The High North Hero Award is an annual award established by the High North Center for Business and Governance to honor a person, organization or company who has contributed to highlighting or developing the High North.

Every year, the public is invited to nominate candidates. Citizens from any country in the world are eligible to nominate candidates for the prize and to win the prize. You may nominate an individual, a company or an organization that meets at least one of the criteria below.

There is no requirement that the nominee is from the Arctic or resides in the Arctic; the intention of the Award is to highlight the efforts of a person or an organization whose work has a positive impact in the circumpolar north. Self-nominations are also accepted.

Read more and submit your candidate here.

The IASSA Honorary Lifetime Membership Award, the Gabriella Nordin-Sköld IASSA Service Award and the Victoria Petrasheva Award acknowledges exemplary contributions, both academic and service oriented, to the Arctic Social Sciences and Humanities.

Multiple awards are possible.

Nominations may be submitted to the IASSA Secretariat by IASSA members at any time prior to the deadline (19 April 2024). Nominators must be IASSA members. (The person nominated for the Award does not necessarily have to be a member.)

Read more and submit your nomination here.

The High North Young Entrepreneur contest is an international pitch competition of Arctic-related business ideas of young entrepreneurs and start-ups. The goal of the contest is to promote the potential and opportunities of the High North for young people and to encourage them to develop their business ideas for the sustainable North.

The idea of the contest came after the High North Dialogue conference in 2017 when the prominent investor Scott Minerd of Guggenheim Partners received the High North Hero Award, in recognition of his efforts to highlight the economic potential of the Arctic by promoting long-term investment in the region. Scott Minerd donated the award money to support young entrepreneurs and their business ideas. Accordingly, Nord University Business School in cooperation with Bodø Science Park launched the High North Young Entrepreneur contest for young entrepreneurs and start-ups from all over the world.

The first contest took place in 2018 during the High North Dialogue conference session where three young entrepreneur groups presented their Arctic business ideas to an audience of prominent experts with competence in High North issues. The final session was recognized as an important part of the conference, and we, therefore, decided to continue with the High North Young Entrepreneur contest for the years to come.

From 2018, Innovation Norway Nordland supports the High North Young Entrepreneur initiative including the funding of the prize for the winner in the amount of NOK 50 000.

Read more and apply here.