From the Nominator

In April 2024, the University of Wisconsin–Madison Office of Sustainability and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies launched Earth Fest, a campuswide celebration of the environment and sustainability. In its inaugural year, Earth Fest featured nearly 50 events across nine days, attracting more than 7,000 students, faculty and staff, alumni, and community members—making it one of the largest environmental events in the university’s history. A strategic goal was to unify two long-standing but disconnected initiatives—the Nelson Institute’s Earth Day Conference (established in 2008), which targeted alumni and was held off campus, and the Office of Sustainability’s Earth Week celebration (established in 2018), which featured on-campus, student-led programming. The parallel efforts confused audiences, divided institutional resources, and diluted overall impact on the campus community. While Earth Fest began as a unification opportunity, its impact far exceeded this goal. Organized around three pillars—inspire, educate, and motivate—Earth Fest not only supercharged environmental programming at UW–Madison but also demonstrated the university’s ongoing commitment to sustainability as a public good. Beyond enhancing the attendee experience, Earth Fest also established a scalable model for cross-campus programming. The results were immediate: web traffic surged over 600%, Instagram reach soared to 761.9K users—up 1,400% from the previous year, and earned media pickups quadrupled. Recent Earth Day Conferences and Earth Week celebrations saw 200 to 500 attendees each, while Earth Fest drew more than 7,000, proving the power of a unified approach.

From the Judges

With over 7,000 attendees and positive post-event survey results, Earth Fest clearly provided an engaging and inspiring experience. The variety of events catered to different interests, ensuring broad appeal. The event was executed with a modest budget and impactful volunteer involvement. The high level of engagement and media coverage indicates a strong return on investment.