Rising Star Award
Elevating emerging leaders in nature, conservation and science media
Jackson Wild is committed to amplify and elevate emerging leaders in nature, conservation and science media. Our Rising Star award recipient exemplifies outstanding achievement alongside extended impact.
2025 Rising Star Award: Sonya Lee
Sponsored by Wildstar Films
Sonya Lee is a Korean-Canadian filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer dedicated to stories that intersect science, nature, people and culture. She applies impact-strategy and storytelling to engage new audiences in ocean issues.
With her production company, Plankton Productions, Sonya is currently focusing on projects that combine her love of food, her Korean culture and ocean conservation with her National Geographic grant short film and a 3 x 22 documentary series, Our Ocean Table, co-produced with Jugaad Sisters for TELUS Originals. Sonya is also producing/directing a CBC Short Doc about an endemic lamprey species in an urban creek on Vancouver Island and exploring how to build productions around working moms and new parents in science and nature storytelling.
As a freelance producer-director, her work on ocean stories have been for CBC, PBS, ARTE, and Love Nature. Her latest film produced with River Road Films, Jawsome: Canada’s Great White Sharks, aired on CBC’s The Nature of Things in January 2024 and streaming on CBC Gem in Canada. It has been nominated by the Canadian Academy for Best Science and Nature Documentary or Series for the 2025 Canadian Screen Awards. Retitled, Sharks of the North, the film was part of National Geographic Channel's Sharkfest 2025 and is streaming on Disney+ and Hulu in the US & internationally.
With over a decade of experience in science communication, Sonya was previously the Science Producer for the National Film Board of Canada’s Ocean School project, producing over 100 education media pieces including documentaries, VR/AR experiences, and multimedia interactives intended for school audiences.
She is passionate about community-collaborative filmmaking and ethical science communication, leading workshops nationally and internationally. She was a mentor for the 2024 NEWF Congress in South Africa and practices knowledge sharing with the NEWF community. In 2022, she was Media Faculty for OceanX’s Young Explorers Program aboard the Ocean Xplorer.
Sonya is a 2024 National Geographic Explorer, 2023 Documentary Organization of Canada Breakthrough participant, 2021 Jackson Wild Media Lab Fellow, and a 2022 Global Career Accelerator participant with the World Congress of Science and Factual Producers.
She has a background in Marine Biology and International Development Studies and you will find her in the ocean as an avid diver and fish nerd.
Photo: Jillian Wilkes
2024 Rising Star Award: Ryan Wilkes
Sponsored by HHMI Tangled Bank Studios
Ryan Wilkes is an award-winning Jamaican Canadian storyteller whose passion for science, conservation and wildlife is reflected in his work as a documentary director, cinematographer and photographer.
His diverse background, which includes a PhD in Bioengineering and experience as a materials scientist, gives him a unique perspective when it comes to communicating complex scientific topics in an accessible and engaging way. He regularly shares his work with a community of over 150k on @itsryanwilkes across various social media platforms.
Ryan has filmed on all seven continents and his cinematography can be seen in many nature and science documentaries made for major networks including CBC, PBS NOVA, ARTE, and renowned factual producer HHMI Tangled Bank Studios. He most recently produced and directed a short documentary, The Bird in my Backyard, for CBC and the film is a Finalist at the 2024 Jackson Wild Media Awards. He has received several awards for his independent short documentaries, is an alumnus of the Jackson Wild Media Lab and the Being Black in Canada filmmaking program, and is a member of the Canadian Conservation Photographers Collective.
Ryan is a published photographer and has received several awards for his wildlife photography. In 2022 he won the Canadian Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition (Aquatic Life) for his work capturing western terrestrial garter snakes hunting in the Salish Sea.
2023 Rising Star Award: Hans Cosmas Ngoteya
Hans Cosmas Ngoteya is a wildlife and conservation film director and cinematographer from Tanzania, a National Geographic Explorer, and co-founder of Ngoteya Wild, a Tanzanian wildlife and conservation storytelling organization where he has directed award-winning documentaries. He is also a co-founder of the Tanzania Wildlife Media Association (TaWiMA), an association of professional Tanzanian wildlife media creatives, where he mentors aspiring wildlife conservation storytellers. Additionally, he has co-founded Landscape and Conservation Mentors Organization (LCMO), which focuses on promoting, supporting, and improving community livelihoods through sustainable environmental practices. His ultimate goal is to tell stories that will help to develop and explore practical solutions to solving emerging conservation challenges and help communities co-exist with wildlife.
Previous Rising Stars
Faith Musembi
2022 Rising Star Award Recipient
Gunjan Menon
2020 Rising Star Award Recipient
Sally Snow
2019 Rising Star Award Recipient
Kara Norton
2021 Rising Star Award Recipient