Whitley Fund for Nature

Winning the Whitley Award to me is a tremendous achievement, a tremendous honour, and this will boost my efforts to continue the work I'm doing and to help to encourage other local grassroots conservation groups to do their wonderful work and to be able to encourage them to hone their work towards winning a Whitley Award like I did. This is a night of good news, and we are absolutely delighted to be here. We've done a lot of practice for that ceremony, and we did the speech training, we also did the media training, how we can talk to journalists and how we can respond to questions. It's something that I always needed and now that the Whitley team gave me that opportunity to get that training, it's very, very important for me.

When I first saw the movie narrated by Sir David, I couldn't be more happy. I'm a great fan of him, of his career. I have watched all his documentaries. I'm very happy to share this award with the Yawanawa indigenous people.

When I watch the film and I see their faces, that's when everything came together. I'm like, yes, this is happening. We are here. We are showing the world we are here.

We are ready to take on whatever comes our way. The more that we can support people who are on the ground, who live and work in these landscapes, the better it is for wildlife conservation. What is so different about the Whitley Fund for Nature is that they invest in people and their relationships with nature. At the other events it's a lot about policy and not so much about people.

It's really refreshing to be at the Whitley Awards. We heard from so many wonderful winners and they're all just incredible people doing incredible things for conservation. What a privilege to celebrate with them. So thankful.

So humbled. In the midst of the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis, these Whitley Award winners are unsung heroes of change that's happening on the front line of conservation. And we need to celebrate and support these people. The Whitley Fund for Nature is utterly unique.

I don't think there is any other organisation in the world that supports local grassroots conservationists in the way that WFN does, and the way that they work with local communities is just so inspiring. I'm 17. This is my first time at the Whitley Awards, and it has been possibly one of the best experiences I've had. It was amazing to see all the speakers.

It was so inspiring as well. There needs to be a lot more education about what needs to be done out there. I've been to many events that are supporting wildlife, and they've all been crucial. They've all been absolutely amazing.

With this one, with the Whitley Awards, it was an incredibly positive experience all around, so uplifting. Where there is success, we should really celebrate it because it shows what can be done elsewhere or ways that it could be done elsewhere. And I think that's what you really get from these awards tonight. To see everybody with all the energy supporting local conservation initiatives was the highlight.

They are knowledgeable and articulate, and it is their tenacity that strengthens the work of the Whitley Fund every year. And it makes us so proud to be supporters of the Fund. If I was to sum up the Whitley Awards this evening, I think there's one word: hope.