The more than 150-year-old red beech at the entrance to St Hippolytus Church in Middelstum, Groningen, won the public Tree of the Year election. It received 6,721 votes, nearly 3,000 more than the runner-up in Utrecht.

The SBNL Nature Fund organizes the election to draw attention to notable and monumental trees and those important to the environment and local communities. The beech is under pressure from prolonged drought and changing climate conditions, according to the green manager of Groninger Kerken.