Since 1928 when the Rome Prize Fellowship in Landscape Architecture was established, The Garden Club of America has funded more than 1,400 recipients. The GCA offers 29 merit-based scholarships, fellowships and awards in 12 areas.

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The Garden Club of America contacts universities, arboreta and botanic gardens to encourage them to advertise our scholarships to their students and interns. Fourteen of the scholarships are managed by GCA staff and volunteers. Selection committees comprised of the GCA and community volunteers read applications and recommend candidates to be voted on in March each year. For fifteen of the GCA scholarships, the specialized level of knowledge necessary to choose the most compelling research projects requires that we collaborate with the following outside organizations:

• American Academy in Rome - GCA Rome Prize Fellowship in Landscape Architecture
• American Public Gardens Association (APGA)-The Garden Club of America Hope Goddard Iselin Fellowship in Public Horticulture
• Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI-US) - The Garden Club of America Fellowship in Conservation Horticulture
• Casey Trees - The GCA Zone VI Fellowship in Urban Forestry
• Center for Plant Conservation (CPC)-The Catherine H. Beattie Fellowship in Conservation Horticulture
• College of William & Mary, Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), Center for Coastal Resources Management-The GCA Award in Coastal Wetlands Studies
• Cornell University, Cornell Lab of Ornithology-The Frances M. Peacock Scholarship for Native Bird Habitat
• Desert Botanical Garden-The GCA Award in Desert Studies
• Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF), Leadership in Landscape Scholarship Program-The Douglas Dockery Thomas Fellowship in Garden History and Design
• Missouri Botanical Garden, William L. Brown Center-The Anne S. Chatham Fellowship in Medicinal Botany
• Pollinator Partnership (P2)-The Garden Club of America Board of Associates Centennial Pollinator Fellowship
• Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)-Garden Club of America/Royal Horticultural Society Interchange Fellowship
• Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Gardens, Archives of American Gardens (AAG)-The GCA Internship in Garden History and Design
• Student Conservation Association (SCA)-The Sara Shallenberger Brown GCA National Parks Conservation Scholarship
• University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum-The GCA Fellowship in Ecological Restoration
• National Tropical Botanical Garden - The GCA Awards in Tropical Botany, The Loy McCandless Marks Scholarship (an International Scholarship in Tropical Horticulture or Landscape Architecture)

These organizations each establish a panel of scientists to recommend award recipients in their respective fields. 

In 2023, over $400,000 was awarded to 86 scholars to support a variety of academic endeavors ranging from summer environmental study and fieldwork to graduate-level research. Their studies will take place in institutions across the nation and some will conduct fieldwork across the globe. 

GCA scholars have become leaders in their fields of study. Recently, a selection panel member reviewed a list of past recipients of The GCA Awards in Tropical Botany, which were first awarded in the 1980s. These scholars are now well established in their careers. The selection panel member commented that the names appearing on the list are a “veritable who’s who” of the Systematics and Forest Ecology fields today. The Garden Club of America is deservedly proud of its scholarship program.

Read the 2023 GCA Scholars Report

Click to view and download the GCA Scholarship Flyers: