2026 Student Showcase: Best Storytelling and Most Practical & Effective Concept

Across this year’s CAVU Student Showcase, students didn’t just learn about climate change—they told stories, built solutions, and showed what’s possible when young people are given the chance to lead.

Today, we’re proud to celebrate and award the winners of two of our most exciting categories: Best Storytelling and Most Practical & Effective Concept. These awards recognize students who not only had powerful ideas, but brought them to life in ways that inspire others and point toward real-world change.

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🎥 Best Storytelling Award Winners

Great ideas only go so far if they can’t be shared. The Best Storytelling Award honors students and their projects who took complex climate challenges and transformed them into clear, compelling, and creative narratives that connect with audiences.

Operation: Save Earth is a powerful reminder that even the youngest voices can tell stories that matter. Through a blend of urgency and hope, this team created an engaging message that is both accessible and deeply impactful.

Middle School – $200
Fixing the Planet One Street at a Time
Nivan and Pavan – Grade 8
Fieldstone Middle School
New Jersey, USA

This project excels at connecting local action to the global impact, showing how everyday decisions and community-level solutions can build toward meaningful environmental change.

High School – $200
The Breath of Change
Shubh Shrivastava – Grade 12
Cambridge School Indirapuram
India

Capturing human connectivity and expression, The Breath of Change explores climate change through a human lens, demonstrating how storytelling can bridge science, emotion, and lived experience in a way that resonates.

💡 Most Practical & Effective Concept Award Winners

While creativity is essential, the ability to design solutions that actually work is what moves ideas forward. The Most Practical & Effective Concept Award recognizes projects that are not only imaginative, but feasible, scalable, and grounded in real-world application.

Elementary School – $200
The Importance of Trees
Jonah – Grade 5
THRIVE Community School
New Mexico, USA

This project highlights the power of simple, accessible solutions by focusing on one of nature’s most effective climate tools: trees! Jonah’s video shows how local action, when done thoughtfully, can have a meaningful environmental impact.

Middle School – $200
Multi Purpose Pyramid Garden
Wesley, Sheldon, Jayden, Kelly, Mercy, Michael, Babonsa, Shanel, Wendy, Bravin, Leon, Ian, Valary, Darlene, Brighton, Salva – Grades 4–6
Joel Omino Comprehensive School
Kenya, Africa

This innovative design reimagines how we grow food by maximizing space and resources. It reflects a strong understanding of sustainability and demonstrates how one solution can address multiple challenges at once.

High School – $200
Impact of Climate Change on Culture and Heritage
Neeharika Shrestha – Grade 11
Machhapuchchhre World School
Nepal

This project expands how we think about climate solutions by connecting environmental change to cultural preservation. It offers a thoughtful and nuanced perspective on how communities experience and respond to climate impacts.

🌍 Why These Projects Matter

Congratulations to our winners!

These creative projects stood themselves apart through their creativity and exploration into practicable solutions that can be harnessed in communities throughout the world. Together, they show what happens when students are encouraged to explore real-world problems, think critically about the systems around them, and create solutions that reflect both creativity and purpose. The work these students have produced demonstrates that meaningful climate action can begin in the classroom and extend far beyond it.

🙌 Special Thanks

We would also like to extend a special thank you to Alexa Pavan (@gogreenwithalexa) and Alexa Putillo-Wehry (@ocean_alexa) for helping us share these incredible student stories with their audiences. Their support plays an important role in amplifying youth voices and expanding the reach of these solutions.

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How This Year’s Showcase Works

This year, we’re doing things differently.

Instead of a single awards event, the CAVU Student Showcase is unfolding over several weeks, from now through May, bringing you closer to the students, stories, and solutions that empower our future.

Here’s how to follow along:

• Week of April 29th announcing CAVU Student Showcase kick off & Honorable Mentions (you are here)
• Each following Wednesday in May, winners will be announced at cavu.org/showcase, and @CAVUorg on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
• Full student videos are released on our @CAVUorg YouTube
• Award Categories and Announcements:
  • May 6 – Best Storytelling & Most Practical and Effective Concept
  • May 13 – Outstanding Entry & Most Creative and Engaging Project
  • May 20 – Most Impactful & Founder’s Award
  • May 27 – To Be Announced (it’s a secret)

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