Young Environmentalist Awards

30/07/2026

A few weeks back, we got to welcome the .wild team to the ECO-UNESCO office for a visit! We got to have a chat about their project, winning two YEA awards this last spring, and their future plans! Keep up the amazing work protecting our Ringed Plovers 🫶

28/07/2026

The 2026 Young Environmentalist Awards Super Junior Winners: Tackling Waste in Citywise, Jobstown, Tallaght…the world! 🌍♻️

From advocating for brown bins to organizing litter picks, these young changemakers are leading the way in waste reduction and community awareness. Inspiring action, one step at a time! 💚

CommunityAction

20/07/2026

Outfit on point! 🌱👠

The interviewers met the passionate Breaking the Cycle team during the YEA showcase! As they say, "everybody's always buying out new clothes. They're throwing out their old stuff. And it's just causing these massive wastelands of old clothes. We want to stop that."

13/07/2026

So(il) Cool! 🌱😎

The interviewers met the Improving Soil Biodiversity on Irish Farms Using Multispecies Swards team. Their main goal was to "raise awareness about it because not a lot of people know what multi-species swarms are". Watch the video and find out! Isn't it so(il) cool?!

06/07/2026

Our Overall Senior Category Winners for the 2026 YEA, GoWild, came by the ECO-UNESCO office last week. Keep up the amazing work! 👏

🌟🌟Today, the Go Wild team travelled to Dublin to meet with the ECO-UNESCO team, including National Director Elaine Nevin, YEA Coordinator Sarah Page and Programme Manager Sadaf Sarfraz.

The meeting provided a wonderful opportunity to discuss the future of the Go Wild project and explore exciting plans for its continued growth and impact.

Our students also took the opportunity to thank the ECO-UNESCO team for their guidance, encouragement and unwavering support throughout this year's Young Environmentalist Awards journey.

We are incredibly grateful for the opportunities they have provided and look forward to continuing to work together in the future.🌟🌟

25/06/2026

It’s here - the 2026 Young Environmentalist Awards Final Showcase & Awards Ceremony Video! 🌟

It’s been a month and we are still feeling so inspired by the finalist projects we got to see on display at the Final Showcase, and all the incredible projects we saw throughout this year’s programme. We can’t wait for next year, kicking off in September!

Thank you to the young environmentalists, special guests, mentors, judges, funders and sponsors, staff, awards ceremony talent, venue support, and supporters of the programme - you made it happen! 🌱💚

Video by Steve Gallagher, Photography by Julien Behal

29/05/2026

Meet the Overall Category Winners for the Young Environmentalist Awards 2026!

Overall Senior Winners: GoWild from Mean Scoil Nua An Leith Triuigh with their project protecting the Ringed Plover. 🐣
Overall Junior Category Winners: Wear Your Values from St Catherine's College with their project fighting fast fashion practices. 👕
Overall Super Junior Category Winners: Tackling waste in Citywise, Jobstown, Tallaght......the WORLD! from CityWise Education with their project on improving waste disposal practices. ♻️

15/05/2026

A recap from the Young Environmentalist Awards 2026: what a success! 🌍🌟🏆

This year we had over 340 registrations and over 7000 young people taking part from across the island of Ireland. We were proud to present 28 awards on Tuesday, and celebrate not only the groups receiving awards, but every young person who stepped forward with ideas, action and solutions for a more sustainable future.

A huge thank you to every young environmentalist who participated, and a special thanks to the YEA Mentors the teachers, educators, youth workers and supporters who guided and encouraged them along the way.

We would like to sincerely thank President Catherine Connolly for her thoughtful written message, which was shared during the awards ceremony by Elaine Nevin, National Director of ECO-UNESCO. This message acknowledged the inspiring work and dedication of the young people involved in this year’s programme.

We were delighted to welcome The Deputy Lord Mayor Gayle Ralph, a very special guest on the day. Thank you for coming to this year's awards, we hope you enjoyed the incredible showcase of youth passion and dedication on display!

We were also delighted to have a special address from Chris Castle, Director of Section for Peace and Sustainable Development at UNESCO. We would like to extend our gratitude for joining us in celebrating and recognising the remarkable achievements of young environmentalists from across the island of Ireland.

We are deeply grateful to all of our funders and sponsors for supporting youth-led environmental action and helping make the programme possible: the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, the Department of Education and Youth, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Irish Environmental Network, the Environmental Protection Agency, Pobal, SEAI, Enrich, Uisce Éireann, and Goodbody Clearstream.

Finally, thank you our MC Clara Murray who brough energy and enthusiasm throughout the day, Don King who provided dance breaks during the ceremony and of course, the ECO-UNESCO staff team, volunteers and members of the Youth Advisory Panel whose hard work, energy and commitment made the Final Showcase such a success.

07/05/2026

People's Choice Award 2026: UNLIMITED VOTING FOR 24 HOURS! 🚨
To make up for lost time from our website being down, we've opened up voting from one per network to unlimited multi-voting for the next 24 hours before polls close at 12pm tomorrow.
Get your votes in now - and decide who will get the People's Choice Award 2026 at the YEA Final Awards Ceremony! We're collecting votes via form (link in our bio) - so vote, submit, refresh, repeat!

07/04/2026

‼️Keep an eye on your inboxes next Monday, April 13 because finalists for the 2026 Young Environmentalist Awards will be announced! 🤫
The 2026 Young Environmentalist Awards Final Showcase & Awards Ceremony will take place on Tuesday May 12, 2026 at the Concert Hall, RDS Dublin.