Winner 2015 Burkhard Holm

Jury’s report
 
The jury speaks of a very modest man who has been doing his work almost exclusively in the background. He has meanwhile been active in the cultivation of orchids for more than fifty years.  His greatest passions are breeding and propagation, but he also has a wealth of expertise and experience in the field of cultivation.  
Some of the hybrids he has created are still being grown all over the world or used as valuable parent plants in further breeding experiments. He has used many different species in his cross-breeding efforts, but he is best known for his achievements with Cambria-like orchids, Miltoniopsis, Phalaenopsis and Zygopetalum. The driving forces behind his breeding work are his tremendous fascination with orchids and the desire to combine good characteristics to raise the species to a higher level.
In his early years this man trained and acquired expertise and experience at various highly renowned companies. At a later stage in his career he set up his own business, which is now managed by his son. For many years he also worked closely together with a well-known laboratory to learn the ins and outs of in-vitro propagation.
In spite of his modesty, his work is attracting ever more recognition. His hybrids are now being reported to the Royal Horticultural Society. He has also won the highest award in the field of horticulture in his country for his extraordinary efforts and achievements in orchid breeding.
In short, the jury finds that this person deserves another crown on his  work in the form of the Klaas Schoone Memorial Award, to honour his great contribution to the world of orchids thanks to, in particular, his breeding work.
 
 
W.M. Wooning,  chairman of the jury
Heemskerk, 10 June 2015