Ivey Publishing and PRME Announce Winners of Inaugural Sustainability Case Writing Awards

Ivey Publishing, in collaboration with The Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), an initiative of the United Nations Global Compact, has announced the winners of the inaugural Sustainability Case Writing Awards. The competition celebrates excellence in case writing that advances sustainability in business education.

Launched in the summer of 2024, the awards attracted 201 submissions from authors in 14 countries, as well as stories of businesses based in 24 different countries across all continents. The strong response revealed a global interest in the development of learning materials that support students in addressing urgent social, environmental, and economic challenges.

“We’re so pleased to recognize the outstanding work of the winners of our first Sustainability Case Writing Awards—an initiative we developed in collaboration with PRME,” said Candis McInnes, Executive Director of Ivey Publishing. “The response to the competition was incredibly positive, and it’s clear there’s real momentum behind bringing sustainability into business education. These winning cases reflect the spirit of the i5 principles, offering thoughtful, practical, and inspiring materials for classrooms around the world.”

This case writing competition marks the first formal collaboration between Ivey Publishing and PRME, bringing together two organizations with a shared commitment to advancing responsible management education through high-quality, real-world learning materials.

“High-quality, practice-based cases are essential to advancing responsible management education,” said Dr. Meredith Storey, Senior Manager of Programmes & Engagement at PRME. “PRME is honoured to partner with the prestigious Ivey Publishing to create positive impact within and beyond the PRME educational network. These winning authors are equipping students with the tools and insights they need to lead in support of the Sustainable Development Goals.”

2025 Award Recipients

First Place
ECOEX: Plastic Waste Management Marketplace Revolutionizing Circular Economy
By DMV Lakshmi Velagala, Satish D, and Avadhanam Ramesh

Second Place
LEGO’s Quest for Sustainable Bricks: The Material Hurdles
By K B S Kumar and Indu Perepu

Third Place
Sea Cider: Succession Planning for a Regenerative Business
By Alex Berthin, Saeed Rahman, Oana Branzei, and Natalie Slawinski

Honourable Mentions
Saraplast: Driving Sustainability and Profits in India’s Sanitation Space
By Subba Lakshmi Prabha, Pratibha Rai, Rajesh Kaduba Mokale, Deepak Ranjan, and Ishita Girdhar

The Dilemma of Zephyr Solaris Energy
By Cheng-Jen Huang, Hubert Pun, and Anne Wu

The winning cases will soon be published in Ivey Publishing’s Sustainability Case Collection, a curated set of free teaching resources. Cash prizes of $2,500 CAD, $1,250 CAD, and $750 CAD will be awarded for first, second, and third place, respectively. Honourable mentions will also be publicly recognized for their outstanding submissions.

A Global Stage for Recognition

The award recipients were celebrated at the 2025 PRME Global Forum that took place 9–10 June at Cornell Tech in New York City. During a featured session titled “Building a Sustainable Future: Storytelling, Business Cases, and Learning Through Play,” the winners were introduced to a global audience of educators, researchers, and policy leaders.

Led by McInnes, Storey and Violetta Gallagher, Associate Director of Product & Publishing at Ivey Publishing, the session explored how storytelling and experiential learning can enhance sustainable business education. Using the winning cases, presenters demonstrated how real-world business dilemmas help students and executives build responsible leadership skills. The discussion also examined the role of play-based learning and case methods in creating more engaging, action-oriented experiences.

The PRME Global Forum has brought together stakeholders in responsible management education since 2008. This year’s theme, “Community and Commitment to Advance Global Responsibility,” reflected a shared focus on collective action toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through business and management education.

A Case for Sustainable Change

The Sustainability Case Writing Awards were developed to support faculty, researchers, and practitioners committed to reshaping management education. Submissions were evaluated by a panel of academic reviewers and sustainability experts from the Ivey Business School and PRME, based on alignment with the SDGs and PRME’s Impactful Five (i5) characteristics of playful learning: joyful, socially interactive, actively engaging, meaningful and iterative.

This initiative is generously funded by the Bansal Family in memory of Vimla Bansal.

“I am so delighted to see these inaugural case study awards come to life with the amazing collaboration between the Ivey Business School and PRME,” said Dr. Tima Bansal, a professor of Sustainability and Strategy at the Ivey Business School and current Chair of the PRME Advisory Board. “The winning authors have demonstrated how case study teaching can transform students—how they think and make decisions that tackle some of society’s most important challenges. I give them my whole-hearted congratulations and deepest appreciation for their contribution to responsible management education.”

Looking Ahead

Submissions for the next round of the Sustainability Case Writing Awards will open in early 2026. More details, including dates and guidelines, will be announced in the coming months. To stay informed, follow Ivey Publishing and Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) on LinkedIn.