Photo credit: Gaston Zilberman
Open call now live – ages 14–30, free to apply, any medium. Deadline: October 10, 2025 (23:59 CET).
Facts change minds, but stories move people. A single image can cross borders in seconds. A short film can turn a distant flood, a drying river, or a disappearing forest into something you feel in your chest. That spark of recognition is where momentum begins.
That’s why the Global Environment Facility is partnering with the Earth Partner Prize, a global platform for young creatives using art to spotlight the ecological crisis. Together, we’re inviting new voices into the conversation – especially from communities on the frontline of climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and land and ocean degradation – and giving their work a global stage.
“The energy, color, ideas, and boldness of young people is what will define the world we live in tomorrow,” GEF CEO and Chairperson Carlos Manuel Rodríguez says. “The Earth Partner Prize highlights this vision and determination, showcasing imaginative voices from communities whose experiences are vital to understanding and addressing environmental challenges.”
Now in its sixth year, the Earth Partner Prize (formerly #CreateCoP) has become a launchpad for emerging artists, showcasing finalists online and at cultural landmarks, and connecting them with editors, curators, and audiences who can help their ideas travel further.
“I am in awe each year of the energy that comes through the artworks, and of the breadth of issues that are affecting young people across the globe,” Earth Partner founder Amber Testino says. “I’m proud and honored to support the next generation of creatives in their commitment to care for the planet. I’m very proud to share so many different perspectives year after year.”
With past entries from over 130 countries, contest winners are eligible for prizes of up to $10,000. Past works have featured in exhibitions from the United Nations in New York to Fotografiska Shanghai, with a new showcase planned at the Vatican this September.
This year’s open call is simple and wide open: if you’re 14–30, you can submit your work for free in any medium – film, photography, music, performance, fashion, design, code, poetry, or something entirely your own. Show us what the environmental crisis looks like through your eyes. Show us the solutions that are already growing where you live.
How to take part
- Who: Young creatives aged 14–30, from any country
- Cost: Free to apply
- Mediums: Any (film, photo, music, performance, fashion, design, writing, code, etc.)
- Deadline: October 10, 2025 (23:59 CET)
- Prizes & visibility: Cash awards of up to $10,000 for eight finalists, honorable mentions for 20 more, and global exposure through Earth Partner’s platforms and exhibitions
We know the best stories aren’t always found in boardrooms or press kits. They’re in homes and workshops, along coastlines and in informal settlements, on farms and factory floors, in forests and schools and studios. If you have one, now is the time to tell it.
Because the world doesn’t just need more data. It needs more light – ideas, images, and sounds that help us see what’s at stake and what’s possible, together.
About the Global Environment Facility
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) includes several multilateral funds working together to address the planet's most pressing challenges in an integrated way. Its financing helps developing countries address complex challenges and work towards meeting international environmental goals. Over the past three decades, the GEF has provided more than $26 billion in financing, primarily as grants, and mobilized another $153 billion for country-driven priority projects.
About Earth Partner
Earth Partner is the sustainability division of Art Partner and a global community of climate conscious creatives. We began the Earth Partner journey with the goal to reduce the carbon footprint of Art Partner’s offices and productions, and to send no waste to landfill by the end of 2020. Since then, we have evolved into a global community of creatives who believe in art’s transformative impact. Through our signature Earth Partner Prize (formerly #CreateCOP), sustainable production practices within Art Partner, and year-round initiatives, we connect the dots for positive change by creating links between people, platforms, businesses, governments and organizations all over the world. Throughout the years, we have partnered with many institutions and initiatives such as UNESCO, Mentoring Matters, the United Nations Fashion and Lifestyle Network, the World Land Trust, Natural Capital Partners, and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
