The sun has set on another Blue Skies Awards, and this year’s winner is full of environmental innovation.

Ten Peaks Innovation Alliance has added the Parkland Airshed Management Zone (PAMZ) recognition to their growing list of accomplishments.

The award was presented by PAMZ Board of Directors Chair Aaron Rognvaldson and Executive Director Kevin Warren during a virtual ceremony on September 18. The recipients were recognized for their outstanding public education and outreach activities.

“Ten Peaks Innovation Alliance is a nonprofit who seeks to engage, inspire, and educate Alberta’s youth about energy, the environment and our climate and how they play an essential role in our province,” said Warren.

The Blue Skies Awards honour individuals and organizations that take exemplary steps to improve air quality in the PAMZ region—whether through innovative technologies, impactful community engagement, or groundbreaking solutions to reduce energy use and air pollution.

Ten Peaks’ dedication to engaging youth on issues of energy, environment, and climate made them a clear choice for this year’s award. The organization hosts a free annual conference for students in Grades 7 through 12 on topics such as technology, artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship, digital transformation, and sustainability as they relate to energy and the environment.

Dagmar Knudsen, founder and chairperson of the Ten Peaks Innovation Alliance, said, “We are honoured to have been awarded the public education and outreach award… We want to inspire, engage, and educate our youth on energy, our environment, and climate, and to help them see themselves in Alberta.”

She explained that the organization achieves this in three main ways: through its annual conference, a microgrant program supporting student-led projects, and summer robotics and entrepreneurship camps.

“We encourage students to learn about our environment, all forms of energy, and innovation that reduces emissions along with sustainability practices,” Knudsen said. “We encourage them to join the movement towards a more sustainable future.”

She added, “we get inspired by the students we talk to every year, and it’s lovely to be recognized as well.”

The Parkland Airshed Management Zone Assoc. (PAMZ) is a multi-stakeholder non-profit organization consisting of industry, government, environmental organizations and the general public. It was formed in 1997 to monitor and manage air quality within the Parkland Region. The area it encompasses includes communities within the central Alberta region, running from Three Hills in the east to the BC border in the west and from just north of Crossfield in the south to just north of Ponoka in the north. See map at www.pamz.org.

Watch the video presentation here.