Who Told You Your Landscaping Work Isn't Good Enough?

Think your work isn’t good enough for the Awards? You’re not alone. We hear it from members all the time. But for 2025 winner Robert Mihailescu, pushing past that self-doubt and throwing his hat into the ring led to a category win—and a whole new level of confidence in his work.

Landscaping Victoria | 20 Aug 2026 | 4 min read

There’s a sentence we hear surprisingly often when we talk to members about entering the Victorian Landscape Industry Awards.

“I don’t think my work is good enough.”

Not I don’t have a project.
Not I’m not interested.
Not even I don’t have time.

I’m not good enough

And for an industry filled with extraordinarily skilled people, it’s a sentiment that comes up far more often than it should.

It’s easy to understand where it comes from.

You look at the projects that have won before. You see the established businesses, the spectacular gardens, the polished photography, and the names you recognise. You compare all of that with your own work, and somewhere along the way, you decide the outcome before you’ve even entered.

Robert Mihailescu from The Cutting Hedge Landscaping and Garden Design knows that feeling well.

For years, he watched the Awards from the sidelines.

“The thing that held me back from ever entering any award competition was the doubt and fear of, ‘Am I good enough?’ For years I watched big landscaping companies winning and thought, how can I ever compete against them when they’ve been competing and winning for years?”

Then a conversation with a member of the Landscaping Victoria team gave Robert the nudge he needed.

He entered.

And in 2025, he won the Grant Saltmarsh Memorial Award – Feature in the Landscape.

The project hadn’t suddenly become better because Robert entered it.

The skill hadn’t appeared overnight.

The only thing that had changed was that he gave his work the opportunity to be judged on its merits.

You don’t have to decide whether you’re good enough to enter

That’s what the judges are there for.

Entering the Awards isn’t standing up and declaring that you’re the best in the industry. It’s putting forward work you’re proud of and allowing experienced industry peers to assess it.

There’s a big difference.

And while entering can feel daunting—particularly the first time—Robert’s advice is refreshingly simple.

“Give it a go. You will never know unless you try. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”

Even the entry process, which Robert admits looked overwhelming at first, became manageable once he stopped looking at it as one enormous task.

“At first it was daunting—there were so many things you needed to have. But if you just work through the checklist one item at a time, you will get there in the end.”

And then came the win.

For Robert, it was far more than a trophy.

“Winning last year was an incredible accomplishment for me personally. I considered the Awards an Olympic moment—competing for the gold medal in a specific category. If you want to win, you have to compete against the best.”

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More importantly, the recognition gave him something that self-doubt had made difficult to give himself: validation.

“Since winning, I feel my business has had more validation from Landscaping Victoria that I’m good at what I do. In turn, clients feel more confident knowing I’m an award-winning designer and want me creating their garden.”

That’s the part of awards recognition that can sometimes get lost amongst the trophies, photographs, and gala celebrations.

It gives your work a platform.

It gives your team something to be proud of.

It gives prospective clients another reason to trust you.

And sometimes, it gives you the evidence you need to finally recognise the quality of your own work.

Your landscape work is better than you think

There will always be a reason not to enter.

Maybe you’re a smaller business. Maybe this would be your first entry. Maybe you’ve looked at previous winners and wondered how your project could possibly measure up.

Robert did too.

He nearly stayed on the sidelines.

Instead, he threw his hat into the ring and walked away a winner.

So if the thought running through your head is “I’m not sure my work is good enough”, perhaps there’s a different question worth asking:

What if it is?

There’s only one way to find out.

Back yourself. Enter the 2026 Victorian Landscape Industry Awards

You don’t need to have everything perfectly packaged before you start, and you certainly don’t need to have already decided whether your project is a winner.

Choose the category that fits your work, secure your entry, then tackle the supporting materials one step at a time. The judging criteria are available up front, so you can see exactly what the judges will be assessing.

Entries for the 2026 Victorian Landscape Industry Awards close Friday 4 September. No extensions.

You’ve done the work. Now give it the chance to be recognised.

Explore the categories and enter the 2026 Victorian Landscape Industry Awards

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