup regulations

The official regulations that will be in use during the Europa Cup European Florist Championship 2016 in Genoa have been released. Please click one of the following links to download them in the format of your choice:

–The Europa Cup 2016 regulations in Microsoft Word .docx format
–The Europa Cup 2016 regulations in Adobe Reader .pdf format

The Europa Cup of 2011

Florint’s last European Florist Championship was held in beautiful Havirov, Czech Republic, in 2011. 18 competitors fought head to head, with the winner being Natalia Zizko from Russia: Europe’s reigning florist champion! The runner-up was Niina Minkkinen from Finland, and Neil Whittaker from the UK took third place.

The official ‘hashtag’ for the upcoming Europa Cup will be: #FlorintEC2016. We will be using it in all our official announcements; Twitter and Facebook news updates; photo reports, and so on, to make it easy for fans to keep up with all the happenings during the European Florist Championship.

We hope to see you there!

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