2026 High School Winners

Anay Pradan is a 9th-grade student at The International School of the Hague in the Netherlands. He was interested in exploring sustainable solutions, found the World of 8 Billion student video contest, and felt it was a good opportunity to explain his topic in a creative, practical, and understandable way. He chose to focus on wetlands because he felt they weren’t discussed as much, and was shocked to learn about the impact peatlands have on the climate, even though he saw them every day. He said, “You often think of forests as a carbon sink, but a key figure that struck me was that peatlands, covering only 3% of the Earth’s land surface, store nearly 30% of all soil carbon.” He was also drawn to their importance not only for climate regulation but also for biodiversity and water filtration, and wanted to share paludiculture as a solution for protecting these vital ecosystems as the population grows.

Anay has created videos before, but he found it most challenging to fit everything he wanted to say into the one-minute time limit while keeping it interesting for the viewer. He really enjoyed visiting peatlands and filming, and even took some samples that he tested in his video. The editing process was a highlight for him because he had the creative freedom to do what he wanted. He found that Capcut was an easy tool that helped him make his video more engaging. His advice to future contest participants is to create a concrete script before you start filming, noting that it is easy to get sidetracked and go over the one-minute time limit.

Anay has participated in over ten Model United Nations conferences and has won multiple Best Delegate awards. He also attended the European Education and Sustainability Leadership Summit and won a Year 9 Energy Challenge for his rainwater-harvesting solution. In addition to Anay’s interest in global sustainability challenges, he competes in mathematics competitions and reached the national final round of the ISMTF, where he will represent his school internationally. He is also on the varsity school badminton team, trains in Krav Maga, and is first chair on flute in the school orchestra, band, and was selected to participate in the Association of Music in International Schools. He was recently a recipient of the Global Youth Action Fund for a project addressing racism. He is still exploring options for what he will do after high school, but is interested in international affairs, global issues, and how policy and decision-making impact real-world outcomes. His “main goal is to discover and understand real-world challenges and be part of the solution.”