Winners from Past Years
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2022 NYCAA Winners
Parker Little from Saanich, BC, got tired of plunging an arm into bags of contaminated recycling and decided to tackle the problem at its source. Parker founded the Claremont Reduction of Environmental Waste (CREW) club, helping cut the school’s garbage output in half while educating more than 1,200 students and staff about reducing waste.
Quyên Fernandez from Salt Spring Island, BC, knows that protecting water means understanding it. Through the Water Preservation Society, Quyên and their family have spent years monitoring local creeks, collecting data on the island’s watersheds and learning how science and Indigenous knowledge can work together to protect the water and land their community depends on.
Maggie Naphtali turns climate anxiety and anger into something more powerful: ACTION. Through podcasting, environmental education and mentoring younger students, Maggie uses communication to help people understand the climate crisis and see their own place in solving it, proving that climate action doesn’t have to look the same for everyone.
Meredith Boyd from Pender Island, BC, channels climate anxiety into action through community organizing, letter-writing and creative expression. From conservation work to youth-led environmental projects, Meredith believes art and storytelling can help people connect with the urgency of climate change and inspire meaningful action.
Kasey Chen from British Columbia has turned a growing awareness of the climate crisis into action at her school and beyond. From protecting old-growth forests and restoring native ecosystems to lobbying elected officials and developing an air-quality monitoring project, Kasey is helping push for stronger climate action.
Arian Tomar discovered the power of storytelling as climate action while studying at Pearson College UWC on Vancouver Island. From the Salish Sea to the freshwater ecosystems of his Minnesota home, Arian uses filmmaking to connect people with threatened places, amplify conservation efforts and inspire others to imagine a more sustainable future.
2023 NYCAA Winners
Anna Erickson began taking climate action at just eight years old, turning her love of BC’s forests into a children’s book fundraiser. She went on to fight to protect a neighbourhood park and lead climate strikes, before taking that same drive for change into green civil engineering.
Ziya Merchant is tackling plastic waste one reusable bottle at a time. Through Phasing Out Plastic Bottles (POPPY), she collects unwanted bottles and gets them to students and people who need them, while raising funds for clean water access and pushing to expand the program across Burnaby schools.
Caio Krause Conradt takes climate action from the classroom to the creek, the garden and even the bird-banding table. Through wildlife conservation, ocean advocacy and hands-on environmental education, he helps young people understand the ecosystems around them and discover practical ways they can help protect them.
Finnegan Brown uses art to make people stop, look and care about the natural world. From painting bumblebees and creating films about salmon to imagining bio-inspired buildings, he combines creativity with climate activism and is discovering how art, architecture and even politics can inspire more sustainable ways of living.
A Grade 4 class in Delta, BC, turned a lesson about climate change into school-wide action, inspiring the creation of NYCAA’s first Inspirational Classroom Award. Led by teacher Barbara Woodside, the students tackled waste reduction, taught other classes about recycling and composting, and put their $1,500 award toward a school environmental mural.
Wesley Splinter from Saskatchewan became a “water warrior” after learning how climate change and pollution affect Mother Earth. Inspired by his family, Wesley saves water and energy, recycles and picks up litter, and even dreams of inventing a fruit-powered police bike that creates compost as it goes.
Matthias Spalteholz from Vancouver Island, BC, isn’t afraid to tackle environmental problems on a big scale. From beach cleanups and creek restoration to helping advance electric vehicle charging, he turns ideas into action and is now working to remove massive abandoned docks threatening a local beach and marine environment.
Teegan Walshe from Qualicum Beach, BC, has been striking for climate action every Friday since September 2021. What began as a protest has also become a way to connect with her community, including people who don’t always share her views. Through persistence, conversation and empathy, Teegan is showing how climate activism can create common ground and inspire change.
Parker Morrison from Kamloops, BC, asked a simple question about the rusted cars buried along the North Thompson River: why was no one doing anything about them? She turned that question into Restoring Our Riverbanks, an ambitious project bringing together schools, government, conservation groups and engineers to restore damaged habitat and create a safer riverbank for her community.
2024 NYCAA Winners
Quebec student Mishka Caldwell-Pichette discovered that climate activism doesn’t have to begin in a big city, taking her voice from Rouyn-Noranda to COP15 and COP28 while advocating for climate justice and creating opportunities for more young people to get involved.
British Columbia student Liam Pope-Lau is bringing creativity and science to climate action, using tools like microplastics research and community clean-ups to explore environmental problems while showing how innovative thinking can turn concern about the planet into practical solutions.
British Columbia youth group the Monkey Rebel Society is proving young people can create real change, using creativity and direct action to successfully advocate for New Westminster to become a 15-minute city while tackling climate education, transportation, and other community challenges.
Ontario student Derek Nguyen is finding new possibilities in everyday waste through Operation EcoPen, an initiative that has kept tens of thousands of discarded pens out of landfill while expanding into crayons, greeting cards, and other creative forms of reuse and recycling.
Alberta student Sophia Young is showing how climate action can also create greater equity, helping secure free public transit for 36,000 children in Regina while working with governments and communities to make sustainable transportation more accessible.
British Columbia student Sung Bin Lee is combining science and ocean advocacy, from experimenting with invasive plants to create sustainable textile fibres to leading microplastics research and bringing young people together to develop solutions for healthier oceans.
Ontario student Dev Katyal is using technology to tackle overfishing through MarineMatch, an app he developed that can identify more than 60 fish and ocean species in seconds, helping fishers make more informed and sustainable choices about their catch.
Saskatchewan student Graeme Hopkins is connecting young people with nature through outdoor adventure and experiential learning, from environmental leadership summits to a free outdoor club helping newcomer youth and their families build community while discovering Saskatchewan’s natural world.
Enya Fang turned the devastation of B.C.’s worst wildfire season into action, founding Evergreen Collective and growing it into an international youth-led nonprofit. Her work brings together climate education, fundraising, community action, writing and policy advocacy, all rooted in a belief that the climate crisis is also a humanitarian one.
Ashna Dodd turned her frustration over climate inaction into leadership, founding her school’s Climate Action Now club and organizing a Youth Climate Conference featuring David Suzuki. By bringing students, environmental leaders and decision-makers together, she’s helping other young people find their own ways to take action.
Alexandra Chow is turning youth climate advocacy into systemic change. Through Youth 4 Climate Justice, her work helped push the Vancouver School Board toward a $100,000 increase in funding for student-led sustainability initiatives, while her other projects connect and empower young people to create change across their schools and communities.
Yukon student Ella Bradford went from writing a climate letter to her MP at age 12 to helping shape Whitehorse’s Climate Action Plan. Through Fridays for Future Yukon, she’s bringing young people directly into conversations with decision-makers and pushing for stronger climate action across the North.
Quebec student Henri Boisseau-Ouellet turned climate concern into community action at age 12, gathering more than 150 signatures to help transform his neighbourhood alley into a greener, safer space. Since then, he’s continued using activism, journalism, and civic engagement to push for change.
Elaine Xiao is turning the idea of “mutualism” into action, showing how environmental action can create benefits that ripple outward. Through Mism, she mobilizes youth, collaborates with local government and is expanding her model internationally, proving that young people have real power to create change.
Reeve from Salt Spring Island, BC, shows that climate action can start with the smallest everyday choices. Living on an island where water can be scarce, he finds creative ways to conserve it, save energy and care for his surroundings, proving you’re never too young to help protect the planet.