2023's winning projects

Since the launch of our very first Igniting Innovation challenge in December 2022, we've been inspired by young minds who have stepped up to shape the future of people and planet.

Passionate applicants aged 16–25 submitted project ideas that could help restore, protect and create healthy woods.

On 22 April 2023, nine winners pitched their ideas before a group of judges in London who decided how the £20,000 prize pot should be shared. 

Thanks to Pears Foundation and their #iwill fund partners, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and the National Lottery Community Fund, who funded this project. 

Meet the winners

These extraordinary projects are already making waves for the environment, thanks to these inspiring individuals and their Woodland Trust expert mentors.

Lucy Grabe-Watson 

Awarded £3,000
Project: Save our ancient woodlands. Having been actively involved in lobbying for the protection of green spaces and against sewage pollution in the UK, Lucy has embarked on a national campaign to support the protection of our ancient woodlands. This youth-led campaign features inspiring short films and on-the-ground youth networking to reach a goal of 100,000 signatures on an e-petition to protect ancient woods.

Chiara George

Awarded £1,250
Project: a three-part scheme called ‘From Little Acorns’ to create awareness of the importance of urban trees, with a national street-tree day, a big tree party and big street-tree survey. Chiara lives in London and was inspired to protect urban trees while helping young people open their eyes to the trees around them.

Holly Daniels

Awarded £3,000
Project: Hidden Species. An interactive, inclusive exhibition that tells the story of some of the UK’s most hidden woodland wildlife. The project aims to combine beautiful wildlife photographs with interactive games, information and conservation tools. A keen wildlife photographer, writer and educator herself, Holly plans to use her talents and conservation knowledge to educate people from all walks of life on species including hazel dormice, barn owls, bats and more.

Elizabeth Trice

Awarded £2,250
Project: All Saints Church Eco Project. A sustainable community/church-based conservation project to revitalise the area’s local biodiversity while providing opportunities for locals to experience and interact with nature. The project will be brought to life in six local green spaces by the congregation, Sunday school, local scout group and local community. It will follow an exciting management plan to create two hedgerows, plant fruit trees, set up planters, install several bird boxes and bug hotels, create a small wildflower meadow and install two one-metre diameter barrel ponds. 

Cameron Macdonald

Awarded £2,750
Project: LostWood. Beautiful jewellery created from invasive rhododendron wood. The brand aims to create awareness of the threats that rhododendron poses to our ancient woodlands and rainforests, while making use of waste created by its removal from those areas.

Moiz Siddiqi and Sana Mirza

Awarded £1,500
Project: Me-Eco. A mindfulness-based seeded paper product, Me-Eco equips the next generation of climate fighters to ‘let it go and let it grow’. Me-Eco enables people to write down their worries on seeded paper, plant it and watch it grow alongside their own wellbeing. The product comes with a QR code that links to support resources and more. In aid of the launch, Moiz and Sana have created a launch film titled 'Only the Stars Know', which explores the idea of success, identity and mental health amongst different cultures and communities.

Leonie Young

Awarded £1,250
Project: Upcycling Workshops. Five-week workshops to teach people how to fix and upcycle clothes using a variety of techniques. Leonie aims to inspire and motivate people to navigate around harmful fast fashion, using their new skills long after the workshops have finished. The project will promote more sustainable ways to dress, enabling the eco-conscious to boycott fast fashion and reduce the demand for materials containing microplastics that are detrimental to our land and seas. 

Anna Cooper

Awarded £1,500
Project: Trees can live forever. This inspiring campaign aims to raise awareness of how ancient trees can be damaged by soil compaction and how the damage can be reduced. It emphasises the pivotal importance of soil in the protection of ancient trees. Anna hopes to close the gap in public understanding through multiple engagement channels like interpretation boards and key partnerships.

Katie Thompson

Awarded £3,500
Project: three short films for social media and a 10-minute feature film connecting people, woods and wildlife on Smithills Estate, the largest site the Woodland Trust has ever acquired in England. This film is set to highlight access, protection and regeneration of the estate throughout the years, while campaigning for national protection of ancient woodlands.