The Award Behind Tara’s Circle 2026: Design and Shared Values

When Tara’s Circle 2026 names its first fifteen winners, each will receive an award plaque created by Sustain Awards, a studio that designs and manufactures contemporary trophies with a focus on sustainability and the use of innovative materials. Developed together with Tara for Women, the piece was conceived to carry the spirit of the program: recognition that looks and feels as considered as the projects it honors.

What Tara’s Circle 2026 is built to do

Tara’s Circle 2026 is an international program supporting women-led projects that generate social, environmental, and economic impact. It distributes €100,000 across five focus areas, each with its own €20,000 prize pool split between three winners: €10,000 for first place, €6,000 for second, and €4,000 for third. Fifteen projects in total will be recognized.

The five categories are Sustainability, Environment & Mobility; Health & Wellbeing; Social Innovation, Education & Community Development; Technology & Science; and Design, Culture & Fashion with Impact. Funding is only part of what winners receive: the program also provides mentorship, media visibility, and access to a strategic network built to help seed-stage projects scale.

To apply, a founder or co-founder must be a woman aged 18 or older, hold an active leadership role in the project, and lead a seed-stage venture with a defined or functional MVP. There is no geographic restriction. Applications were open from July 1 to September 17, 2026. Finalists will be announced on October 14, and winners revealed in late October or November.

An object designed to last

The plaque is, first of all, a piece of design. Its proportions, finish, and the way each winner’s name, project, and category sit on the surface were considered as a whole, so the award feels composed rather than assembled. It is made of steel with a recycled fraction, paired with fishing nets recovered from the Mediterranean. The material tells the sustainability story, but it is the design that gives it presence.

Every piece is designed and built in-house by Sustain Awards, the same process behind the made-to-measure trophies the studio creates for other clients.

What comes next

Fifteen women-led projects will receive the plaque this year, along with the funding, mentorship, and network access that make up the rest of the program. Winners will be announced on November 18, 2026 during the Tara’s Circle Awards 2026: Mujeres que generan impacto.