Discover how WFN accelerates the careers of conservation leaders
High profile media coverage can provide conservation leaders with credibility and increased public interest, building local and national pride, bolstering connections, enhancing political clout and helping them to secure new funding opportunities.
This is why, in addition to providing Whitley Award winners £40,000 in project funding, WFN offers support and resources to spotlight winners’ work.
Our 2022 Communications Impact Report summarises the effect that winning a Whitley Award has on grassroots conservationists’ profile.
Beyond funding
“Winning a Whitley Award brought media attention not only to my own red panda conservation work, but also magnified the outreach of the work we do from Red Panda Network. The support and attention from the local level of my remote village in eastern Nepal, to the international level proliferated, which helped in bringing more funding, and quick responses on policy support.” 2022 Whitley Award winner, Sonam Lama
Money is just part of what conservationists need to succeed. Press coverage and increased visibility build local pride for and participation in projects on the ground.
As their profile is raised, Award winners also gain networking opportunities, which can inspire philanthropic support from new sources and connect them with other conservationists to share successes, failures and resources.
High profile advocates
To champion their success, Whitely Award winners receive tailor-made films narrated by WFN Trustee, Sir David Attenborough, PR support, and publicity materials, which are distributed to the UK and overseas media.
Images of the winners receiving their Award from WFN Patron, HRH The Princess Royal, often make headlines in newspapers in winners’ home countries and can have significant impact on their career trajectory.
PR training and support
As well as using our own in-house resources to generate national and international press coverage from press releases, broadcast pitches and WFN’s own relationships with journalists, we provide winners with professional media and speech training to effectively communicate their work themselves.
Through this training, they are able to capitalise on the media spotlight they receive following their win – often kick-starting a snowball effect that continues to bolster project funding, connections and conservation impact.
“The training is really important to me as it gives me the chance to improve my communication skills, better positioning me to secure other funds to improve the protection of my species.” 2022 Whitley Award Winner, Emmanuel Amoah
Read our Communications Impact Report
Take a look at our 2022 Communications Impact Report to discover more about how the Whitley Fund for Nature supports past and present Award winners.
From building local and national pride, to reaching potential donors, finding new NGO partners, and securing additional funding resources; our PR and communications play a vital role in the impact of winning a Whitley Award.
