2025 Winners

Congratulations to our 2025 Educator Innovation Award winners!

We are thrilled to recognize the following teachers who effectively used the 2025 Ocean Awareness Contest to educate their students about their connections to nature, offer their students a sense of agency in these uncertain times, and empower them to be creative stewards of our planet.

Thank you for your dedication and passion for engaging youth in environmental action!

Rana Dörtkardeş

Science Teacher
FMV Özel Ispartakule Işik High School (Türkiye)

Rana integrated the Ocean Awareness Contest into a UbD-based environmental science unit to help students connect scientific understanding with creative expression. Through art, writing, and multimedia projects, they explored real-world ecological challenges while developing empathy and critical thinking. This interdisciplinary approach transformed their classroom into a space of inquiry and action, where students recognized their power to influence change. The Contest became not only a platform for creativity, but also a catalyst for environmental responsibility and global awareness.

“Receiving the Educator Innovation Award is an honor that recognizes the value of designing purposeful, interdisciplinary learning experiences. By integrating the Ocean Awareness Contest within a UbD-based framework, I aimed to cultivate scientific literacy, creative expression, and environmental responsibility in my students. This experience reaffirmed my belief that authentic, inquiry-driven projects can empower learners to connect knowledge with action and become catalysts for positive environmental change.”

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Xi Huang

Youth Community Engagement Mentor
Vigor Act (China)

Xi’s students used documentary filmmaking to show how nature can heal, while also reflecting on how human behavior harms the environment. Through project-based learning, students participated as creators: practicing mindful observation outdoors, recording real experiences, and later presenting their work in a community environmental theater that exposed “false green” behaviors. This made environmental issues personal and relevant, helping students move from passive task-takers to active storytellers and advocates, gaining confidence and a sense of agency.

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“In my teaching, I want young people to know that their feelings and voices matter. Bow Seat gave my students a space to speak through art, connecting emotional expression with environmental awareness, and turning reflection into action. Their growth reminds me that education should amplify youth voices, not replace them. It encourages me to continue creating learning environments where young people can express, imagine, and lead change in their communities.”

Sekasamba Ibrahim

Music Teacher
Tateno Foundation (Uganda)

Sekasamba encouraged his learners to explore their personal and community relationships with nature. Learners engaged in creative storytelling performing arts, which reflected on how nature influences their lives and well-being. Together, they discussed local environmental challenges and ways to protect their surroundings, helping learners see themselves as active caretakers of the natural world.

“I am so grateful and honored to receive and accept the Bow Seat’s 2025 Educator Innovation Award, on behalf of myself, learners, and the entire group at Tateno foundation, we are so proud of this achievement. This recognition has added to our collective commitment and motivation to creativity, collaboration, and transformative learning. We look forward to exploring new ways to make learning more engaged and inclusive for every learner to foster a stronger relationship with natural world.”

Michelle Miller

Executive Director
International Women’s Writing Guild (United States)

Michelle’s students explored the Ocean Awareness Contest as a way to connect creative expression with global climate action. Through a series of climate change writing workshops, they examined how rising seas, pollution, and human impact affect communities around the world. The project culminated in an intergenerational anthology where their poems, essays, and artwork were published alongside writers from other countries. Seeing their work recognized and shared globally deepened their sense of purpose and understanding of how art can inspire environmental change.

“I’m deeply honored to be selected for the Educator Innovation Award. This recognition affirms the power of creativity and collaboration in helping students understand and respond to the climate crisis. It celebrates not only my work but the passion and insight my students brought to their projects—transforming concern into art, reflection, and action. I’m inspired to continue creating spaces where young people can see their voices published, shared, and valued as part of a global movement for change.”

Maha Mostafa Mohamed Noor

Senior School Psychologist
Ammar Ibn Yasser Basic Education School (Egypt)

Maha used the Contest to give students a chance to express what’s inside them. She held discussion sessions, such as one called “How do you feel when you see the sea full of plastic?”, and connected environmental anxiety to mental health in different ways. They planted flowers, with each student planting a flower and saying one sentence about something they would change to protect the environment. Through these workshops, she noticed that students began talking about the environment emotionally and were willing to apply small actions in their daily lives.

“I believe that if the students knew we received the award, they would be very happy, and they would realize that any help they do can have a big impact, whether in the short term or the long term, and that any help would bring them many benefits, either immediately or in the future. They would also be very happy that even though they did simple things for the environment, it was greatly appreciated. For me, the Educator Innovation Award is a wonderful opportunity that values our work. It also encourages me to continue innovating and helping students.”