Indianapolis Prize names Global Wildlife Ambassador recipient
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The Indianapolis Zoological Society Inc. on Tuesday announced Joe Sartore as the recipient of the 2023 Jane Alexander Global Wildlife Ambassador Award.
The award is presented to individuals who “use their communication skills to tell the stories of threatened and endangered species and habitats, raising awareness of these issues with the public, businesses and policymakers.”
Sartore is a National Geographic Explorer who founded the National Geographic Photo Ark project in 2006. The project uses documentary photography and videos to help inspire people to protect at-risk species. To date, Sartore has captured nearly 47,000 images and videos of more than 14,000 animal species.
“The majority of the animals I film have never been documented well, and some of never even been photographed alive; many of the stream fish and the pheasants, they’re too hard to photograph well alive,” he said. “So, I felt there was a need for this, to really document well what biodiversity looks like.”
Dr. Rob Shumaker, president and CEO of the Indianapolis Zoo, told Inside INdiana Business that Sartore has done an incredible job of raising awareness of wildlife issues and conservation.
“This has been both through his work as a National Geographic photographer but more importantly and more in line with the Indianapolis prize, is his work with the Photo Ark,” said Shumaker. “And the whole point is to bring greater awareness to the diversity of life on Earth, and we certainly love that message, and to get people more engaged and more interested and more focused on conservation.”
Most recently, Sartore has collaborated with the U.S. Postal Service to release the latest edition of Forever Stamps, which feature images from the Photo Ark.
Shumaker said it is important that people like Sartore are doing work to bring a spotlight to issues of wildlife conservation to a broader audience.
“If the general public, if concerned people at large are not learning about these issues or not participating in these issues, there really is no hope of success,” he said. “Because this is not just an issue for scientists. It’s not just for academics, or business leaders or government officials. It involves everyone, and it’s critically important that everybody adds their voice to support and promote wildlife conservation.”
Sartore will receive his award at the Indianapolis Prize Gala on Sept. 30 in downtown Indianapolis.
He’ll be joined by this year’s Indianapolis Prize winner, penguin expert Pablo Borboroglu, as well as Peruvian primatologist Fanny Cornejo, who is receiving the inaugural Emerging Conservationist Award.
You can learn more about the Indianapolis Prize by clicking here.