Nominations open for 2025 Arctic Inspiration Prize

The Arctic Inspiration Prize has opened its nomination process with $3.7 million in prize money on the table.

Teams from across the North can now share their ideas for innovative projects in education, health and well-being, culture, arts and language, science and traditional knowledge, climate change and the economy.

There are three categories teams can apply for: The $1 million grand prize category, which one team will win; The AIP category with four winning teams receiving $500,000 each; and the youth prize, where participants 30 and younger each have a chance to win up to $100,000.

“Winning the Arctic Inspiration Prize can change lives and create amazing opportunities for teams and communities,” said Darlene Nuqingaq, the Arctic Inspiration Prize region manager for Nunavut.

Four Nunavut groups split nearly $725,000 in AIP prize money last year.

In 2021, The Iqaluit Music Society won $1 million for Imaa, Like This: Children and Youth Expressing Themselves Through Music. The organization teaches Inuit children music and mentors Inuit youth to become community music leaders.

The Arctic Inspiration Prize calls itself the largest annual prize in Canada.

It’s owned by the northern-led AIP Charitable Trust and is a community of Indigenous organizations, governments, industry, philanthropy and others from the North and south.

The trust awards seed money to various northern groups so they can get their ideas off the ground.

The application deadline for all three categories is Feb. 24, 2025.

Potential applicants can also submit a two-page summary of their idea to AIP organizers and get feedback on their project. The deadline for inspirational proposals is Oct. 28 for the youth category and Oct. 21 for others.