The winners of the 2025 Sustainability Prize have been announced. This special award, created by Creo and Sony, was set up to celebrate photographers and filmmakers passionate about communicating key themes linked to the Sustainable Development Goals.
Set up to amplify the smaller stories exploring these social and environmental issues, the initiative spotlights one series from the Sony World Photography Awards Professional competition and one short film from the Sony Future Filmmaker Awards.
Congratulations to Polish documentary photographer and journalist Kasia Strek who won for Repairing the Earth, a photography series highlighting positive actions reversing climate change - from bison reintroduced to native habitats after a century's absence to NGOs successfully restoring vital mangrove forests. Strek’s work focuses on the intersections of gender, social inequalities, and the impact of climate change on the environment, highlighting underrepresented topics of social importance. She has received numerous recognitions, including the Pulitzer Grant for Crisis Reporting, the IWMF Courage in Journalism Award, and Visa Pour l'Image Camille Lepage Award.
Repairing the Earth by Kasia Strek
Climate change now affects all regions of the Earth, with increased storms, floods, droughts and fires, warming and rising oceans, unprecedented loss of species, scarcity of food and growing displacement. But in 2021, a UN panel reported that human actions can still determine our climate future. Worldwide, people are succeeding in reversing the trend, halting further decline and restoring what was damaged. In Europe, the region’s largest land mammals – bison –returned to the wild after disappearing a century ago, while in Benin, one of the world’s poorest countries, mangrove forests have been saved through NGOs, political will and local beliefs. Underwater, divers and scientists work to preserve corals threatened by ocean acidification, while thousands of farmers in India have switched to organic crops, restoring soil and adapting to new monsoon patterns. Copenhagen, on track to become the world’s first carbon-neutral city, has cut its emissions by 75 per cent since 2005, proving drastic change is possible.
Kirsten Slemint (Australia) won for Burnt Country, a short documentary film. Exploring the profound knowledge and wisdom of First Nations, this film is an invitation to connect to country and community. Slemint is a scientist, journalist and filmmaker, with a keen and curious eye for storytelling. She is a shooting PD, writer, researcher, and impact producer. Her work tends to explore the intersections between people and nature, and is driven by her specific interest in social impact.
