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Meet the 2020 Whitley Award winners

Meet the conservation heroes who have received Whitley Awards this year.

Please join us in celebrating the winners of the 2020 Whitley Awards! These extraordinary conservationists are all leading grassroots work in their home countries to protect the natural world and its wildlife.

To introduce them, here is a special message from our Patron, HRH The Princess Royal:

“The Whitley Fund for Nature chooses conservation leaders who have a real understanding of the challenges facing local people, which is especially important in these very worrying economic times. As Patron of The Whitley Fund for Nature, I am pleased to announce the 2020 Whitley Award winners; all are outstanding grassroots leaders dedicated to their work.”

The 2020 Whitley Gold Award winner is: 

Patrícia Medici – Tapirs as conservation flagships, Brazil – Winner of the Whitley Gold Award donated by The Friends of the Whitley Fund for Nature

The winners of the 2020 Whitley Awards are:

Abdullahi Hussein Ali – A landscape‐level approach to conserve the hirola antelope, Kenya – Winner of the Whitley Award donated by the Frank Brake Charitable Trust

YokYok (Yoki) Hadiprakarsa – Saving the last stronghold of the Helmeted Hornbill, Indonesia – Winner of the Whitley Award donated by the MAVA Foundation

Rachel Ashegbofe Ikemeh – Advancing participatory conservation action for rare chimpanzees, Nigeria – Winner of the Whitley Award donated by the Arcus Foundation

Gabriela Rezende – Connecting populations of black lion tamarins in the Atlantic Forest, Brazil – Winner of the Whitley Award donated by the Corcoran Foundation

Jeanne Tarrant – A country-wide strategy for South African amphibians – Winner of the Whitley Award donated by the William Brake Charitable Trust

Phuntsho Thinley – Stepping up patrols to preserve the endangered alpine musk deer, Bhutan – Winner of the Whitley Award donated by Anne Reece

Each winner will receive £40,000 in project funding to carry out their vital work, and a boost in profile to help forge connections and leverage further support. They also join our 200 strong global Winner Network, with opportunities for networking and the ability to apply for further WFN funding when needed.

You can find acceptance speeches, project summaries and breathtaking photos across our website and social media channels. You can also download our 2020 Awards booklet here, which includes a special message from our Founder, Edward Whitley. More images of the winners and their work can be found here.

We are so grateful to our Awards Week Partner, Earlymarket LLP, to our Whitley Award donors and to all of WFN’s supporters – without you this work would not be possible.

Congratulations to all of our 2020 Whitley Award winners, who even in these difficult times give us hope for the future!