A graduate from Aberdeen University has won the Tilhill Award for ‘Outstanding Performance 2020’. 

The award was presented at an online presentation to James Cryer, a graduate on the MSc Environmental and Forest Management programme, 2019–2020. James has also recently received a scholarship from the Patsy Wood Trust funded by the Royal Forestry Society (RFS) and the Future Trees Trust.

As part of Tilhill’s work to strengthen links with future foresters, the company presents awards to top-performing students at universities offering degrees in forestry-related subjects across the UK.

A specially carved wooden trophy along with £250 prize money was presented to James (aka Jimmy) by Julian Hollingdale, Tilhill’s North Highland district manager.

Upon receiving the award, Jimmy said: “I feel like I received so much knowledge from the course which has set me up nicely for my career in forestry. Thank you very much to Tilhill for supporting the prize. I am looking forward to a productive future as a forest manager.”

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Julian Hollingdale said: “Well done and congratulations to Jimmy Cryer. I am under no illusions that both students and lecturers are facing unprecedented challenges including the fast adoption of online learning, potential isolation and technological limitations. 

“All of these, and many others, have had to be overcome. We are an outdoor industry and delivering these courses will have been difficult, but this practical knowledge in forestry is vitally important. 

“However, we must remember that it is an exciting time to be in forestry, as we find ourselves with a very supportive tree planting agenda from Scottish Government which has helped us create forests for the future throughout Scotland. We also have a strong timber harvesting demand across many of the mill sectors. And more recently, at the launch of the UK Forest Market Report, it was clear the sector has had an astonishing year, with record results in forestry. The market continues to have a very positive outlook.”

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