For release: September 18, 2025
Press contact: awards@coveringclimatenow.org
Today, the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now announced 49 winners of the 2025 CCNow Journalism Awards.
Now in its fifth year, the CCNow awards program has become a recognized standard for excellence. This year’s winners hail from around the world, from outlets big and small, and, together, their work represents the leading edge of climate storytelling.
See all of 2025’s winners at coveringclimatenow.org/awards.
For 2025, CCNow received more than 1,200 entries, from journalists in nearly 50 countries and representing every corner of the climate journalism profession. The winners were picked by a judging panel of 118 distinguished journalists from 32 countries and territories, many of whom are past winners and finalists themselves.
Judges selected two to three winners in each of 14 subject-based categories, as well as three entries in a category for large projects and collaborations and three Emerging Journalists of the Year.
In addition, the judges named three 2025 CCNow Journalists of the Year. They are: Thaslima Begum, a Guardian journalist covering human rights and the climate emergency’s front lines; Vanessa Hauc, the anchor and director of Noticias Telemundo’s environmental investigative unit, Planeta Tierra; and Ayoola Kassim, head of programs at Nigeria’s Channels Television, where she is also the creator, anchor, and producer of the network’s first environmental program, Earthfile. In addition to their reporting, each of these awardees is an active participant in the broader journalism and climate communities — serving in leadership roles with various professional organizations, providing climate expertise to decision makers and the public, and mentoring younger journalists.
“Each of these women have persevered against long odds to deliver the news their communities need to make informed decisions about the climate emergency, including its potential solutions,” said CCNow executive director Mark Hertsgaard.
Judges additionally selected two to three winners in each of 14 subject-based categories, as well as three entries in a category for large projects and collaborations and three Emerging Journalists of the Year.
Outlets represented among the other winners include global stalwarts, like Reuters, Al Jazeera English, and The Washington Post; local outfits, like WBUR in Boston, Univision 45 in Houston, and the New York Amsterdam News; and many newsrooms on the front lines of climate crisis, including Revista AzMina in Brazil, The Migration Story in India, the Daily Nation in Zambia, and many more.
“For the fifth year in a row, these awards celebrate the very best in climate journalism — around the world, in every medium, on every imaginable angle,” said Kyle Pope, CCNow’s co-founder. “These awards honor the people who are digging in, telling the story of our time with passion and excellence.”
Covering Climate Now is a nonprofit, nonpartisan journalism collaboration with hundreds of news outlet partners from more than 60 countries. Grounded in the conviction that more and better news coverage is itself an essential climate solution, CCNow supports, convenes, and trains journalists and newsrooms to produce rigorous climate coverage that engages audiences. More information at www.coveringclimatenow.org.