The 2017 Bennett C. Jones Award for Outstanding Median Hybridizing went to Perry Dyer, in recognition of his many contributions to the world of median irises.

Without question, Perry Dyer is one of the most knowledgeable median specialists we have. While he has introduced relatively few irises, they are all of high quality. He has won the top award in 4 of the median classes (if you count the William Mohr medal for his arilbred median, 'Prince of Egypt' in 2015). His other winners are 'Serenity Prayer' (Cook-Douglas 1995), 'Silent Strings' (Sass 1979), and 'Soft Spoken' (Knowlton 1980). Many of us have one or more of Perry's introductions as permanent residents in our gardens, attesting to their enduring quality. He has always had a great eye for irises, and has proved that you don't need to introduce masses of irises to win the top awards.

Median introductions include:

Arilbred Median: 'Prince Of Egypt'.

Border Beardeds: 'Soft Spoken'.

Intermediate Beardeds: 'On Golden Pond', and 'Silent Strings'.

Standard Dwarf Beardeds: 'Bleached Blonde', 'Chastity Belt', 'Crystalline Entity', 'Cuban Cutie', 'Freudian Slip', 'Gaily Forward', 'Golden Gloves', 'Helter Skelter', 'Herbal Essence', 'Incorrigible', 'Jade Mist', 'Joyous Isle', 'Martial Arts', 'Midnight Madness', 'Primal Scream', 'Pumpkin Munchkin, 'Radioactive', 'Serenity Prayer', 'Silk Stockings'; 'Smashing Pumpkins', 'Star Of Africa', 'Sweet Insanity', 'Why Two Kay', and 'Wizard Of Id'.

Perry has done a lot for the iris world over the years. He served two terms as president of the Median Iris Society, and has served as president of his local iris societies, the Oklahoma Iris Society and the Sooner State Iris Society, multiple times. He has constantly and consistently promoted medians. He has judged shows in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas and other places. He single handedly prepared, checked and double checked the convention handbooks for the Oklahoma AIS Conventions and MIS Conventions. He has conducted innumerable judges training sessions, encouraging and inspiring some of our most prolific hybridizers and vociferous median enthusiasts along the way. And he was one of the editors of the 50th anniversary issue of The Medianite, which is, for many, a favorite among iris publications. His deep knowledge and discerning eye mean that when Perry has undertaken to do judges' training, or to pen his views on the current crop of iris introductions, you won't find better material anywhere. In short, we salute the consistently high quality of Perry's hybridizing output, and his long years of service to AIS, MIS and his regional and local iris societies.

Thank you, Perry, for your years of hard work and dedication to median irises!

Nomination forms for this award are due each year by December 31. To make nominations, click on the link below to obtain a copy of the Nomination Form (PDF).

>>>    Nomination Form   <<<