SHACKLETON MEDAL 2025: WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT - CORMAC CULLINAN
In an intensely close-fought competition, Cormac Cullinan has emerged as the winner of this year's Shackleton Medal for the Protection of the Polar Regions.
"The Southern Ocean and Antarctica covers 10% of the surface of the plant,” he said. “It drives all the ocean currents and absorbs CO2, so it's ecologically unique and incredibly important to the stability of the climate, but at the same time hammered by climate change. Nobody’s making decisions about Antarctica based, really, on what’s best for Antarctica. If we could get its [legal] status to at least that of a country, then it could be represented at the UN or in court.”
Now in its fourth year, the Shackleton Medal celebrates the activists, scientists, explorers and communicators who are stepping forward to protect the polar regions from the myriad threats they face. A £10,000 prize and a hand-struck silver medal is awarded annually by a prestigious panel of polar experts in a meeting at the Royal Geographical Society, including explorer Levison Wood and the Hon Alexandra Shackleton, grand-daughter of Sir Ernest Shackleton. The judges select the winners based on the merit of their most recent project as well as the courage, endurance, ingenuity and leadership they show in carrying it out.
Close runner up was Alex Cornelissen, Global CEO of Sea Shepherd, the international direct action ocean conservation movement. Cornelissen was nominated for extraordinary bravery and leadership, especially in Operation Antarctic Defence, which began in 2023 and highlighted the scale of the plundering of krill from the Southern Ocean.
At a time when American scientists and climate activists are under sustained attack from the Trump administration, the judges were also highly impressed by the determination and resilience of the Antarctic geophysicist Jamin Greenbaum and the lead editor of NOAA’s Arctic report card Twila Moon.
“Everyone has a part to play in protecting the polar regions,” said Shackleton CEO and Co-founder Martin Brooks. ‘This year, the judges had a shortlist of scientists, direct action pressure groups, legal advocates and photographers to consider. In the end, Cormac Cullinan’s ingenious and courageous vision to give Antarctica its own legal voice won out. We think the Boss would applaud.”
