Deadline: 08-Mar-23
Entries are now being accepted for the 2023 Ashden Awards. This year, the Awards will help power up inclusive innovation creating a fairer low carbon world – tackling inequality and empowering communities on the frontline of the climate crisis through jobs, skills and training.
For over 20 years, the Ashden Awards have been uncovering and spotlighting the world’s next climate champions. Through grant prizes of up to £25,000, as well as ongoing development support, their awards accelerate climate innovation – helping businesses, charities, governments and others power up their impact in the UK and low-income countries.
Ashden winners come in all shapes and sizes. They don’t reward the biggest organisations or slickest marketing pitches – they’re looking for passion, potential and commitment to their values. They’ve put winners on stage at the COP climate talks and in global media.
Categories
- UK Awards
- Ashden Award for Energy Innovation
- Ashden Award for Skills in Sustainable Land Management
- Ashden Award for Community Nature Adaptation
- International Awards
- Ashden Award for Integrated Energy Africa
- Ashden Award for Skills Powering Energy Access
- Ashden Award for Energising Agriculture
- Ashden Award for Natural Climate Solutions
- Ashden Award for Energising Refugees and Displaced People
Benefits
- A prize of £10,000 or £25,000 each, depending on which award you
- Prestige of winning one of the world’s top sustainability awards. The rigour of their assessment process is well known to investors, policymakers, academics and other experts in the sustainable energy and climate change sector around the world.
- Membership of an alumni network of Ashden Award winners, which facilitates learning and opportunities to create productive partnerships.
- Opportunities to present your work to large and influential audiences at the Ashden Awards Ceremony and other Ashden events.
- The chance to have your work profiled in regional, national, international and specialist media. Ashden’s communication team works to get winners exposure in newspapers and magazines, on television and radio, and on a wide range on online platforms. This continues long after the award ceremony – Ashden regularly secures coverage for winners months and even years after they win their award.
- Promotional material including photographs, print material and broadcast quality video for winners to use in their own marketing efforts.
- Where it can have a significant impact, tailored support from their programme team to grow or replicate your work: this can include professional mentoring, training, help raising finance and investment, and media and communications support.
- Where it can have significant impact, introductions to influential policy and decision makers, and an opportunity to make your voice heard.
- They also seek to integrate UK-based winners into their Sustainable Towns and Cities programme of work, where they embed their winners’ approaches into policy and practice. Their widely used resources for local authorities such as a climate action co-benefits toolkit, and their Learning Out Loud pages feature many of their alumni. They also regularly showcase their winners at their regional local authority learning workshops, and their network of city region sustainability lead officers.
- Additionally, there is opportunity for their winners to participate in a programme of free masterclasses which help them to get to grips with a wide range of practical issues. This can be anything from customer experience, developing a communications strategy or getting investment ready.
Eligibility Criteria
- Who can apply for an Ashden Award?
- Businesses, NGOs, government organisations, and social enterprises (both for-profit and not-for-profit, including community groups) are all eligible. Each award is limited to work in certain parts of the world.
- Where should the work be taking place?
- Energy Innovation: UK
- Skills in Sustainable Land Management: UK
- Community Nature Adaptation: UK
- Integrated Energy Africa: Africa
- Energising Agriculture: International (ODA recipients)
- Natural Climate Solutions: International (ODA recipients)
- Powering Refugees and Displaced People: International (ODA recipients)
- Skills Powering Energy Access: International (ODA recipients)
- What are the eligibility criteria?
- To be shortlisted and win an award, all applicants must satisfy these eligibility criteria:
- The work submitted for an award must be currently available to customers, clients or beneficiaries.
- The applicant must show an innovative approach in their work.
- The applicant’s work must have the potential to create significant impact. This might be achieved by their growth as an organisation, or the replication of their innovation around the world. Applicants must be willing to work with Ashden and others to achieve this goal. ‘Significant’ impact could be a large reduction in emissions, a mitigation action that addresses a serious threat to people’s wellbeing, or a transformation in people’s quality of life – particularly the most marginalised.
- The applicant must show good governance and management. They are looking for efficient use of funds and a strong plan to generate further income, whether from sales, grants or any other source. Organisations can be for profit or not-for-profit. Winners must have sustainability embedded in their values and practices.
For more information, visit Ashden.