The Mary Swords DeBaillon Medal is the highest recognition given to a Louisiana iris. It is awarded annually by the American Iris Society based on the votes of Accredited AIS Judges nationwide. In the 2025 contest, three of the five nominees were produced by GNOIS members.
The Society for Louisiana Irises provides the actual Medal, a tradition going back to the early years of the Society when it created the Mary Swords DeBaillon Award. When SLI became a Section of AIS, the Award was converted to a Medal and brought into the AIS awards system
The winner of the DeBaillon Award in 2024 was ‘Eyes Wide Open’ by Heather Pryor of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Heather has won several DeBaillon Awards and produced many noteworthy and popular Louisiana irises, as has her husband Bernard.
The ballot for the 2025 DeBaillon Medal has been distributed to AIS judges, who must vote by August. Joe Musacchia of Gray, LA, has two cultivars on the ballot. ‘Acadian Sky’ is a beautiful mid-blue with its signal heavily outlined in dark blue-purple, a rare feature. The iris is exceptionally vigorous and has made a strong impression at several SLI and AIS conventions. ‘Acadian Sky’ still grows in the Sculpture Garden in New Orleans after its planting for the 2018 conventions. Its parentage is Tchoupitoulas X Queen Jeanne.
Joe’s second candidate is ‘Rougaroux’, a mid-purple iris with a yellow arrowhead signal on all petals. The yellow expanse in the center of a purple iris creates an impression, and ‘Rougaroux’ is also an excellent grower.
Patrick O’Connor of Metairie hybridized ‘Katrina Rising’. It has red-orange standards, edged yellow. The falls are red-orange, but the heavily veined yellow signal with orange veining blends into about half the length of the petals. Its parentage is complex, with one parent being ‘Andouille’ and the other a seedling.
Hooker Nichols of Dallas created ‘Heartbreak Warfare’ a very full bitone iris. The falls are deep red-rose with a small but bright yellow signal. The contrasting standards show red-rose veins over a cream-white underwash. This iris is from a cross of the beautiful ‘Chuck Begnaud’ X ‘Jacaranda Lad’.
Harry Wolford of Palm Bay, FL produced the final nominee, ‘Annette Brown’, one of the few “broken color” irises we have. It is pale yellow with heavy but irregular deep red veining. It is the offspring of ”Bayou Tiger’ and ‘Splitter Splatter’, another broken color iris. These irises are new, novel, and very popular.
The 2025 candidates for the DeBaillon Medal are beautiful, worthy irises, and they are sure to be replaced by a nice new crop for the 2026 award as hybrids work their way up through the AIS Awards system. The 2025 results should be known by the end of the summer.
