Concours des villes et villages fleuris

The (English: 'Competition of cities and villages in bloom') is an annual French contest. It aims to encourage communes to adopt and implement policies improving the quality of life of their inhabitants and enhancing their attractiveness to visitors through the provision and maintenance of green spaces and the enhancement of their natural environments. Successful communes are awarded the right to display a badge (one to four flowers) on road signs and in other local promotional material. The competition was created in 1959 by the French state and it is administered by a distinct national committee since 1972. This committee is still linked to the Ministry of Tourism. All the French communes can take part and there are no application fees. There is not any limitation to the number of awarded communes, so they are not in competition between each other. The label comprises four awards: one, two, three or four flowers, according to the efforts of the municipality. Each award is given according to strict criteria. The (Golden Flower) is a special prize awarded to a small number of applicants. Awarded communes display their flowers on road signs at their entrances. There are 4,931 awarded cities, towns and villages (2018). 257 of them have four flowers. History The originates in the various horticultural contests that appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. As tourism was growing, competitions were created for train stations and hotels for them to improve their visual quality. The French Touring Club created the first competition dedicated to villages during the 1920s. Called ('cosy villages contest') it existed until 1939. After the Second World War, the Touring Club created an itinerary of flower-decked roads together with the Horticultural Association and the magazine Rustica. The success of the itinerary led to the creation of the present in 1959. The competition passed from the French state to a national committee in 1972. Since 1988, its organisation has been the responsibility of the general councils which are the elected assemblies of the departments. The national committee remains the coordinator on a national level.