Arctic Inspiration Prize big benefit to North, past winners say
The cash award that comes with winning an Arctic Inspiration Prize allows northern organizations to make a real impact in their communities, past winners say.
They detailed a list of achievements, from starting mental health and wellness programs to teaching literacy and expanding their programs across the North, during a panel discussion Feb. 20 at the Aqsarniit Trade Show and Conference in Ottawa.
“These prizes gave our organization flexibility to learn, do things in ways that are comfortable for us and the people that we serve, and allowed us to think outside the box,” said Halla Kaludjak, representing Ilitaqsiniq, also known as the Nunavut Literacy Council, which won the $1-million prize in 2022 for its Pilimmaksaijuliriniq Project.
The Arctic Inspiration Prize is a charitable trust that provides seed money to help community-based northern groups grow. It bills itself as the largest annual prize in Canada.
Each year since 2012, it has offered a million-dollar grand prize, up to four $500,000 prizes in different categories, and a $100,000 youth prize.
Ilitaqsiniq’s Pilimmaksaijuliriniq Project is an Inuit-designed and Inuit-led initiative developed in response to national Inuit mental wellness strategies.
The council hosted six three-day Inuit Wellness Summits using the AIP money from October 2023 to March 2024 in Inuvik, Cambridge Bay, Rankin Inlet, Iqaluit, Kuujjuaq and Nain, N.L.
These summits brought together front-line community workers and elders to share and learn about wellness from an Inuit perspective.
“We heard from the participants in these isolated communities that the workshops allowed them to create networks,” Kaludjak said.
Ilitaqsiniq also received $300,000 in 2012, in the inaugural year of the AIP, for its work embedding literacy into high-quality, culturally based programming, according to the award’s website. Kaludjak said Ilitaqsiniq credits the 2012 prize for shaping the organization.
Joshua Stribbell also represented Ampere on the panel. The organization, formerly known as Pinnguaq, supports development of education based on science, technology, engineering, arts and math, and in 2016 was awarded a $400,000 AIP prize for its program called Te(a)ch.
“Ryan Oliver, our CEO, often cites the Arctic Inspiration Prize as the moment we became a legitimate company,” said Stribbell, head of strategic partnerships at Ampere.
Ampere used the money to expand in 2016 to Baker Lake, Chesterfield Inlet and Iqaluit before eventually building the Iqaluit Makerspace centre in September 2018.
Stribbell said he hopes more funders will develop trust-based philanthropy similar to the approach taken by the Arctic Inspiration Prize.
Arctic Inspiration Prize Charitable Trust board members Andy Moorhouse and Harry Flaherty led the panel discussion, which also included Veronica Flowers, co-lead for the Inotsiavik Centre in Nunatsiavut.
Flaherty, the AIP’s regional and national selection committee member, said the award’s selection committees comprise northerners who understand regional priorities.
“The Arctic Inspiration Prize’s selection process helps us be sure that winning projects are new, relevant, and meet the needs and objectives of the communities they serve,” he said.
Moorhouse, the award’s vice-chair, noted the role southern funding support plays in sustaining the annual contest and its initiatives.
“We’ve awarded more than $25 million since it started, which has brought a total of more than $54 million to the Canadian Arctic with many of our youth and community projects that received the funds,” Moorhouse said.
The 2025 Arctic Inspiration Prize ceremony is scheduled for May 13 at the Rogers Centre Ottawa.
Located in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada, Nunatsiaq News is dedicated to covering affairs in Nunavut and the Nunavik territory of Quebec since 1973. It has been a partner to ArcticToday and its predecessors since 2016.
