Environmental scientist Binbin Li in China. The Rolex Award will help Li implement and scale up solutions across several mountain ranges throughout China.
Swiss watchmaker Rolex is marking the 50th anniversary of its long-running awards initiative with the launch of a refreshed programme now known simply as the Rolex Awards in 2026.
Previously called the Rolex Awards for Enterprise, the updated programme places greater emphasis on measurable impact and real-world achievement. Part of the brand’s Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative, the Awards support individuals whose projects aim to address some of the world’s most pressing environmental, scientific and technological challenges.
For The Greater Good
Conservationist Rachel Ikemeh, Laureate of the 2026 Rolex Awards, in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. Credited with saving the Niger Delta red colobus monkey from the brink of extinction, Ikemeh inspires community-led conservation in the Delta.
Unlike many awards programmes that recognise past achievements, the Rolex Awards are designed to support new or ongoing initiatives with the potential to generate meaningful global change. Projects are selected across key areas including environmental protection — particularly ocean and landscape conservation — as well as science, health and technology.
Rolex Award Laureate Pardis Sabeti, implementing her innovative work at the Sabeti Lab. The Rolex Award will allow her to develop and test a new, portable diagnostic tool in remote communities in this region, with the potential to catch viral outbreaks before they spread to large populations, saving millions of lives.
The programme traces its origins to 1976, when it was created to mark the 50th anniversary of the Rolex Oyster, the brand’s pioneering waterproof wristwatch. Since then, the Awards have reflected the company’s broader commitment to exploration and, increasingly, environmental stewardship.
Over the past five decades, the programme has recognised 165 Laureates representing 52 nationalities and supporting projects in more than 67 countries worldwide.
Honouring Heroes
Forest conservationist Farwiza Farhan, in The Leuser Ecosystem of Sumatra, Indonesia. Farhan, a Laureate of the Rolex Awards 2026, has successfully mobilised local communities and led numerous campaigns against the destruction of the ecosystem, which is the last place on earth where elephants, tigers, orangutans, and rhinoceros still co-exist in the wild.
As part of the new chapter for the Awards, the programme will now run annually rather than every two years. Candidates will be identified by Rolex through its global network of partners, affiliates and advisers before being invited to apply.
Applications are evaluated at Rolex headquarters in Geneva with the support of experts in relevant disciplines. Successful candidates are selected based on the originality of their projects, their potential global impact and the leadership demonstrated by the individuals behind them.
Each Laureate receives financial support to implement their project as well as international visibility through global media coverage.
2026 Roll Call
Rosa Vásquez Espinoza in the Amazon Rainforest, checking on a hive of bees. The Rolex Award will allow her to expand an indigenous-led corridor of protected stingless bee habitats throughout the northern Amazon.
The 2026 Rolex Awards Laureates include environmental scientist Binbin Li, forest conservationist Farwiza Farhan, medical geneticist Pardis Sabeti, conservationist Rachel Ikemeh and chemical biologist Rosa Vásquez Espinoza.
Their projects range from protecting giant panda habitats in China and safeguarding Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem to developing early detection tools for infectious diseases and expanding pollinator conservation in the Amazon.
According to Rolex, the impact of the Awards programme over the past 50 years has been significant. Laureates’ projects have helped plant more than 50 million trees, protect 137 endangered species and safeguard dozens of ecosystems worldwide.
Through the Rolex Awards and the wider Perpetual Planet Initiative, the company continues to support scientists, conservationists and innovators working to protect the planet and improve lives for future generations.
(Images: Rolex)
