19 November 2019: Yesterday, judges of the 2019 tve Global Sustainability Film Awards together with Fastflow Group honoured films showing initiatives across four continents, from underwater farming in Canada to a mobile payments app that fosters reforestation in the Philippines. The films, which are judged for both their creative execution and the credibility of the solutions they show, highlight real action being taken to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.The winners were announced at a gala event this evening at The May Fair Hotel in London hosted by the LBC News presenter, Lisa Aziz.
Competitive categories:
AI and Digital Innovation Award
Founded by Grace Bian, vice president of the awards and chair of the China International Culture Stock Exchange
Winner: CineTecture, A Low Carbon Future for China's Furnace Cities
Companies Taking Climate Action Award
Winner: Silverback/WEF/WWF, How underwater farming could revolutionise food production
Infrastructures for the future
Sponsored by Azad Ayub Ltd
Winner: Silverback/WEF/WWF, How turning cities into giant sponges can help tackle floods
Sky: Beyond Plastic Award
Winner: Halo Coffee Co., The world's best coffees in a way that's best for the world
Sustainable Transactions Award
Sponsored by Elemental Financial
Winner: Mynt, GCash forest
Transforming Society Award
Sponsored by Bright Courtyard Group
Winner: Fair Trade USA, Fair Trade USA celebrates 20 years of impact
Judges special mention
Winner: City to Sea, Turning Tides
Nominated categories:
PA Award for environmental Storytelling
Winner: Changing Planet, BBC episode 4 series 1 of Earth from Space
Founder's award for sustainability on the big screen
Winner: Director-producer Benedikt Erlingsson and producers Marianne Slot and Carine Leblanc for Women at War.
All films entered into this year's Awards are available on the Awards website.
Notes for editors:
The annual tve Global Sustainability Film Awards, now their 8th year, celebrate short films showing authentic and innovative sustainability initiatives from companies and institutions worldwide. Jennifer Viccars, Octopus Group's brand and marketing director, is president of the 2019 Awards which will take place on 18 November 2019 at The May Fair Hotel, London. Reserve your ticket to the ceremony and gala dinner event here. Winning films will be announced and showcased from across the following competitive categories: Companies Taking Climate Action, Transforming Society, Sustainable Transactions, Sky: Beyond Plastic, Infrastructures for the Future, and AI and Digital Innovation. tve will also run the nominated categories, The Founder's Award for Sustainability on the Big Screen, an award for feature length films addressing one or more of the UN Sustainable Development Goals; and the PA Award for Environmental Storytelling. www.gsfa.tve.org
tve is the non-profit based in London that organises the Awards. It creates and enables others to create powerful, effective communications about the environment and sustainable development. Through film, animation, documentaries, debates and social media, the media charity reaches global audiences, giving a voice to a new generation committed to a greener and fairer world. The Awards are tve's main fundraiser each year. www.tve.org
Fastflow Group employs over 1,100 people across the UK and operates within the support services sector. It provides infrastructure maintenance and improvement services to Northumbrian Water and Scottish Water, and a wide range of high pressure gas transmission engineering projects for clients such as National Grid and Cadent Gas. From Thame, Oxfordshire it delivers planned and responsive repairs for housing associations such as A2Dominion, Catalyst Housing, Southern Housing and Karbon Homes, owning around 200,000 homes across the south of the UK.
Fastflow Group has recently merged with United Living, a new and refurbished housing specialist, allowing them to broaden their maintenance and development capability in the property sector.
The company embraces the strategic, competitive advantages of a sustainable business model and conducts its business ethically to make a positive contribution to society. Fastflow Group has supported the tve Awards since 2014 and has been main sponsor since 2015. www.fastflow.co.uk
Grace Bian is Awards vice-president for the fourth year running, and chair of the China International Culture Stock Exchange and of Global Healthcare. Grace launched two new categories in 2018 at Cannes Film Festival: AI Empowering the Future' and Global Digital Futures.' This has become the AI and Digital Innovation' Award in 2019. An inventor with 73 intellectual property rights in her name, Grace focuses on the potential of smart cities to transform society through projects like mobile hospitals and smart health villages. Grace jointly owns a research and development centre with the China Academy of Sciences and is an economic advisor for the Chinese government. She is currently building a new global bio bank that will store stem cells, which can be used to treat common diseases and early stage cancer, and is also building a series of five star smart health villages and wellness resorts with projects in the UK, Ireland, China, Cyprus and Switzerland.
Sky has partnered with tve to sponsor the Beyond Plastic category for a second year. Through Sky Ocean Rescue, Sky is using its voice and reach to inspire simple, everyday changes to stop the oceans from drowning in plastic. Since January 2017 over 45.8 million people are aware of the campaign and 7 million Sky households have changed their attitudes towards single-use plastic. Sky has ambitious plans for future engagement with more ground-breaking content and sports partnerships. As a business, Sky is committed to leading by ex
