News & Events, Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award — Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA

Denica Riadini-Flesch, founder of SukkhaCitta, stands among lush green foliage in a regenerative cotton field in Indonesia. Her social enterprise trains farmers and artisans to rebuild soil health through traditional craft and natural dyes.

From farm to closet: Indonesian fashion founder Denica Riadini-Flesch wins UCLA’s Pritzker Award for environmental innovation

Tony Pritzker speaking at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IoES) gala in front of a white podium. He points towards the camera while speaking, in front of a dark purple and blue backdrop.

Tony Pritzker’s ‘patient strategy for the planet’ featured in Mongabay

The feature traces how an engineer’s logic — and a long view of progress — shape Tony Pritzker’s approach to environmental change, from stormwater systems in Los Angeles to a global prize at UCLA lifting the next generation of innovators

From awe to action: How I discovered harmony and found purpose in forests

Seema Lokhandwala, a 2025 Pritzker Award finalist, reflects on how a childhood encounter with an elephant grew into a lifelong commitment to protecting the fragile bonds between people and wildlife

For frogs and family

From childhood explorations in the Mojave to tackling the chytrid fungus, 2025 Pritzker Award finalist Anthony Waddle charts a path of science, memory and conservation

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8.26.2025

Healing mother earth, healing ourselves

Economist-turned-entrepreneur Denica Riadini-Flesch, a 2025 Pritzker Award finalist, reflects on how she left conventional models of growth to build a regenerative fashion movement

8.14.2025

2025 Pritzker Award finalists: Anthony Waddle, Denica Riadini-Flesch, Seema Lokhandwala

Three innovators from Australia, Indonesia and India are redefining how to protect wildlife, restore ecosystems and build equitable futures

The 2025 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Finalists, from left to right: Denica Riadini-Flesch, Anthony Waddle, and Seema Lokhandwala, stand in front of a colorful, vibrant landscape of purple, orange and green flowers under neath a light blue and white sky.

8.7.2025

Meet the 2025 Pritzker Environmental Genius Award Candidates #10–13

Building climate solutions from fungi, sediment, timber and uranium, four leaders under 40 show what next-generation innovation looks like in today's world

Two golden-green frogs sit side by side on bark, facing forward with orange eyes and glossy skin. Likely green and golden bell frogs (Litoria aurea), photographed in a natural setting. Image courtesy of Anthony Waddle.

8.5.2025

Meet the 2025 Pritzker Environmental Genius Award Candidates #6–9

These four nominees are focused on housing, conservation, fashion and public space — tackling environmental issues by redesigning how systems work at the local level

7.31.2025

Meet the 2025 Pritzker Environmental Genius Award candidates #1–5

These five mid-career leaders are creating climate solutions in areas and communities often left out of conventional planning

Kerllen da Silva Freitas Costa stands on a narrow canoe outfitted with solar panels, steering through tall grasses in a remote wetland under a clear blue sky.

7.24.2025

Announcing the 2025 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award nominees

Thirteen nominees. Five continents. One common denominator: a new blueprint for environmental leadership.

Jonathan Webb, a 2025 Pritzker nominee and Co-founder of The Nuclear Company, wears a hard hat and glasses while looking into the distance. A soft watercolor-style mountain landscape appears behind him.