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19 March 2024

Masdar announces winner of fifth Engage Social Media Contest

Published
By WAM

Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company Masdar announced the winner of its fifth Engage Social Media Contest.

This year’s winning post was submitted by Seva Karpauskaite from Kaunus, Lithuania. Her video, featuring the iconic Washington, D.C., monuments as a backdrop, explored the need to develop green structures that would allow clean technologies to expand and scale in order to reduce climate change risks over the next decade.

The annual contest received 130 entries, a record participation since it started, with submissions coming from 45 countries across six continents. For the first time, the contest welcomed submissions in formats other than blog posts, which led to entries that included videos, slideshows and Tumblr updates.

The contest asked participants to make a case for the solutions which, in their view, could be most effective in mitigating climate change risks over the next decade.

The goal of the contest was to connect the momentum gained from the November COP22 climate talks in Marrakech, Morocco, with the enthusiasm building for the annual Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, ADSW, which runs from 12th to 21st January.

Outcome from Masdar’s recent GenZ Global Sustainability Survey also shaped this year’s theme as the survey found that global citizens aged 18-25 believed that climate change posed the greatest challenge to their future security and prosperity. Contestants were encouraged to debate their opinions within the Engage site as well on social media platforms, using the hashtag #WorldIn2026.

Karpauskaite is the first European and second woman to win the contest. A graduate of King’s College at Cambridge University, she had done her bachelor’s degree in Politics, Psychology and Sociology. She is now studying at the School of International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C., where she is pursuing a master’s degree in International Economics and International Politics with a focus on Energy, Resources and Environment. One of her long-term goals is to combine theoretical insights with practical experience into a future career in sustainability advocacy and consulting.

As the winner of this year’s Engage, Karpauskaite will be Masdar’s VIP social media influencer at the 2017 Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, ADSW.

"We are very pleased to see the record level of participation this year’s Engage contest generated," said Masdar’s Anca Westley, Director of ADSW. "At a time when Masdar’s recent GenZ survey showed just how passionate young citizens worldwide are about addressing climate change, the contest raised many ideas regarding how the society can ensure sustainable development over the next 10 years," she said.