Five journalists from across Indonesia have been recognised for their reporting on green entrepreneurship and climate innovation through the KINETIK NEX Media Awards, announced on National Press Day on February 9, 2026. Each winner received an award and a prize of IDR 5 million in recognition of their contributions to advancing public understanding of clean energy and climate solutions.

The winning journalists are:

Highlighting solutions through journalism

The five winners were selected from a group of 15 journalists who participated in the KINETIK NEX journalist training program. The training introduced solutions journalism approaches that highlight how local climate and energy startups contribute to Indonesia’s just energy transition. As part of the program, each journalist was paired with a startup from the KINETIK NEX Entrepreneurs’ Program. They conducted in-depth interviews with founders to explore their challenges, breakthroughs, community impact, and potential for scale.

Tahnia Allauddin, Second Secretary Climate and Infrastructure at the Australian Embassy, said she was pleased to celebrate quality journalism that contributed to public awareness of renewable energy, climate action and inclusive economic development. “These issues are all very close to our hearts in the KINETIK partnership, which is the Australia-Indonesia Climate, Renewable Energy and Infrastructure Partnership,” she said.

“KINETIK is … investing in Indonesian businesses that focus on clean energy and climate change and also supporting earlier stage climate startups that are championing local solutions for the challenges that are brought by climate change.”

Stories that go beyond technical narratives

Journalist and editor at IDN Times, Dhana Kencana, one of the competition judges, said the evaluation focused on depth of reporting, clarity of storytelling, originality, accuracy, use of data, and potential impact on public understanding.

“These five best works did more than meet journalistic standards. They found the ‘soul’ behind the technical issues of clean energy and climate,” Dhana said. He noted that the winning stories captured a wide range of climate and development challenges, including energy access in frontier and disadvantaged regions, biodiversity opportunities, grassroots circular economy practices, and the resilience of young innovators.

According to Dhana, the winning stories demonstrate that climate and clean energy topics can resonate strongly with public audiences. “In their hands, these issues became stories about hope, solutions to poverty, business opportunities, and food sovereignty,” he said.

Exploring climate innovation through field reporting

One of the winners, Meidella Syahni from Mongabay Indonesia, said she joined the training to strengthen her reporting approach by incorporating solutions-focused perspectives. “I’ve been writing environmental stories since 2017, and many of them focus on recurring environmental problems,” Della said.

Through the program, she profiled Algatech Nusantara, a company researching microalgae as a carbon capture solution with potential applications in food and energy. “They have been working on this research since the 1980s, and the potential is enormous. But they still face limited support,” she said. “Through this article, I hope more people become aware of their work and support their development.”

Youth innovation driving the energy transition

Another award recipient, Lilik Darmawan from Media Indonesia, highlighted STB Pellet, a startup founded by university students in Madiun, East Java, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The startup converts agricultural and industrial waste into biomass pellets as an alternative fuel to coal.

Lilik said the idea was inspired by a landfill fire incident that prompted the students to rethink waste. “They asked a simple but powerful question: if waste can burn, why can’t it be transformed into fuel?” he said. He added that his story emphasised the role of youth-driven initiatives in advancing Indonesia’s energy transition.

The role of journalism in driving public understanding

KINETIK Director John Brownlee said journalism could help people have a clearer picture of what initiatives to tackle climate change and support a just green transition are all about. Stories like these show that despite challenges, positive change is possible. “Stories like these genuinely show that this is something important. That change can happen not just from high level policies and in large businesses, but can also grow from the grassroots.”