Collage of images from the 2025 Earth Partner Prize competition. Image courtesy of Earth Partner
The Global Environment Facility and Earth Partner are proud to announce the winners of the 2025 Earth Partner Prize.
Selected from almost 1,300 entries from over 110 countries, the winning works capture the realities of our changing planet – from works exploring eco-anxiety and environmental justice to explorations of community resilience and regeneration.
The first prize was awarded to “The Last of Us” by Apah Benson (Nigeria), portraying the effects of oil spills on communities and the environment. Other standout works included explorations of corporate greenwashing, cultural resilience, and sustainable community practices.
“The energy, color, ideas, and boldness of young people is what will define the world we live in tomorrow,” 2025 Earth Partner Prize juror and GEF CEO and Chairperson Carlos Manuel Rodríguez said. “The Earth Partner Prize highlights this vision and determination, showcasing imaginative voices from communities whose experiences are vital to understanding and addressing environmental challenges.”
Earth Partner founder Amber Olson Testino said that she continued to be amazed and inspired by “how such a breadth of themes and creative styles mix to form a single, powerful call to care for the planet.”
The winning works are now featured in an online virtual exhibition, offering a global audience an immersive experience of how art intersects with advocacy.
This year also introduced a new Earth Partner Impact Award, recognizing the project with the greatest community engagement. The inaugural prize went to “Dança Pajé: Favela Ancestral" by Instituto Afro-Aurora Dance (Brazil) for its use of dance and performance to celebrate ancestral knowledge and environmental stewardship in Brazilian favelas.
Now in its third year, the Earth Partner Prize invites young artists aged 14–30 to submit original works that explore the intersection of art, climate, and the environment. The initiative aims to amplify youth voices and spark global conversation ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP) each year.
The 2025 Earth Partner Prize jury included a distinguished panel of international figures from the worlds of art, design, and sustainability.
“In judging the works,” Hans Ulrich Obrist, Earth Partner Prize juror and artistic director at the Serpentine Galleries, said, “one of the main criteria for me has been: how do these projects address a need to move away from ‘short-termism,' and lead us in thinking with a long-term lens?”
Explore the full list of winners and honorable mentions here.
