About the Environment Prize

Under Folkemødet på Bornholm fik vi chancen for at tale med Selina Juul, den tidligere vinder som har stiftet Stop Spild Af Mad, om hvad det indebar for hende at vinde Nordisk Råds miljøpris.

The idea behind the prize is to raise awareness of environmental work in the Nordic Region. it has been awarded since 1995, along with the Nordic Council’s other prizes.

The prize goes to a company, organisation or individual for exemplary efforts to integrate respect for the environment into their business or work or for some other form of extraordinary initiative on behalf of the environment.

Three-step process

Choosing the winner of the Environment Prize is a three-step process:

  • Open nominations
  • National committees submit nominations (one or two)
  • Adjudication Committee meets and picks winner

National committees

A 13-person Nordic Adjudication Committee decides who will go on to the next stage – the final – and picks the winner. It consists of the members of the national committees from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland (two each), and from the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland (one each).

The prize is usually awarded alongside the other Nordic prizes for literature, music and film at a special ceremony during the annual Session of the Nordic Council in the autumn.

Ceremony during Session

The Environment Prize is worth DKK 300,000 (approx. €40,300) – the same as the other prizes – and is run and managed by the Nordic House in Reykjavik.

Past winners

Past winners include Selena Juul for her work on food waste, the well-know Norwegian environmental organisation Bellona, the Greenland environmental organisation Inuit Circumpolar Conference, Åland’s Agenda 21 office, the environmental champion Bogi Hansen from the Faroe Islands, the City of Albertslund in Denmark, three Nordic banks and the Scandic hotels.