11 Sept 2025
WIN WIN AWARD DONATES PRIZE CUBE
As part of the theme Trailblazing Leadership, the WIN WIN Gothenburg Sustainability Award is donating a replica of the 2025 prize cube to the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg. The donation was presented on September 11 and will become part of the school’s art collection.
The initiative is part of the collaboration with the School’s Master’s Program in Management, where Professor Niklas Egels-Zandén this spring led a workshop with this year’s designer, Emeli Höcks, and master’s students on how the theme could be expressed in physical form.
“Students and managers are used to writing, discussing, and presenting, but to physically build a representation of leadership feels unfamiliar. This uncertainty opens doors to reflection and creativity. We use art in education precisely to create new and unexpected impressions. In this workshop, Emeli invited our students into her ongoing creative process and also gave feedback on the students’ interpretations. Fantastic in itself – and now to see the final product in our own premises adds an extra dimension,” says Niklas Egels-Zandén, Professor of Business Administration.
This year’s award recipient is Domingo Peas, leader of the Achuar people in Ecuador and president of the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance. He has succeeded in uniting 30 Indigenous nations in the borderlands between Ecuador and Peru to jointly protect 35 million hectares of Amazon rainforest – an area the size of Germany.
His philosophy – that every decision must endure for at least seven generations – inspired this year’s prize cube, expressed through the legendary material terra preta. Terra preta, Portuguese for “black soil,” is a type of soil created by Indigenous peoples in the Amazon over a thousand years ago.
By mixing charcoal from low-oxygen burning with organic material, they created soil that does not become depleted but instead grows richer over time. Today, this technique brings renewed hope as it acts as an effective carbon sink while also improving soil fertility.
“For me, terra preta is a powerful example of how human impact does not have to be destructive – but on the contrary can strengthen and support nature’s own systems,” says designer Emeli Höcks.