The 2026 OceanLove Innovation Awards took place on October 11 at AltaSea in the Port of Los Angeles, California. The event celebrated winning projects across three categories: The Blue Circle, Living Sea, and WaveMakers. Among the winners was the project "Coastal Watch Schools: Youth Drones for Sierra Leone's Vanishing Shores," led by Abu Bakarr Bangura from Sierra Leone. This project secured the WaveMakers Award through a public vote.
The public vote was open to attendees and an international audience tuning in via YouTube, which attracted nearly 4,000 viewers. Alimatu Tity George, the Country Ambassador for Sierra Leone, played a key role in promoting the call for applications. The awards aimed at raising awareness for ocean conservation, with each winning project receiving USD 10,000 in seed funding, expert coaching for a year, and global media exposure.
The event featured various organisations and initiatives involved in ocean stewardship, including a screening of the Indigenous surf film Haagua. It also marked an expansion of OceanLove's activities in the US, with Falana Monroe joining as a US Ambassador to enhance community engagement. The OceanLove Innovation Awards 2026 saw a record 487 applications from 91 countries, with 73% coming from the Global South.
This growth underscores the awards' global outreach, addressing pressing ocean issues like climate change and pollution. OceanLove was founded by Ilco van der Linde and Raghda Ezzeldin in 2021 and operates as a volunteer-run non-profit. It focuses on initiatives that often go unnoticed, opening doors for grassroots projects regardless of their origin.
The winning Sierra Leone project will establish a youth citizen-science network in ten coastal secondary schools to monitor and document coastal erosion. This initiative will train students and teachers to gather data using drones, ensuring that decisions about coastal management are based on credible evidence.
Endorsed by the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, the awards align with Sustainable Development Goal 14, promoting life below water and collaborating with numerous international partners to bolster the message of ocean conservation. The awards provide a platform for projects that contribute to ocean conservation and sustainability.
The "Coastal Watch Schools" project's success demonstrates the impact of collaborative efforts in addressing ocean conservation challenges. With the support of OceanLove and its partners, the project is poised to make a significant contribution to the preservation of Sierra Leone's coastline and the promotion of sustainable development.
Key points
- The "Coastal Watch Schools" project won the WaveMakers Award at the 2026 OceanLove Innovation Awards through a public vote.
- The project will establish a youth citizen-science network in ten coastal secondary schools to monitor and document coastal erosion.
- The OceanLove Innovation Awards 2026 received a record 487 applications from 91 countries, with 73% coming from the Global South.
