Whitley Awards 2027 for Grassroots Conservation Leaders (£50,000 prize) – YOA

Deadline: October 30, 2026

Applications are open for the Whitley Awards 2027 for Grassroots Conservation Leaders. Awarded yearly, Whitley Awards recognise grassroots conservation leaders, offering funding to help and scale up confirmed, science-primarily based options that ship lasting affect for each individuals and nature.

Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) is a fundraising and grant-giving nature conservation charity. Established in 1993, it has channeled £23 million to 200 conservation leaders in 80 nations throughout the Global South, benefitting wildlife, landscapes, and other people. They provide long run, laddered help to brave changemakers main native options to the worldwide biodiversity and local weather crises; they’re appearing on the newest science and igniting tasks with ardour. Through these award winners they help work rooted in communities that creates lasting advantages for wildlife, landscapes and other people.

Award

• Whitley Awards are price £50,000 GBP in mission funding over one yr.

In addition to £50,000 in mission funding, winners obtain:

• International recognition and profile-elevating alternatives.
• Professional communications and media help.
• Peer studying, coaching and collaboration alternatives.
• Eligibility for future Continuation Funding and the Whitley Gold Award.

Eligibility

• Open to grassroots conservation leaders who’re nationals of the nation the place they work (i.e. you have been born there or have lived there long run and obtained nationwide standing) and are embedded in native communities.
• Work primarily based in no less than one eligible nation. Eligible nations are these not labeled as a High-Income Economy by the World Bank.
• Wildlife conservation tasks which are delivering measurable constructive impacts for threatened ecosystems and biodiversity on the panorama or seascape degree, whereas offering tangible advantages to Indigenous peoples and native communities.
• Applicants who work for a domestically included NGO, charity, not for revenue, or college.

WFN will fund:

• Strong communicators and passionate individuals who encourage others and importantly, collaborate successfully and share their learnings and outcomes. Note that candidates should be capable to talk in English. Whilst whole fluency is just not required, candidates should be capable to talk verbally in English with out a translator. This ensures winners can profit totally from the Whitley Awards week which includes interviews, networking occasions, coaching, and media alternatives.
• Leadership and teamwork. Whitley Awards recognise people backed by an skilled workforce or organisation that may display previous success and an proof-primarily based method. Individuals working in isolation, in addition to workforce or joint entries, usually are not eligible.
• Ecosystem degree tasks are most popular. Genuine flagship species tasks are accepted, however not if outcomes are purely species-particular.
• Community-led conservation tasks are inspired, and all tasks should display how they empower, interact and profit the Indigenous peoples and communities with which they work.
• Grassroots, pragmatic conservation work that’s lifelike, however formidable too. They look for candidates on the cusp of attaining vital affect, with tasks which are replicable or scalable.
• Actions that can have clear, measurable outcomes. They look for functions which have given cautious consideration to the symptoms that might be used to proof affect.
• Sustainable tasks that can proceed nicely past the Whitley Award. Successful proposals will display lengthy-time period planning.
• Projects that display worth for cash and skill to handle funding on the Whitley Award degree (£50,000).
• Projects for which a Whitley Award will make a major difference. Priority might be given to candidates that may clearly display want.
• Work that may profit from better visibility, significantly tasks that would acquire momentum by media publicity and wider recognition.

Application

Applications for the 2027 Whitley Awards are at present open and shut at midnight GMT on 30 October 2026.

Click here to apply

For extra data, go to Whitley Awards.