Tibet Eco-Awards 2025
We are pleased to announce the
Tibet Eco-Awards 2025 in celebration of the 90th birthday of His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama, in collaboration with the Compassion Rising World Tour
His Holiness received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his environmental work, the first time the award was bestowed for environmental and cultural preservation.
This competition is a tribute to His Holiness' pioneering environmental work, so well described in his book, This Fragile Planet: His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Environment, and as inspiration for environmental activists to focus on the importance of Tibet as the world's Third Pole.
$8,000 USD in prizes
$2000 prize in each of four categories
Visual Arts / Poetry / Song / Youth Award
Sponsored by
- Sumeru Books (Canada), publishers This Fragile Planet
- Michael Buckley, author/filmmaker Meltdown in Tibet
- International Campaign for Tibet, Compassion Rising Tour
- Students for a Free Tibet, India chapter, Students for a Free Tibet/India
Competition Mission
The Tibet Eco-Awards 2025 seek to raise awareness of the urgent situation in Tibet and the Himalayan region, also known as The Third Pole, because it supplies freshwater to over 1.8 billion people downstream from Tibet via its mighty rivers.
The focus is on environment issues in Tibet and the Third Pole.
These awards are global in scope, and entries should be presented in English, although entries can also be presented in Tibetan with parallel English translation.
The awards seek to encourage emerging talent, not well-established artists or creators.
Entries must be original creations created in 2024 or 2025, and the entrant must guarantee they own the copyright for the creation. Any attempt to use AI-generated or AI-enhanced creations will automatically be disqualified from competition.
Entrants must have a social media presence dedicated to their craft, showing not just the work presented for competition but other works. Acceptable social media presence: website/blog dedicated to craft, Instagram or Bluesky dedicated to craft, YouTube or Vimeo.
Tibet Eco-Awards Categories
Visual Arts / Poetry / Song / Youth Award
Visual arts = original painting or artwork. No photography. Themed around environment issues in Tibet including climate chaos, mega-dams, mining, nomad relocation, grassland degradation.
Poetry = can be a single poem or a series of poems themed around environment issues in Tibet. Presented in English, but can be translated from Tibetan. (Please ensure top-class human translation.) Optional extra: Poet can also read work aloud on YouTube channel.
Song = must be an original composition with original singer and all musicians performing live. Give link to the entry on the singer/songwriter's dedicated YouTube or Vimeo channel. If presented in Tibetan, must show clear English subtitles on-screen. (Please ensure top-class human translation.) Should show 1080p video quality with stereo sound.
Youth Award = can be any of the above categories, restricted to students 21 years old or younger at end of 2025. Photo ID showing date of birth required for entry in this category.
How to Enter
CLICK HERE TO OPEN THE ENTRY FORM.
Judges
Kunchok Dolma Yaklha is a Tibetan-Canadian who grew up in Bylakuppe. She graduated from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law as Juris Doctor, and holds a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School. She currently works as a corporate lawyer in New York City. Previously, she served as the Special Appointee for Human Rights for the Tibet Bureau in Geneva. She developed a keen interest in ancient Tibetan art through her late father who studied thangka painting at Sera Monastery in South India.
Michael Buckley is a Canadian writer and documentary filmmaker with a special interest in Tibet, the Himalayas and SE Asia. He is filmmaker for four short documentaries about environment issues concerning Tibet, and author of four books related to environment matters for Tibet. These include Meltdown in Tibet, an expose of China's reckless exploitation of Tibet's ecosystems, and Tibet, Disrupted, a 510-page digital photobook released in 2025. He has travelled widely in the Tibetan World, visiting enclaves from Mongolia to Bhutan.
Sponsors
