Young Creatives Imagine Climate-Resilient Futures Across Europe – Announcing the Winners

The DIRECTED project invited young people aged 12-21 to respond to one important question:

How can creativity help show what a climate-resilient future looks like in your community?

Across Europe, young artists answered with imagination, honesty, and hope. Through paintings, illustrations, poetry, short stories, and other creative forms, participants explored how communities might prepare for and adapt to the growing impacts of climate change.

Five shortlisted artworks were showcased at the Helikon Arts Festival in Hungary, where both online audiences and festival visitors were invited to vote between 13–17 April. The exhibition attracted significant engagement, with visitors deeply impressed by the quality, diversity, and emotional depth of all shortlisted works.

Due to the breadth and strength of submissions, the DIRECTED team decided to split the prize and recognise two winners: one in the visual category and one in the written category.

Visual Category Winner

Lasting Together by Nikola (Czech Republic)

Nikola’s artwork presents a vision of climate resilience rooted not only in technology or infrastructure, but in peace, empathy, and the restoration of humanity’s relationship with nature.

Using a monochromatic blue palette, the piece symbolises a “cooled” world – a planet where temperatures have stabilised, and the atmosphere has been restored. The interconnected imagery suggests a future where humans and nature are no longer separate, but part of one shared system.

At the centre of the artwork, an elderly man resting on a bench represents humanity’s transition from consumer to guardian of life. The pigeons surrounding him symbolise different aspects of a climate-resilient future: biodiversity protection, coexistence between wildlife and urban life, and hope for future generations.

Reflecting on the work, Nikola said:

“This scene is a reminder that a truly resilient future is one where we have preserved the quality of life. It is a world where we can still find time for a quiet moment on a park bench, sharing the earth in peace with all living beings. We are not just surviving the change; we are lasting together.”

Written Category Winner

Now is Our Tomorrow by Diego Teixeira da Silva (Portugal)