Prizes, awards and competitions

£50,000 each to six conservation leaders working in their own country. You do not need to be nominated, you apply

Award

Apply directly with no nomination needed, which is unusual for an award of this size

€50,000 each to three young conservationists. Open application

Award

Apply if you are between 18 and 35, since the age band is the real filter

$95,000 to the winner and $20,000 to each runner-up. You enter yourself, no nomination, as an individual, an organization or a community group. Entrants must also be able to host a University of St Andrews student for a two-week internship

Award

Enter as a group rather than an individual, which most prizes at this level disallow

Five laureates a year across environment, science and exploration. Laureates come from applications, but no open call or eligibility page is published between cycles

Award

Watch for the next call, because the site gives no date and nothing to apply to in between

Six named grant programs with live deadlines, from $1,500 to $10,000, plus rolling Impact Grants. Open application, and each program sets its own deadline and career stage

Award

Match your project to one of six named programs, or use rolling Impact Grants when timing slips

$350,000 across up to 15 conservation-tech projects in 2026, at $10,000 and $50,000. Anyone can submit the first-stage expression of interest, and full applications are then invitation only

Award

Send a first-stage expression of interest, which anyone can do without an invitation

Grants run as specific requests for proposals rather than one general open call, and every application goes through the National Geographic funding portal. The Wayfinder Award is by selection, not application

Award

Match your project to an active request for proposals, because eligibility and deadlines vary by opportunity

$200,000 each to six grassroots activists, one per world region. Closed to unsolicited nominations

Award

Do not spend time here unless a nominating partner has already approached you

$250,000 biennially, nomination only, but the Emerging Conservationist award for under-40s takes direct applications

Award

Aim at the Emerging Conservationist award if under 40, since the main prize is nomination only

$250,000, nomination only. The 2026 laureate won it for work on mycorrhizal fungi

Award

Nominate someone else rather than yourself, and note that nominations close well ahead

Two laureates a year at 50 million yen each, roughly $340,000. Nominated by designated nominators

Award

Get a designated nominator to put you forward, which means building that relationship first

£1,000,000 to each of five winners, one being Protect and Restore Nature. Nominated through official nominator organizations, several of which run public expressions of interest

Award

Watch which nominator organizations run public calls, since that is the only open door

£225,000 across three awards including a ranger award, paid to the winner's organization over three years. Africa only

AwardAfrica

Nominate an African colleague, a ranger included, with the money going to their organization

$100,000 for environmental conservation. Nominated by governments or NGOs in official relations with UNESCO, no self-nomination

Award

Ask a government or a UNESCO-linked NGO to nominate you, because self-nomination is refused

Biennial biodiversity prize run with the CBD Secretariat, and nominations come in through the website

Award

Submit through the website in a nomination year, run jointly with the CBD Secretariat

$10,000 to an islander for preserving island environments and culture. The nomination route is not published, so ask them

Award

Contact them directly about nominating an islander, since the route is not published anywhere

Five awards a year, mostly clean energy, but the Tropical Forest Protection category is a real fit. Judges work from entries you submit yourself, and no 2027 call is open yet

Award

Watch the Tropical Forest Protection category, which is the one that fits conservation work

$1,000 per hero. Only nominable by nonprofits Disney already funds, so useful if you are one and not otherwise

Award

Skip it unless Disney already funds you, because nobody else is allowed to nominate

Student research award of about $5,000 for any declining invertebrate, from fireflies to freshwater mollusks. New in 2026, applications open each November

Award

Point a student at it each November, since almost nothing else funds declining invertebrates broadly

Two student awards a year of about $5,000 for Lepidoptera conservation. Applications open each November

Award

Send Lepidoptera students here, where two awards a year makes the odds unusually good

£400 for insect and invertebrate conservation, and self-nomination is accepted. The live successor to the discontinued Marsh insect award

Award

Nominate yourself, which is rare, and treat it as successor to the old Marsh insect award

$5,000, treated as the top award in turtle and tortoise conservation. Nominated by specialist group members

Award

Ask a specialist group member to nominate you, since that is the only route in

Course fees, conference travel and project grants up to about $5,000 for early-career amphibian conservationists. Open application

Award

Apply for course fees and conference travel, which most grants flatly refuse to cover

CHF 5,000 for the best monographic treatment of a plant group, and fungi and lichens count. You apply, with the procedure set out in the call document, and there is no permanent page so the link moves each cycle

Award

Bookmark the current call rather than the page, because the link changes every cycle

Plant conservation award run with Botanic Gardens Conservation International. Nominated through the BGCI network

AwardGlobal

Get nominated through the BGCI network, so work with a botanic garden well beforehand

Thirty-plus awards, unusually dense in invertebrates and plants: entomology, four Lepidoptera awards, botany, marine and freshwater. Nomination only, and nominations go through the partner society for each award rather than to Marsh. No cash values published

Award

Scan all thirty for the invertebrate and plant awards, which are unusually well represented here

$5,000 every three years for plant exploration and rare plant conservation, awarded by nomination only. The two student awards on the same page do take direct applications, due January 15 and next in 2027

Award

Send students to the two awards on the same page, since the medal itself cannot be applied for

€20,000 prize pool for tools built on GBIF-mediated data. Open submission with no nomination, and the call opens early in the year and closes late June

Award

Enter if you already built a tool on GBIF data, since the work is done

£10,000 to the grand title winner. You submit your own photographs, up to 25 for one entry fee, and the fee is waived for entrants aged 18 to 26 and for residents of fifty listed countries

Award

Check the fee waiver list first, since under-26s and fifty listed countries enter free

$5,000 grand prize plus category prizes, and exhibition at the California Academy of Sciences. You submit your own images, $25 for up to ten, and entries close in early March

AwardUS

Enter by early March for a shot at exhibition, which is worth more than the cash

Recognition rather than cash across 18 categories of conservation film and media, including a Digital-First category. You submit your own film, through FilmFreeway rather than to Wildscreen directly

Award

Enter a film in one of eighteen categories, including one for digital-first work

Conservation film and media awards. Recognition rather than cash on the main awards, and you enter your own production when the annual call is open

Award

Enter for the recognition and the industry contact rather than for prize money