2026 Final Jury

Jackson Wild Media Awards

The four jurors selected for this prestigious role represent some of the most respected voices in the global storytelling community, bringing a wealth of experience, creative vision, and dedication to elevating stories that inspire audiences to connect with and protect the natural world.

Their selections will be revealed during the Jackson Wild and Hollywood Climate Summit joint Awards Gala on the evening of November 10, 2026 — one of the many highlights of the Nature Media Exchange (November 9th & 10th), a landmark gathering of storytellers across film, television, gaming, emerging media, and beyond, united by a shared purpose: telling stories for the natural world.

Emre Izat

Emre is a director, producer, executive, and writer with over 20 years of experience. His work has yielded multiple awards, including Emmy, BAFTA, Royal Television Society, Critic’s Choice, and two of his films have been honored at the United Nations through Jackson Wild. Notable credits include NALEDI: ONE LITTLE ELEPHANT, MIND OF A GIANT, GORONGOSA PARK: REBIRTH OF PARADISE, OUR LIVING WORLD, OUR OCEANS, OUR UNIVERSE, UNKNOWN, AFTERSHOCK: EVEREST AND THE NEPAL EARTHQUAKE, CHIMP EMPIRE, ISLAND OF THE SEA WOLVES, PENGUIN TOWN, the popular EXPLAINED franchise, and many others. Emre has produced, directed, and written documentaries for multiple global networks, including Netflix, National Geographic, Discovery, Amazon, History, ZDF, France Television, ID, MSNBC, TLC, PBS, as well as immersive dome experiences and live events. 

Much of Emre's career has been in the impact media space, and he is highly experienced leading or consulting on highly successful campaigns, including two films that were part of the 2016-17 campaign against the ivory trade, HHMI Biointeractive educational media surrounding work in Gorongosa National Park, the Amazon Climate Pledge Future Forward series (shown at Davos and multiple international events), and contributions to the first ever dictionary of elephant communication (in support of Dr. Joyce Poole's groundbreaking work). 

Paul Baribault

Paul Baribault has spent much of his career at the intersection of storytelling, conservation, and global audiences. He spent more than 20 years at The Walt Disney Studios, where he led global marketing for Disney Animation, Pixar Animation, The Muppets, and Disneynature. As General Manager of Disneynature, he oversaw the production and marketing of 14 feature films and developed conservation partnerships tied to their releases that planted millions of trees and protected millions of acres.

Baribault has been part of the Jackson Wild community since 2009, including service on its Executive Committee for over a decade.

From 2019 to 2025, he served as President and CEO of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, overseeing the San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and conservation programs across six continents. During his tenure, he repositioned the 100-year-old organization around its global conservation mission, significantly expanded its conservation and infrastructure investments, and grew annual revenue from just over $300 million to more than $425 million. He also led the negotiations with China that brought giant pandas back to the United States for the first time in more than two decades.

He previously served as Chair of the Jane Goodall Institute, Executive Chair of the Aspen Institute’s High Seas Initiative, and recently served as a Director of The Explorers Club.

Today, Baribault is Founder of Baribault Advisors, counseling CEOs, boards, and investors across media, conservation, consumer, and experience-led businesses. He holds a B.A. from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from USC Marshall School of Business.

Pamela Aguilar

Pamela Aguilar is an Emmy Award-winning content executive, producer, and creative strategist with more than 15 years developing premium nonfiction and original formats across television, streaming, digital, and audio. Bilingual in English and Spanish, she brings genuine cross-cultural fluency to how stories travel.

Aguilar is the Founder of Grey River Studios, a content strategy consultancy developing original IP and cross-platform strategy for organizations and creators looking to grow their audiences, with a focus on sports, arts and culture, and the natural world.

Previously, she was Senior Vice President and Head of Smithsonian Channel at Paramount, setting the network's creative vision across natural history, aviation, science, and history. She pushed the slate beyond familiar tropes toward bolder, character-driven storytelling that connected with younger viewers, championing franchises including Ice Airport Alaska, Extreme Airport Africa, On the Fly: Adventures at Altitude, How Did They Build That, and How Did They Fix That.

Before that, Aguilar spent more than six years at PBS, guiding development and current programming across the network's nonfiction slate, including No Passport Required with Chef Marcus Samuelsson, the Peabody Award-winning Philly D.A., and Big Pacific, while expanding partnerships across broadcast, digital, and international platforms. She began her career as an independent documentary producer and director, with credits including Latin Music USA, The Graduates/Los Graduados, America By the Numbers, FRONTLINE, and Independent Lens.

She serves on the board of Women Make Movies and previously served on the Executive Board of Jackson Wild. Aguilar has been a speaker, moderator, and juror at Sundance, SXSW, MIPCOM, Aspen Ideas Festival, AFI Docs, NALIP, and Jackson Wild, and holds a B.A. in Film Theory and Creative Non-Fiction Writing from The New School.

Alex Dainis

Alex Dainis is a freelance science communicator and video producer with a PhD in Genetics from Stanford University and over a decade of experience producing digital, educational content for the web. She was honored to be a 2019 Jackson Wild Media Lab Fellow and is now co-instructor of the Media Lab. She is additionally a winner of the 2024 National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications. Recent projects include showrunning and directing “Hungry Planet,” a six-episode series for PBS Digital Studios, as well as hosting and writing for the American Chemical Society’s Reactions YouTube channel and the Boston Museum of Science’s social media channels.  

www.helicasemedia.com

Instagram: @alexdainis

TikTok: @alexdainis

YouTube: @AlexDainisPhD

Cinematography award Winner selected by The American Society of Cinematographers

  • Paul Atkins

  • Alan Caso

  • Sophie Darlington

  • Shana Hagan

  • Sandra Valde-Hansen

A special thank you to our Preliminary Judges

Responsible for determining this year’s finalists, our preliminary judges play a critical role in shaping the Jackson Wild Media Awards. We’re grateful to this dedicated group of storytellers, scientists, conservationists, and industry professionals who generously volunteered their time and expertise to thoughtfully evaluate submissions from around the world.

Presley Adamson, Hashem Al-Ghaili, Greg Albrechtsen, Sonya Alexander, Lauren Amable, Karl Ammann, Chris Annadorai, Moses Aubrey, Flavie Audoin, Sophie Grace Barksdale, Tracy Baumgartner, Raghunath Belur, Jocelyn Bentley, David Bhagat, Maxfield Biggs, Josh Bounford, Scott Boyd, Connel Bradwell, Emma Louise Brennand, Kyla Brettle, Nicola Brown, Arlene Burns, Marcia Buwa, Unai Canela, Marina Cappabianca, Mac Cardona, Dylan Casella, Natalie Cash, Jordan Chapman, Ally Christos, Cayley Christos, Wiktoria A. Ciesielska, Maddie Close, Robin Darius Conz, Christi Cooper, David Cornwall, Stacy Cotey, Sophy Crane, Andrea Crosta, Juan Croxatto, Maryanne Culpepper, Angelo Miguel Dabbay, Alex Dainis, Wendy Darke, Kathy Davidov, Arun Dayanandan, Virginia Lynch Dean, Munmun Dhalaria, Nancy Donnelly, Maya Laurinaitis Drake, Aayush Dudhiya, Ted Duvall, Sonya Edelman, Vitus Elsasser, Jacqueline Farmer, Samreen Farooqui, Sven Faulconer, Carol Fleisher, Mark Fletcher, Melina Formisano, Maxwell Frost, Sugandhi Gadadhar, Ariel Gakunga, Sravani Gandu, Jacob Glass, Petra Gnad, Jess Wiegandt Gomez, Shira Gordon, Amy Gotliffe, Kevin Grange, Coley Gray, Ali Grossman, Maribel Guevara, Kimberly Guidon, Sarah Gulick, Joy R. Guray, Karen Hanson, Monique Hayek, Morgan Heim, Brian Henderson, Meigan Henry, Matt Hill, Chiara Hollender, David Hutchinson, Anna Irwin, Hilary Jeffkins, Susanna Jolly, Johanna Juntunen, Samuel Thuku Kamau, Sabrina Karklins, Valentine Kass, Fergus Keeling, Robyn Keene-Young, Joe Kennedy, Elliott Kennerson, Sunila Khan, Jae Chung Kim, Mary Jo Kinser, Sina Knoll, Georgia Krause, Mona Kriesch, Alan Lacy, Alex Lasser-Gold, Sonya Lee, Madelyn Leembruggen, Laura Nunez Lendo, Siyabonga Lerumo, Brent Legum Levenson, Nora Long, Michelle Lotker, Peter Lown, Robert B. Lull, Ph.D., Chandra Mouli Mallampalli, Hyatt Mamoun, Tom Martienssen, Malvina Martin, Sofía Martínez-Villalpando, William Masure, Bérénice Mathieu, Stéphane Matute, Caroline Maxwell, Ali May, Lucy Meadows, Ben Meissner, Laura Miret, Kevin Mohs, Julie Monière, Danielle Moore, Stacey Douglass Moverley, Rita Mullin, Ian Mun, Daniela Munera, Gabrielle Muñiz, Trishala Naidu, Giridhar Nayak, Peter Ndung'u, Piotr Niemczewski, Lia Nydes, Dan O'Neill, Dr Ted Oakes, Kristina Obame, Daphne Ong, Alyssa Pacaut, Gautam Pandey, Adam Papliński, Michael Parfit, Rosh Patel, Sabyasachi Patra, Alex Pearson, Priscila Peralta-Aguilar, Antonia Perez, Charles Poe, Nigel Pope, Fiona Tudor Price, Fraser Purdie, Virginia Quinn, Deborah Raksany, Dustin Renwick, Barny Revill, Lynne Richardson, Nina Riggio, Alex Rivest, Sarah Robertson, Melissa Rogers, Gaelin Rosenwaks, Bibesh Roy, Brooke Runnette, John Ruthven, Dan Salerno, Lisa Samford, Michael Sanderson, Ana Luisa Santos, Christina Sauer, Annette Scheurich, Klaus Scheurich, Claudia Schmitt, Sabrina Scollan, Mohammad Shahhosseini, Sarita Sharma, Sam Sheline, Mark Shelley, Paul Phillip Sher, Sally Snow, Akanksha Sood, Nitye Sood, Logan Stahley, Jean Luc Sterckx, Shawn Sweeney, Shaz Syed, Kasia Szarecka, Rachael Tancock, Alison Taylor, Tria Thalman, Mark Thalman, Akansha Tiwari, Marguerite Toscano, Graham Townsley, Penny Trams, Lisa Truitt, Karien van Biljon, Linda van Rosmalen, Thomas Veltre, Manon Verchot, David von Blohn, Colette Vosberg, Madeline Walder, Ariel Waldman, Ignacio Walker, Melanie Ann Wallace, Vanessa Wells, Rosalie Wetzel, Robert Wilcox, Ryan Wilkes, Ivan Williams, Martin Williams, Andia Winslow, Traci Zambotti