Twelve Journalists Honored for Advancing Global Understanding of the Climate Crisis
The 2025 SEAL Environmental Journalism Awards honor twelve exceptional reporters whose work has illuminated the urgent realities of climate change and environmental justice around the world. From exposing corporate and governmental accountability failures to documenting the lived impacts of ecological disruption, this year's winners have deepened public understanding of how environmental challenges intersect with human rights, economics, and social equity.
SAN DIEGO, Nov. 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- As this year unfolds amid escalating climate emergencies—from the toxic cobalt mining crucial for renewable energy infrastructure to the carbon load of systemic food waste—environmental journalism remains one of humanity's most essential public services.
The 2025 SEAL Environmental Journalism Awards celebrate twelve exceptional journalists whose work has illuminated both the planetary scale and human immediacy of the environmental crisis, connecting global systems to local lives with precision, courage, and compassion.
Amid accelerating planetary feedback loops—the Amazon tipping toward savannah, Arctic methane plumes intensifying, and urban heat deaths reaching historic highs—these journalists have shaped the public understanding of climate not as an abstract threat, but as the defining condition of our shared future.
The most striking work recognized this year includes Amudalat Ajasa's reporting on the current EPA's gagging of climate scientists and weakening of established protections on known toxins; Sanket Jain's work illuminates the range of invisible effects of pollution on the individual, from hearing loss to neurotoxicity and educational impairment, that strike whole populations; and Jael Holzman's investigative coverage of tensions both local and transnational shaping the technological landscape of data centers, solar parks, and wind farms.
"Environmental journalists continue to stand at the front lines of truth," said Safa Bee, Impact Lead. "Their work demands intellectual rigor and moral courage in equal measure. Each honoree brings accountability to power, empathy to data, and urgency to the conversation on environmental policy."
Winners were selected based on a panel review of their body of work, data-driven assessment of impact and reach, and special consideration for reporting that brings fresh social relevance and creative insight to environmental issues. The SEAL Awards continue to expand their search for honorees across all media formats and geographies, recognizing the global scale of the climate challenge and the diverse voices required to confront it.
2025 SEAL ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM AWARD WINNERS:
- Amudalat Ajasa • Washington Post, Guardian, Hofstra Chronicle
- Sheree Bega • Mail & Guardian
- Aaron Cantú • Capital & Main
- Jael Holzman • Heatmap
- Sanket Jain • Co-founder of Insight Walk; Earth Journalism, Yale Climate Connections
- María Mónica Monsalve S. • El País
- Brendan Montague • The Ecologist; founder of DeSmog UK
- Monica Piccinini • The Ecologist, The Canary
- Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco • Grist, Chicago Public Media
- Hayley Smith • L.A. Times
- Malavika Vyawahare • Mongabay
- Eva Xiao • Financial Times
ABOUT SEAL AWARDS
SEAL (Sustainability, Environmental Achievement & Leadership) Awards is an environmental advocacy organization that honors leadership through our corporate sustainability awards & environmental journalism awards while funding research and pursuing our own environmental impact campaigns.
The SEAL Awards core pillars are:
- Business Sustainability Awards
- Environmental Journalism Awards
- Environmental Research Grants
- Impact Campaigns
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SOURCE SEAL Awards
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