2020 Water Artisans of the Year: Runners-Up

Published on February 25, 2021

Instead of “honorable mentions,” we’d prefer to call these projects silver medalists. Second place was a hard-fought battle again this year, with just a couple of votes separating the winners from these respectable runners-up.

Aqua UV
POND Trade magazine hosts the Water Artisans of the Year contest on an annual basis. It is the pond and water-garden industry’s only independent, unsponsored annual competition that levels the playing field for all contractors, regardless of company size or affiliation. Projects are judged by an independent panel with no knowledge of the applicants’ identities. Each entry requires a $25 donation to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This year, we were proud to donate almost $1,500 on behalf of some of the most elite talent in the pond and water garden industry.

Do you have what it takes to be a Water Artisan of the Year? As the featured projects in this issue stimulate your muse, start saving photos from your most impressive 2021 projects. The eligibility period has already begun, and we will start accepting entries for the sixth annual contest this fall.

>> Take a look at our 2020 Water Artisans Winners

Show us what you’ve got! Next thing you know, you could see your own artistry gracing these pages next year.

Mark Wilson strikes again, landing in the runners-up category for Ponds by Night.Runner-Up | Ponds by Night

Mark Wilson, Any Pond Limited | Across the Big Pond, Mark Wilson officially extended the United Kingdom’s pond season with this newly designed wildlife pond, which comes alive at night with four color-changing lights. This pond creates a warming feel day and night, with the added bonus of a bonfire effect from the continuously flowing water.

Runner-Up | Most Naturalistic

Tim Anderson of Aquatic Edge | Don’t let your eyes fool you. This 12-foot pondless water-fall and stream were actually man-made and blended into a wooded backyard on top of a Pennsylvania mountain with rock, moss and ferns all harvested from the property. Crafted by Tim Anderson and the team at Aquatic Edge, this scene is so peaceful that it has become a front-row seat for local antbird watching.

Runner-up | Fountains/Formal Features

Tom Dieck and the Aquascapes East team pushed the boundaries of outdoor design with this semi-formal fountainscape, which serves as a natural haven in this otherwise contemporary backyard. Sit around a blazing fire and just savor the way the water dances down the stacked slate walls and spheres while underwater lights slowly fade through a spectrum of colors.

Runner-Up | Best Pondless

Landon Malave of LCM Landscape & Design designed this large-scale pondless waterfall that drops 14 feet from top to bottom, and making it the talk of the Denver-area Castle Pines neighborhood. Landon Malave incorpo-rated an existing 35-foot stream into a preexisting pond-less basin. These exquisite waterfalls can be seen and heard from the patio, house and gazebo that looks down onto the new prized pondless water feature.

Runner-Up | Under $15,000


Bobby Kenyon of C.E. Pontz Sons | Tucked within this charming wooded property in Southern Pennsylvania is a koi sanctuary, featuring an 8-foot stream, crashing waterfalls and glimmering pond. Bobby Kenyon and his C.E. Pontz Sons brothers added tons of moss, driftwood and aquatic plants to make it blend seamlessly into the surrounding environment.

[box size=”large” style=”rounded”]>> Related Content | 2019 Water Artisans Runners-Up [/box]

Japanese Koi Kodama

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