Mongabay contributing editor Malavika Vyawahare was honored with a 2025 SEAL Environmental Journalism Award, which recognizes reporters whose work captures the complexity, urgency, and international scope of environmental and climate issues.
Vyawahare, who writes and edits for Mongabay’s Africa team and divides her time between La Réunion and India, has reported across a wide range of topics including fossil fuel transitions, renewable energy, toxic chemical exposure in human health, and the links between global trade and deforestation. Her reporting often translates dense scientific and policy material into understandable narratives, without losing analytical depth.
“This award is a huge encouragement for me, as a journalist and as an exhausted toddler mom,” Vyawahare said. “It is also a recognition of the kind of work Mongabay makes possible, the space it creates for its staff and contributors to write meaningful stories.”
The award is presented annually by SEAL (Sustainability, Environmental Achievement & Leadership), a U.S.-based environmental advocacy organization focused on recognizing leadership in environmental storytelling and impact. SEAL Awards impact lead, Safa Bee Wesley, highlighted the consistency and breadth of Vyawahare’s work.
“Malavika’s writing in particular is noteworthy for her ability to flip between a diverse set of topics…while retaining an elevated and authoritative voice,” Wesley told Mongabay by email.
Wesley also emphasized the evolving expectations of environmental journalism more broadly, noting that the SEAL Awards increasingly prioritize reporting that spans geographies, disciplines, and storytelling formats, reflecting the complexity of the climate crisis and the need for cross-cutting perspectives.
Vyawahare added that she is currently focused on expanding coverage of “just energy” transitions across Africa, while continuing to explore underreported environmental stories across oceans, extractive industries, and climate impacts.
Her recognition places her among a growing group of Mongabay journalists and contributors who have received SEAL Awards in recent years, including Spoorthy Raman (2024), Karla Mendes and Basten Gokkon (2022), and Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett A. Butler (2020). This continuity underscores Mongabay’s sustained presence in environmental journalism.
“Mongabay is an outstanding publication whose writers have made our finalist list for multiple years running,” Wesley told Mongabay by email, underscoring the platform’s consistent recognition.
Impact
The SEAL Environmental Journalism Award highlights individual excellence, but also reflects broader recognition of Mongabay’s role in advancing environmental reporting that bridges science, policy, and lived experience across regions and ecosystems.
The award adds to a sustained track record of recognition for Mongabay journalists and contributors, reinforcing our emphasis on strong investigative reporting and accessibility of complex environmental issues.
By supporting journalists like Vyawahare, the award also highlights the importance of editorial space for nuanced, cross-disciplinary reporting at a time when environmental journalism is increasingly central to understanding global change.
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Banner image by Malavika Vyawahare.