Go behind the scenes of the 2025 Whitley Awards week in London.
Once WFN’s Judging Panel have whittled down Whitley Award applications to our top six, WFN invite the finalists to London for the Whitley Awards Ceremony in spring.
We make the most of their visit to the UK by hosting a week full of training, networking and media opportunities to capitalise on the spotlight of their win.
This year we had the privilege of spending a week with the 2025 Whitley Award winners: Andrés Link, Farina Othman, Federico Kacoliris, Rahayu (Ayu) Oktaviani, Reshu Bashyal, Yara Barros, and 2025 Whitley Gold Award winner, Olivier Nsengimana.
Sunday
A casual welcome dinner with the finalists kicks off our week together. This year, we were also joined by 2021 Whitley Award winner Kini Roesler.
As the first in-person meeting, it’s a great opportunity for the WFN team and the finalists to get to know once another, and to answer any questions before the week begins.
MondaY
On Monday, the 2025 Whitley Award finalists headed to the Royal Geographical Society for individual interviews with our Judging Panel – the last step before they officially became winners.
2025 Whitley Gold Award winner, Olivier Nsengimana, also joined the panel and acted as a mentor to the new cohort during their stay.
That evening, our new winners had the chance to meet WFN supporters over a home cooked meal prepared by the WFN Friends Committee. Now officially ‘Award winners’, the conservationists introduced themselves and their projects to the Friends of WFN.
TUESday
On Tuesday, Boffin Media ran specialised training in TV, print and radio interview technique to help the winners increase awareness and recognition of their work.
This increased visibility can build local pride in projects on-the-ground, spark new connections, encourage philanthropic support from new sources, and increase political influence.
A big thank you to Whitley Award donors Inigo Insurance for once again hosting this training day. At the end of the day, winners met with the Inigo team to share their work and further hone their pitches.
Putting the communications training to very good use, each of our winners met with journalists throughout the week. See highlights from the press coverage so far.
WEDNESday
The big day! On Wednesday morning the winners received speech coaching from Caroline Black in preparation for the Whitley Awards Ceremony that evening.
They also watched their individual winner films for the first time, made by Silverback Studios and Open Planet Studios and narrated by WFN Ambassadors Kate Humble and Tom Heap. Watch the winners’ speeches and short films here.
That evening we gathered at the Royal Geographical Society for the Ceremony: the highlight of everyone’s week. The winners enjoyed a special reception with WFN Patron, HRH The Princess Royal, before WFN Ambassadors Tom Heap and Kate Humble compèred the evening in front of an audience of supporters and country Ambassadors. Watch the on-demand livestream.
A huge thank you to those partners that made the event such a success, including Show Producer Mandy Duncan-Smith and her team, and Floating Harbour.
Thursday
After the celebrations of their Award-win, the 2025 Whitley Award winners woke up to extensive UK and international press coverage – read the highlights here.
We also began recording interviews with each winner for the second season of our How to Save It podcast, which will launch later this year. With nature under threat like never before, the series aims to flip the script of doom and focus on how to save it.
That afternoon, WFN hosted a networking event to facilitate connections and future partnerships between Award winners and other conservation NGOs.
FRIday
On Friday morning, the winners joined us at our office in London to discuss next steps and sign their Award contracts. As is tradition each year, they added their pin to the alumni map alongside the 220 other pins in over 80 countries.
After a whirlwind few days, we wrapped up the week with a farewell lunch with WFN Trustees, and Founder Edward Whitley and family, sharing highlights from the week and discussing plans for the exciting year ahead.
