The Aquatic Gardeners Association is excited to announce the results for the 2022 AGA International Aquascaping Contest. The contest had another outstanding year, with an excellent number of entries submitted to both our aquatic garden and specialty categories. There were some stunning aquascapes this year making the judging very difficult again.

The success of the contest is dependent on the hard work of our esteemed panel of judges sifting through hundreds of entries to choose just a few of the very best aquascapes. Judging the contest is a daunting task requiring all of our judges to take time from their work and home obligations. Without their willingness to participate, our aquascaping contest would not be the success it is today. The contest committee is incredibly thankful to all of our judges!

The contest would not be the success it is without the generosity of our sponsors: Seachem, Florida Aquatic Nurseries, Amazonas Magazine, the Greater Seattle Aquarium Society and the Chicago Aquatic Plant Society. Thank you for your generous support!

On the AGA side, I would like to thank the Contest Planning Committee, in particular Jen Williams for providing our beautiful contest graphics and Cheryl Rogers for contacting and securing the unprecedented 17-member judging panel. I also want to send out a huge thank you to Erik Olson, the AGA’s tech guru, who not only handled the aquascapes as they were received, but also the preparation of the final website and livestream. Thank you volunteers, judges and sponsors for your hard work!

So, without further ado, enjoy this year's aquascapes!
Bailin Shaw, AGA Contest Chair

See an error?

Contact us by December 20, after which the placings are finalized.

Comments

For third time I had the honor to judge this amazing aquascaping contest. Judging the seven categories of aquascaping was an amazing experience again. Many different styles mixed in every category made it hard to decide between NA forest dioramas...
What really stands out for me is that the percentage of "underwater feeling" tanks is really high. I feel this is the way we are creating habitats for our fish and aquatic plants.
On the other hand I only had new emotions with 3 tanks in the whole contest. I want to encourage to all aquascapers to break out of their comfort zone and take risks by going one step further. Risk can make you fall but can raise you to the top.
— Juan Puchades Rufino
AGA is one of the very few contests in the world that makes an effort to give Dutch Style Aquariums a stage as well. Normally those would never be able to battle it out against the Nature Styles but in their own category we can see some amazing works that come close to mastering this discipline that has much more to it than one would think at first sight.
— Marco Aukes
I remember being inspired by the entries in this contest twenty years ago and saving pictures of the aquariums to my computer. Some of them are still on my hard drive. It is an honor and a great pleasure to be part of the AGA 2022 team today. Every year the interest in biotope aquariums gains momentum and that makes me very happy. It is noticeable the love with which the authors have prepared the works. Each year the contests reveal new talent. Thank you to all participants the contest was interesting and varied. I wish all participants inspiration and victory!
— Yuriy Yancher
I feel glad and thankful for having had the opportunity to contribute to AGA 2022.
It was a great surprise and honor for me to be invited to the aquascaping contest with the longest tradition.
The number and quality of the works was unprecedented and simply overwhelming.
The organization and the course of the evaluation process were exemplary and I felt well informed at all times and an excellent infrastructure was provided.
A great experience for myself.
And I really hope I was able to do justice to the participants and meet their expectations of my work.
It was a great pleasure thanks alot!
— Frederic Fuss
First time judging the Aquatic Gardeners Association biotope contest and was happily impressed with the featured tanks. I also have to say that it is the most organized judge friendly and electronically modern contest I have ever judged. Wow!
— Ivan Mikolji
Since its first edition in 2000 this important and renowned contest has solidified itself on the international scene as one of the most important contests in the world.
Divided by categories it is certainly the most balanced representative and inclusive contest among all those currently existing. Here it is not only aquascaping that has space. Several other amazing styles are represented through the categories paludariums Dutch-style aquariums biotopes and wabi-kusa arrangements.
The jury is always very select dedicated and able to transform this wonderful contest into a true communion of passions between lovers of Nature and of aquatic plants from all over the world.
I feel honored and increasingly part of this wonderful family of selfless scientists scholars and people passionate about the world of aquatic plants.
I sincerely hope that the participants can understand the constructive purpose of all judges' comments and that they can through them improve and develop their new works to the next editions.

My sincere gratitude to all participants for sharing your passion and uniting your energies for the common good. There is not just one winner in each category...everybody is winner!
Gratitude sums up my feeling in this edition of the most important aquascaping contest in the world!!

AS I ALWAYS SAID
IT WAS NEVER JUST ABOUT AQUARIUMS.
IT'S ABOUT LOVE AND RESPECT.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!
— Andre Longarço
I’m so excited and honored to be here for the second time the opportunity to learn and teach here is priceless.
Hope to do my job the best way and continue growing in this amazing part of my lifestyle called aquascaping.

This year the emotional part was amazing I love what nature brings us.
— Jhonny Vanegas Cardenas
Thank you thank you thank you!!!! I am incredibly honoured to have had the opportunity to be a judge in the Paludarium category! I want to give huge thank you to all of the participants who entered - everyone's work had its own uniquely beautiful qualities and I have been so deeply inspired by the sheer talent from all of the entries this year. It was an absolute pleasure to be a part of this!
— Alex Vella
Another wonderful year of wonderful scapes. Thank you to all our competitors for sharing your hard work with all of us. You make our job hard and we love that!
— Karen Randall
I am honored to have the opportunity to contribute to AGA 2022. It is a great privilege to witness the efforts of so many passionate hobbyists from around the world all drawn together by a love for creating nature.

Thank you for your contributions by entering and sharing your work with us all. There is an incredible diversity of style and artistic approach across all categories especially those like Wabi-Kusa where "styles" "labels" or "genres" have yet to applied allowing for every successful Wabi-Kusa to appear avant-garde or innovative.

Keep on innovating. Try new things. Like all art remember the past and where these things come from. Reference them but use them only as inspiration - not guidelines. The possibilities are truly endless.

Congratulations to every participant on your work. Continue to create beautiful things.
— Jack McCarley

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