Young Climate Prize 2023 winners

The World Around, a nonprofit platform for global architecture’s now, near and next, is proud to announce the winners of its inaugural Young Climate Prize. Following a bespoke mentorship and academy program for a cohort of 25 under-25s, three young winners and an honoree selected by a world-class jury will be celebrated along with a host of design and architecture luminaries at The World Around Summit 2023. The daylong event is held in partnership with the Guggenheim Museum and tickets are available now.

The World Around Young Climate Prize jury comprised of curator and critic Hans Ulrich Obrist, artist Adrián Villar Rojas, editor Asad Syrkett, architect Kunlé Adeyemi, curator and writer Priya Khanchandani, sustainability leader Marlo Sablante and environmental social scientist Holly Jean Buck.  The winners profiles and projects are detailed below and videos of their work are available to watch here:

Young Climate Voice:  Pamela Elizarrarás Acitores mentored by Mariana Pestana
Climate literacy has a direct impact on motivating and empowering climate action. Addressing this is Pamela Elizarrarás Acitores, a documentary photographer from Mexico and the co-founder and creative director of Climate Words, an initiative aimed at promoting awareness of climate-specific terminology. The project curates an extensive lexicon of key words submitted by experts on the frontlines of climate action. Each definition is supported with facts, evidence, literature, and further resources. Pamela received mentorship from Lisbon-based architect and curator Mariana Pestana.

Young Climate Designer: Foday David Kamara mentored by Dominic Leong 
Ecovironment is a Sierra Leonean social enterprise that tackles urban waste management and plastic pollution. The project, led by Foday David Kamara, addresses the environmental issues caused by post-consumer plastic waste and unsustainable building materials. Kamara’s project stands out for the manner in which he is bringing this training into local communities. Ecovironment is also highly scalable, having so far created 60 jobs, recycled 460 tonnes of plastics, and used its profits to feed 1,500 schools. As part of Young Climate Prize, Kamara worked with architect Dominic Leong, co-founder of Leong Leong to find ways to scale and expand the project.

Young Climate Visionary: Namra Khalid mentored by Henk Ovink 
Karachi Cartography, founded by Namra Khalid from Pakistan, addresses the socio-climatic challenges faced by Karachi residents through cartographic analysis. Karachi experiences extreme weather conditions, disproportionately affecting marginalized communities in informal settlements. Khalid – focused on creating socio-climatic justice in vulnerable communities throughout the country – worked to develop the first map repository and prototyped a one-stop climatic map of the city of Karachi that shows what areas of the city are susceptible to what types of climate-related events. Khalid recieved mentorship from Henk Ovink, UN Special Envoy for International Water Affairs of the Netherlands.

Jury Prize: Aziba Ekio mentored by Sumayya Vally 
Aziba Ekio, a Nigerian storyteller, poet and author was honored with a special Jury Prize for her work bringing light to the climate crisis through writing and spoken word. Ekio worked with architect Sumayya Vally to improve and accelerate her initiatives. Her first anthology, entitled The Color, Green is her contribution to the fight for climate action. 

About The World Around Young Climate Prize  
The World Around is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to making the best ideas in architecture accessible to all. Its Young Climate Prize aims to amplify and accelerate the impact of projects for climate resilience by pairing 25 young climate leaders under 25 years old with their own mentor from the global design and architecture community. The cohort attended a bespoke academy program of talks and skills workshops then re-submitted their projects to an independent international jury. Three winners and one honoree will be flown to the Guggenheim Museum in New York and will present their work and ideas at The World Around’s annual Summit.

The World Around Young Climate Prize is supported by the Open Arts program at Meta, whose mission is to connect people through innovative and inspiring ways through arts and culture.