1)
What is All-America Selections?
Answer:
All-America Selections is the oldest, most established
international, independent testing organization in
North America for flowers and vegetables grown from
seed.
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2)
Why should I enter the AAS trials?
Answer:
a) To receive a written objective
evaluation on the performance of your entry by experienced
horticulturalists, the AAS Judges.
b) An opportunity to test your new
unsold cultivar at independent test sites across North
America.
c) To win the prestigious AAS Award.
Winners of the AAS Awards are unique and recognized
for their value in North America and internationally
as flower and vegetable seeds that are bound to consistently
produce plants with outstanding vigor, quality and
productivity under a wide range of environmental conditions.
d) AAS launches an extensive international
publicity program. Press releases are distributed to
seed trade publications, bedding plant/nursery/landscape/garden
center trade publications and consumer media. AAS reaches
hundreds of millions of consumers each year who ask
for AAS Winners by variety name. The extensive consumer
publicity generates sales.
e) AAS Winner seeds are sent to about
180 AAS Display Gardens located in United States and
Canada. They are open to the public and provide gardeners
the opportunity to view the recent AAS Winners.
f) Universities, USDA or Cooperative
Extension Research institutions enter AAS trials free
of charge. AAS encourages public breeding programs
by allowing free entries.
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3)
How do I enter?
Answer:
a) Complete official AAS entry form
in detail.
b) Please note that the entry due
date was changed in 2003. Send entry to arrive in AAS
office by November 1 for Vegetable, Flower and Bedding
Plant trials. Cool Season Bedding Plant entries to
arrive in the AAS office by February 15.
c) Use a separate entry form for each
entry.
d)One 300 DPI JPEG digital image or
3 by 5 inch color print must accompany each entry form.
Do not label print.
e) Do not send seed with entry form.
f) For each entry, enclose $400.00
with entry forms payable by check or bank draft in
U.S. dollars, drawn on a U.S. Bank. The entry fee is
waived for a non-profit institution.
g) If entry is a vegetable, all brassicas,
watermelon and melon must have phytosanitary assay
tests. Send copy of the assay report to AAS office.
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4)
How do I locate and download entry forms?
Answer:
The entry application can be downloaded by clicking
the links below. Entrant must complete both pages of
entry application.
 *
The instructions require Adobe Acrobat Reader to be
viewed. To download a FREE copy of the Acrobat Reader,
visit the Adobe site.
To save the files locally:
1. Right Click on the download link
2. Choose 'Save Target As' ('Save Link as' in FireFox)
from list
3. Choose a location in which to save the file
4. Click 'SAVE'
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5)
There are four AAS Trial categories - Which one should
I enter?
Answer:
a) Vegetable - Evaluates
entries for flavor, quality, yield, earliness to harvest,
appearance, ease of harvest, plant habit, texture,
disease and pest resistance, production and space efficiency,
nutrition, novelty value, and edible qualities.
b) Flower - Evaluates entries for color, novel
flower form, disease and pest tolerance or resistance,
insect and weather stress, length of flowering season,
uniformity, uniqueness, fragrance, and overall ornamental
qualities. Evaluation of plants takes place entirely
in the trial ground.
c) Bedding Plant - Flower entries
are judged in both greenhouse and garden. Judged
for greenhouse qualities such as earliness, uniformity
of flowering, flower quality and size. Plants are evaluated
again outdoors for overall garden performance. Entries
must score high in both greenhouse and garden to be
considered a winner.
d) Cool Season Bedding Plant – The
Cool Season Bedding Plant trial evaluates frost-tolerant
annuals from seed. Evaluations take place over the
fall, winter and spring. For more detailed information,
see question #6.
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6)
What is the Cool Season Bedding Plant trial and what is
its timetable?
Answer:
The Cool Season Bedding Plant trial was designed to
accommodate cool season annuals such as pansies, dianthus,
snapdragons and others. This trial is conducted in
the fall, winter and spring.
Two scores will be given to each entry, which is the
same as the summer Bedding Plant trial. Entries must
perform in both the greenhouse and garden in order
to receive high scores for an AAS award. Fall evaluations
will be conducted in the greenhouse based on qualities
such as earliness, uniformity of flowering, flower
quantity and size. Plants are evaluated again outdoors
for overall garden performance, including home garden
merit, usefulness, appeal within specific geography
and overall performance when compared to similar varieties.
The timetable is much different than other AAS trials.
Entry forms and fees are due into the AAS office by
February 15; entry seed is due by April 1. Entry seed,
comparison seed and growing instructions are delivered
to Judges during the month of April.
Between May and August, seed will be sown and greenhouse
evaluations will occur. Depending on the trial ground
location geography, the entries will be transplanted
into trial ground between August and November. Garden
evaluations will be conducted throughout the fall,
winter and spring, from September through May. The
Judges final score sheets are due in AAS office by
May 15.
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7)
Where are the entries tested?
Answer:
For a list of all the Judges' trialing locations go
to All-America Selections
Trial Ground Locations page.
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8)
What should I be doing during the trial year?
Answer:
a) Please remember that your entry
must remain confidential. It is very important that
you do not discuss your entry or entries with anyone
outside of your company for the entire period that
the trials are being conducted.
b) Your description form will be sent
to you in January or February. The official AAS code
given to your entry will appear on the form along with
the list of comparisons chosen. You can visit any AAS
Trial Ground and locate your entry by the AAS code.
c) Conduct extensive seed production
tests or begin full seed production during the AAS
trial.
d) Take high quality professional
photography in the event that your variety scores enough
points to win an award.
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9)
When and how will I be notified if my entry is being considered
for an award?
Answer:
The winner is based on the average score given to an
entry by all Judges. For the Vegetable, Flower and
Bedding Plant trials, you will be notified by the Executive
Director mid-October. For the Cool Season Bedding Plant
trial you will be notified by the Executive Director
during the first week of June.
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10)
What are the criteria for introduction?
Answer:
a) Name of cultivar.
b) Images (3) of cultivar: One original 35mm color slide; one digital cross
platform (for PC and MAC) format 300dpi RGB JPEG of 1,000KB (1MB) to 4,000KB
(4MB); and one digital cross platform format 300dpi CMYK TIFF of 5,000KB
(5MB) to 9,000KB (9MB). These images will be used for the AAS Four-color
Brochure and extensively by the garden media. Please send your highest
quality images.
c) Estimate total quantity of seed
that will be sold to the home garden seed industry
(including bedding plant industry) in North America
the first year of introduction.
d) Current inventory - Seed inventory
should be equal to the quantity of seed needed for
the first year of sale. To be considered by the AAS
Board, the entrant must have 50% of seed in inventory.
Then entrant must provide assurances that the cultivar
is being produced and that the complete inventory will
be met by March 1.
e) Laboratory germination test on
blotter, certificate signed by a registered seed technologist.
f) Laboratory germination test on
soil, certificate signed by a registered seed technologist.
g) The quantity of seed that will
be sold the first year depends upon the price. The
AAS Board would like a general indication of pricing
such as, " the same as F1 Hybrid petunia," or "higher
than normal F1 Hybrid petunia pricing."
h) The AAS Board would like an indication
of the seed enhancement, if any, (pelleted, encrusted,
primed, treated) or will the seed be sold untreated?
If the seed is to be enhanced, are those processes
complete and the seed ready to sell? AAS Winners
must be available as untreated seed.
i) NEW CRITERIA FOR SPECIFIC VEGETABLE CLASSES: All
watermelon, melon and brassica vegetable holdovers
are subject to Seed Health Testing Requirements prior
to introduction.
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11)
When is a variety introduced as an AAS Winner?
Answer:
The breeder or entrant decides when the variety is
ready to be submitted to the AAS Board for introduction
consideration based on fulfilling the eight criteria
(nine criteria for watermelon, melon and brassica vegetables).
For more information on criteria, see FAQ #10. Vegetable,
Flower and Bedding Plant AAS Winners have a different
introduction schedule than Cool Season Bedding Plant
Winners.
Vegetable, Flower and Bedding Plant Winners – Fast
Track Introduction In order to qualify for
Fast Track, the completion of criteria must be submitted
to the AAS Executive Director by November 1. Fast Track
introduction of AAS Winners is announced to the Seed
Trade on November 15.
Vegetable, Flower and Bedding Plant Winners – Standard
Introduction If a Fast Track introduction
is not feasible, completed criteria can be submitted
to the AAS Executive Director by January 1 for introduction
at the AAS Council of Judges Open Meeting in January.
With either Standard or Fast Track Introduction, seed
may be booked after announcement, but not sold until
May 1.
Cool Season Bedding Plant Winners – Fast
Track Summer Introduction In order to qualify
for the Fast Track Introduction, completion of the
eight criteria must be submitted to the AAS Executive
Director by June 15. The Fast Track Winners will be
announced to the Seed Trade and Bedding Plant Growers
on July 1. Following the announcement, seed can be
sold immediately.
Cool Season Bedding Plant Winners – Standard
Fall Introduction Criteria must be submitted
to the AAS Executive Director by November 1. Winners
will be announced on November 17 to the Seed Trade.
Seed sales can begin January 1, following the November
17 announcement. The January 1 seed sales date is to
coincide with the introduction of varieties for fall
bedding plant sales.
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12)
What is an AAS Holdover?
Answer:
A holdover is a variety that has been tested, received
a sufficiently high average score to be considered
for an award, but has not met the eight criteria for
introduction.
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13)
What am I required to pay AAS for an AAS Winner?
Answer:
An assessment is to be paid to AAS by the entrant of
an AAS Winner. The minimum is $2,000 per year. Maximum
assessment is 10% of seed sales not to exceed $20,000
per year. A winner is assessed for five years and 2 months. The
assessment is based on seed sales to the home garden
seed industry (including bedding plant industry) in
North America.
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14)
Does AAS offer protection to my variety if it wins an award?
Answer:
No. The only protection for a new variety is to apply
for Plant Variety Protection available from USDA.
 Click here for
additional information on Plant Variety Protection.
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