Award Recipients
Learn about the broad range of creative projects from across the globe championed by local changemakers who are using their voice and ingenuity to tackle the planet’s most pressing environmental concerns.
2025 Top Honors Award Recipients
Monarchs Matter
Monarchs Matter is protecting the monarch butterfly by raising awareness through community workshops and international webinars, citizen science data collection, and planting native flora.
Lila y su sueño de la cuna azul
Let’s Talk E-waste
Fighting Wildfires
Reforest AI
2025 Distinguished Achievement Award Recipients
Lines of Hope
Roots for Change
GLED a UNSDG 12 Reusable LED bulb
CAMO
Fueling Trees Using Biogas
2025 Significant Achievement Award Recipients
Orange for Green
Trash to Treasure
Clea - Clean Choice, Clean Change
Pocket Prairies
Gui’xhi Nayaa - Monte Verde
View how these changemakers will slingshot us ahead to a better world
2025 Slingshot Challenge Award Recipients
2025 Slingshot Challenge Distinguished Achievement Award Recipient | GLED a UNSDG 12 Reusable LED
1:012025 Slingshot Challenge Distinguished Achievement Award Recipient | Fueling Trees Using Biogas
1:012025 Honorable Mention Award Recipients
See more amazing submissions that caught our attention on our Slingshot Videos for Change showcase.
2024 Award Recipients
Philippines, US, Hong Kong
Noga Gercsak, Gabrielle Gervacio, Shradha Bista, Riya Zingade, Ishika Meel, Prithika Venkatesh
After meeting last summer at a coding camp for mobile apps, this team from across the globe is passionate about using code to solve real-world problems. They developed Mazah, a globally-designed app that helps minimize food waste to combat climate change.
Onitsha, Nigeria
Chidiebere Anigbogu
Chidiebere is passionate about leveraging science and technology to tackle climate challenges in Nigeria. He created TerraBox, a hands-on STEM kit that empowers children in his community to explore clean energy solutions.
Churumuco, Mexico
Ulises Yael Texta Ponce, Wiliam Artemio Texta Ponce, Diana Paola Ponce Nava, Perla Karina Ponce Gómez, Sasha Enriquez
This team is engaging youth in their community to form a network of active participation for protecting the endangered green macaw through monitoring, reforestation efforts, and community education.
Ericeira, Portugal
Marta Bernardino
Passionate about robotics and concerned about deforestation, Bernardino created Trovador, a tree planting robot that improves reforestation efforts in Portugal’s mountainous areas. The project unites technology and communities to change the status quo and leaves no site left to be restored.
Tapachula, Mexico
Evelyn Pinot
From a young age, Pinot showed interest and passion for the wildlife that inhabited Tapachula, Mexico. Pinot founded Polinizadores Urbanos (Urban Pollinators), an organization dedicated to the creation of sanctuaries for pollinators by cataloging and restoring native flowering plant species.
Mississippi, USA
Demi Johnson
Restoring Mississippi’s threatened oyster reef population through community education to create oyster gardens.
Arizona, USA
Protecting wildlife and reducing waste by educating community members through an immersive virtual reality experience.
Mexico
Protecting threatened bat species through the creation of a network of young bat researchers.
Tanzania
Addressing climate change by promoting community-centered sustainable food production in Tanzania, Permaculture Food Forest.
Mexico
Protecting nature through storytelling by sharing soundscapes of wetland areas in Ensenada, Mexico, Escuchando el Humedal.
United Kingdom and China
Restoring the ocean by using artificial intelligence to monitor coral reef health.
Egypt
Cleaning the air by recycling gold rice straw into paper products to reduce emissions from burning.
Pakistan
Reducing waste and improving community health by developing eco-friendly menstrual products.
2023 Award Recipients
Lahore, Pakistan
Abdullah Shahid
Abdullah Shahid is an ardent environmentalist seeking to unearth the alarming traces of poor air quality of Lahore and cite these to the public of Pakistan. Shahid is aiming to provide a no-compromises alternative to the norms of transport used by all to get to school to put into effect a chain reaction of cutting down one’s carbon footprint and hence being a part of a conclusive goal.
Hillsborough, CA, USA
Kayla Ling
Kayla Ling is passionate about addressing social issues like the climate crisis, racial injustice, and gender inequity with hope-based solutions like film, writing, and community conversations. Her latest project, #NoWasteNation, creates a platform on Instagram for creative waste reducers to unite through social media. She hopes that by highlighting the creative actions of specific community leaders, other community members will be inspired to reduce waste themselves.
San Luis Potosí, Mexico
Regina Gutiérrez
Foresta Vivero was created after the forest fires affected the San Miguelito Sierra in 2019. A group of students concerned about the situation worked to contribute to the restoration of the damaged ecosystem. They talked to experts about their ideas to make sure that they had a positive impact and their actions would not affect the environmental balance.
Lexington, MA, USA
Soren Goldsmith
Soren Goldsmith is an award-winning wildlife photographer and conservationist based in Lexington, Massachusetts. He uses photography to tell stories that promote the protection of local ecosystems and wildlife. In his most recent project, he employs motion-activated cameras, or “camera traps”, to capture photos of elusive local wildlife. By placing the cameras deep in conservation properties, he reveals the unseen animals that live in his town.
New Bussa, Nigeria
Oluwaseyi Aina, Ayomide Alagbe, Mercy Ojotola, Naimat Lukman, Nancy Nkili
Nancy Nkili, Ayomide Alagbe, Oluwaseyi Aina, Mercy Ojotola, and Naimat Lukman are part of the MESL School Environmental Protection Club (MSEPC) in New Bussa, Nigeria. The objective of the club is to enlighten its members of the need to protect our environment and identify ways they can contribute to protecting the environment.
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Slingshot Challenge is supported by the National Geographic Society and Allen Family Philanthropies.
Photo credits (from top of page): Mark Thiessen