Alumnae

Apply for the Alumnae Changemaker Award

Learn more and apply for the Technovation Alumnae Changemaker Award, which will recognize an alumna solving an environmental problem in her community.

Calling all Technovation alumnae solving environmental issues!

Technovation is teaming up with the Patrick J McGovern Foundation to award the Alumnae Changemaker Award to an alumna solving an environmental problem in her community. The Alumnae Changemaker Award comes with a $5,000 cash prize for the winner. Winners will be announced at the 2022 Technovation World Summit, which will be held in August.

Young women and their innovation are essential in addressing pressing environmental issues, including climate change and its devastating effects, and we want to recognize the ways Technovation alumnae are contributing to this global fight.

The application is open until Sunday, June 19th, 2022. Read on for more information about who is eligible and how to apply, and explore our FAQs if you have additional questions.

Applications are closed, and we will announce the winners at World Summit on August 12

What is the Alumna Changemaker Award?

The Alumna Changemaker Award is a new award created to recognize an alumna who has worked to solve an environmental problem in her community over the last year (between May 2021 and June 2022).

A $5,000 prize will be awarded to the selected winner. The winner will be selected by a panel of judges and announced at the 2022 Technovation World Summit.

Individuals and teams are eligible for this award. If you meet the criteria (see below) you can apply as an individual, or as a group, if you all worked on an environmental problem in your community and all previously participated in Technovation Girls. If you apply as a group and are selected to win the award, the prize will be split equally among group members.

Who can apply for the Alumna Changemaker Award?

To be eligible for the Alumna Changemaker Award, you must:

Be 18 years or older, as of March 1, 2022. Please note: if you're applying as a group with fellow Technovation alumnae, everyone must be 18 years of age or older)
Have submitted a project to the Technovation Girls competition between 2010 and 2021. This project does NOT need to have been related to the environment.
Solved an environmental problem in your community between May 2021 and the present.
- Your recent project does not need to be a technology based one
- Your project does not have to be the same project you originally submitted to the Technovation Girls competition
- Please note: problems/solutions related to recycling are NOT eligible.

Your project does not need to be technical or related to your prior Technovation projects. Here are some examples of projects that can be submitted:

Researching/organizing planting of native trees to combat invasive species and promote permaculture (e.g. Everyday Gandhis)
Contributing to local efforts to monitor water quality (e.g. Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative)
Community education initiatives – writing a curriculum and teaching about local environmental issues in local elementary schools
Educating local children about growing vegetables and setting up a school or community garden

How do I apply for the Alumna Changemaker Award?

Complete the application! Applications must be submitted by Sunday, June 19th, 2022.

As part of the application you will be asked to provide the following:

Information about yourself (and your team members if you're applying as a team—only one person should apply per team)
Information about your participation in Technovation Girls
Information about your environmental project
Evidence of your project in action (this can be a photo, a video, an audio clip, a presentation, or a document)
A link to a video (uploaded to YouTube) of yourself explaining the goal of your project, and how you achieved it (2 minutes maximum)
The name and contact information for a reference

We can't wait to hear about your amazing work to tackle an environmental issue in your community.