Do you have an idea (big or small) to enhance life in your community, but don’t have the funding to make it happen?
We created the Arctic Inspiration Youth Prize for you.
The nomination process is now open.
What’s the Arctic
Inspiration Youth Prize?
The Arctic Inspiration Youth Prize funds and supports youth who bring positive change to the North. The Youth Prize awards up to $700,000 each year, with seven different youth teams able to win up to $100,000 each.
No, the Youth Prize is an award for teams. It’s about inspiring teams to find new ways to make real impact on life in your communities.
To be eligible, the Team Leader and more than half of the team need to be 30 years of age and under. But non-youth members, including mentors and Elders, are also welcome to participate. In fact, we encourage it.
The Team Leader and the majority of the team are required to be Northerners as the Arctic Inspiration Youth Prize is about inspiring northern youth to build, lead and manage their own solutions. For the AIP, a Northerner is defined as:
- An Indigenous person of the North preferably working and residing in Yukon, NWT, Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Nunavut, Nunavik or Nunatsiavut; or
- A non-Indigenous person working and residing in Yukon, NWT, Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Nunavut, Nunavik or Nunatsiavut.
Any new project that helps bring positive change to people in the North.
A project can have one or more focus areas such as:
- Education
- Health and wellbeing
- Culture, arts and language
- Science and traditional knowledge
- Climate change
- Food Security
- Economy
Which projects have won in the past?
The Arctic Inspiration Youth Prize funds and supports grassroots efforts to realize opportunities and bring about positive change in the North.
Past winners have included:
Yukon Youth Healthcare Summit
TYPE: Winner, 2019 Youth Prize
REGION: Yukon
THEME: Education; health and wellbeing; science and traditional knowledge
Yukon Youth Healthcare Summit was awarded $90,000 to address the need to increase the number of Indigenous Yukoners in post-secondary education – particularly in the field of healthcare – by exposing them to a variety of healthcare professions through a series of multi-day summits.
Nunavut Youth Creative Collective
TYPE: Winner, 2022 Youth Prize
REGION: Nunavut
THEME: Culture, arts and language
Nunavut Youth Creative Collective won $100,000 to work as a social enterprise to increase Inuit representation in advertising, media and other digital forms like social media and website design.
Artspace
TYPE: Winner, 2020 Youth Prize
REGION: NWT
THEME: Culture, arts and language
Artspace won $100,000 to offer arts programs in the evenings and weekends, as well as daytime drop-in space, that cater to youth, individuals experiencing homelessness, and professional artists.
How do you
pick the winners?
The Youth Prizes are awarded by selection committees who are made up of people living and working in the North. As many as 7 teams can be selected to win up to $100,000 each to help launch your ideas.
What happens
if we win?
Youth Prize winners get to bring your amazing projects to life! And we’ll help you get there, with funding and support. Not only will your initiative be promoted through news releases, website and social media, but you will be celebrated on a national stage at the Awards Ceremony and get the prestige of becoming an Arctic Inspiration Youth Prize Winner.
How do we get started?
First, get your team together. Make sure you’ve got people who are going to support this project to the end (and even beyond!). Come in prepared to win because there is a good chance you could. Be ready to hit the ground running.
Don’t worry that the Inspiration Proposal period has passed. You can still submit a nomination!
If you have any questions about your idea, please click Connect With Us, or contact one of our Region Managers.
Next, prepare your Nomination!
See the Nomination Guide and Nomination Template below. The Guide will help you complete the Template. Your team must use the Nomination Template and complete all sections. Incomplete nominations aren’t eligible.
What dates do we
need to remember?
Please submit your Nomination Template electronically to the Arctic Inspiration Youth Prize by 11:59 pm February 24, 2025 (PT). Sorry, but we won’t be accepting Nominations received after this time – so don’t be late!
Days
Hours
Stay tuned for announcements about our finalists, winners and your next opportunity to submit an idea.
Have a game-changing idea for your community?
We want to hear from you!
