@ Zoia, garden judges vote on the the Stout, yes. But on that particular award, it is simply the TOTAL number of votes it gets, period. No regional consideration at all. And this year, voting by garden judges was extremely low. More judges are needed, and those who are judges need to vote for awards to have any credibility. Sorry, but I can still remember years of tabulating votes when there were over 800 garden judges and votes for the Stout would approach 100 votes or more for the winner. This years low voting totals really bothered me. JMHO.
