The Climate Change Leadership Awards (CCLA) has received a record number of entries for the 2011/2012 awards and judging has now been completed following the deadline for entries of February 10.

Categories include Climate Change Heroes for schools, youth groups, communities and individuals and Waste Minimisation Heroes, as well as Private Sector including agriculture and food, energy, minerals and industrials, financial institutions, other corporate services, retail, local municipality and SME.

“We are the first award of this kind in Africa that recognise, reward, motivate and celebrate businesses, communities, youth, schools, and individuals,” says Jeunesse Park, founder of Food & Trees for Africa and the CCLA. “The organisation is moving from strength to strength, expanding but also developing as we progress, now with more categories, evolving judging methodologies and growing interest from across the board.”

Ant Dane, consultant at Incite Sustainability and one of the seven judges drawn from across the environmental, business, and non-governmental organisation (NGO) sectors says: “Innovation, scale of impact and relevance within the South African context are crucial criteria in the judging process,” he says. “Innovative ideas must prove some measure of success because, while encouraging, without it they cannot demonstrate leadership. The resources available to individuals, groups, and organisations are also considered for scale of impact. As a bare minimum, a successful entry must demonstrate good understanding of climate change with a direct link to one or more of the challenges posed by climate change.”

entries and prizes

Ingrid Mech, of Global Carbon Exchange, adds: “Every entry is uniquely significant, whether it be through adaptation or mitigation, in addressing the effects of climate change. There are many entries that are extremely meaningful, but they face fierce competition from larger scale entries that have even more impact, and that makes the judging process extremely difficult.”

There were over 160 entries overall including 12 entries in the inaugural year of the waste minimisation category.

Judges note that entrants in the Private Sector use their climate change response programmes as differentiators and that they demonstrate innovation in stakeholder engagement and change management. Schools and communities tend to show the ability to creatively execute their projects with limited funds, particularly in challenging circumstances.

The winners, who will be announced at the gala event to be held in March 29, 2012 at the Sandton Sun Hotel for which tables may still be booked, stand to win numerous prizes.

The awards offer individuals and groups R35 000 in gift vouchers from Pick n Pay, R100 000 from SA Post Office, financial assistance for waste minimisation category winners from Amalgamated Beverage Industries, and educational courses from Global Carbon Exchange.

“From the interest we've had we can clearly see that people are seeking to be more informed about climate change and the environment now than ever before,” says Park, “and that they are using that information to make voluntary, impactful change to their own way of thinking and living to improve our environment, which is inspiring and speaks to the objectives of these awards.”