The I AM WATER Ocean Conservation Foundation, connecting youth from underserved communities to the ocean, is shining bright on the global stage with a 2025 Earthshot Prize nomination.
Cape Town, South Africa (03 June 2025) – The Earthshot Prize was all anyone could talk about last year, as South Africa, namely Cape Town, played host to the prestigious award ceremony and even welcomed His Royal Highness (HRH) Prince William, to our beautiful shores. This year, we get to celebrate that a South African NPO has earned a nomination for the 2025 edition of the awards.
In October 2020, HRH Prince William launched the most prestigious global environment prize in history, The Earthshot Prize. The international prize highlights five disciplines, and winners in receives a total of £1 Million. The project is set to run over the course of the next decade, meaning a total of £50 Million will be given to causes working to repair the Earth.
I AM WATER Ocean Conservation Foundation is proud to announce its nomination for the prestigious Earthshot Prize 2025.
This nomination reflects over a decade of dedicated work reconnecting underserved youth with the ocean resulting in the OCEAN FOR ALL Alliance Global initiative.
“We believe that to protect our oceans, we must first connect people to them, especially the next generation,” said Hanli Prinsloo, Founder of I AM WATER. “This nomination reaffirms the urgent need for ocean connection experiences and the power they have to transform hearts, minds, and communities.”
The I AM WATER Cape Town Hub continues to deliver grassroots ocean connection experiences. Since 2019 alone, I AM WATER has reached more than 48,900 beneficiaries through immersive, ocean-based education.
In 2024, the foundation’s flagship Ocean Guardians Workshops welcomed 1,259 children to see beneath the surface of the ocean in South Africa, fostering personal connection, awareness, and stewardship for marine ecosystems.
A recent long-term impact study on I AM WATER’s Ocean Connection Methodology, conducted in partnership with the University of North Carolina Wilmington, showed that participants not only increased their ocean-positive actions following the workshops but sustained these behaviours over time, evidence of long-term, transformational change.
The next phases of the prestigeous competition will take their course but we are, as always, so proud to be championing a local cause that is doing incredible things on the global stage.
“Thank you to all our donors, friends, partners and team members. Together, we’re proving that grassroots organisations can drive global change.”
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