49 winners selected from 1,200 entries across nearly 50 countries — with Asia-Pacific journalists leading the charge on frontline storytelling
Covering Climate Now (CCNow) network has unveiled its 2025 Journalism Awards, spotlighting the reporters and storytellers cutting through the noise on the world’s most urgent crisis.
Now in its fifth year, the awards drew a record 1,200 entries. A panel of 118 judges from 32 countries selected winners across 14 categories — from justice and health to displacement and disinformation — plus three Emerging Journalists of the Year, three Journalists of the Year, and a first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award.
Asia-Pacific Takes Centre Stage
The region delivered standout work this year. Winners ranged from hyperlocal solutions reporting in Rajasthan to data-driven environmental investigations in Japan, and deeply personal accounts from Pacific Island communities and Mongolian herders.
Indigenous and marginalised voices dominated — particularly from the Pacific, where reporters examined how disability, traditional livelihoods, and rising seas collide.
Bhutan’s Yangyel Lhaden (Kuensel) earned Emerging Journalist of the Year honours for her nuanced coverage of how climate change is reshaping agriculture, urban planning, and migration across her homeland.
Journalists of the Year
Three women took top honours:
Thaslima Begum (The Guardian) — Her Bangladesh reporting linked rising drinking water salinity to pre-eclampsia, hypertension, and kidney disease, while tracking how extreme rainfall drives dengue outbreaks.
Vanessa Hauc (Noticias Telemundo) — The award-winning anchor confronted Mexico’s President López Obrador directly on the climate crisis while documenting the country’s historic drought.
Ayoola Kassim (Channels Television, Nigeria) — Creator of Earthfile, Nigeria’s first dedicated environmental broadcast, she’s built climate capacity in her newsroom while mentoring the next generation.
McKibben Receives Lifetime Achievement
Climate journalism pioneer Bill McKibben received the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award. From his landmark 1989 book The End of Nature to decades of reporting and activism, judges credited him with paving the way for today’s climate storytellers.
Stories That Hit Hard
Category winners tackled the crisis from every angle:
- Business & Economics: The Fuller Project and Grist exposed how fast fashion fuels climate harm while garment workers — mostly women — endure rising heat stress with minimal protection.
- Justice: Brazil’s Revista AzMina spotlighted Indigenous Amazonian women displaced by environmental crime.
- Disinformation: Argentina’s Chequeado dismantled false climate narratives and greenwashing claims.
- Extreme Weather: China’s The Paper delivered sweeping multimedia coverage of typhoons and floods.
- Conflict & Climate: Allesandra Bergamin documented state-backed killings of environmental defenders across 10 countries.
The Bottom Line
As climate impacts accelerate, these awards underscore journalism’s power to hold polluters and governments accountable, amplify frontline communities, and surface real solutions.
CCNow co-founder Kyle Pope summed it up: these winners are telling the story of our time with passion and excellence.
Their work isn’t just documenting the crisis — it’s demanding action.
Read about all the Journalists changing the world view on Climate. Covering Climate Now (CCNow)
Future Now Green New is a forward-thinking media platform dedicated to spotlighting the people, projects, and innovations driving the green & blue economy across Australia, Asia and Pacific region. Our mission is to inform, inspire, and connect changemakers through thought leadership and solutions-focused storytelling in sustainability, clean energy, regenerative tourism, climate action, and future-ready industries.
