Why the WIN WIN Award Gave Every Finalist a Diploma Anyone Can Check

TL;DR: The WIN WIN Gothenburg Sustainability Award has spent 25 years recognising individuals and organisations driving sustainability forward. On 17 March 2025 it announced that all finalists and laureates would receive a secure and shareable digital diploma issued through TRUE. The reason it gave was not the recipients’ convenience. It was so there is no doubt about the status of its finalists and laureates, or about the legitimacy of the award itself.

An award is worth exactly what people believe about it. Everything on this page comes from the award’s own announcement, published on 17 March 2025.

What is the WIN WIN Gothenburg Sustainability Award?

A sustainability prize with a quarter of a century behind it. “For 25 years, the WIN WIN Award has recognised individuals and organisations driving sustainability forward,” the award writes. Each cycle produces finalists and laureates, and each of them leaves with a claim about themselves that other people will later have to take on faith.

What is an award worth if nobody can check it?

Less than it should be, and the award says so itself. Its own explanation of why it moved to secure digital diplomas puts two things side by side.

“By introducing secure digital diplomas, we are strengthening this recognition, ensuring there is no doubt about the status of our finalists and laureates or the legitimacy of the award itself.”

WIN WIN Gothenburg Sustainability Award, 17 March 2025

Read the second half of that sentence again. The legitimacy of the award itself. A prize is a claim made by the people who give it, and a claim nobody can check has to be believed or ignored. Every unverifiable diploma in circulation, and every person who could plausibly claim a nomination they never had, costs the award a little of what it is worth. The document protects the giver and the receiver in the same motion.

What do finalists and laureates receive?

A digital diploma, and every one of them gets one. “Through our new collaboration with TRUE Original, all finalists and laureates of the award will receive a secure and shareable digital diploma,” the announcement says. The award describes the diplomas as ensuring both authenticity and long term accessibility, so the proof holds up and stays reachable.

Note that finalists are included, not only laureates. Reaching the final of a 25 year old sustainability prize is worth something, and it is now worth something provable.

Where can a recipient show it?

Wherever the achievement counts. The award names three places: the diplomas “can be easily shared on professional platforms, in academic settings, or within networks, making their achievements even more visible.”

That is the other half of the value. Someone named in Gothenburg can put the proof in front of a recruiter, a research committee or a room full of peers, and none of them has to contact the award office to find out whether it is real.

What makes the diploma hard to argue with?

The award’s own description: the credentials issued through TRUE are “tamper-proof and easily verifiable, reinforcing the integrity of the award while embracing technological innovation.” A document a stranger can confirm without contacting the issuer is a verifiable credential, and that property is what turns a nice looking certificate into evidence.

Why did TRUE take this on?

Because of the cause. Patrik Slettman, CEO of TRUE Original, is quoted in the award’s announcement saying that every year TRUE tries to help a few causes it believes in, that supporting WIN WIN was “a no-brainer”, and that the point was “issuing diplomas and awards which are easily shared by the winners and finalists.”

“We are excited to be a small part of a very important mission.”

Patrik Slettman, CEO, TRUE Original

Where to read the award’s own announcement

The WIN WIN Gothenburg Sustainability Award published its account on 17 March 2025 under the heading “New collaboration to issue secure diplomas”. Every quote on this page is taken from it: WIN WIN Gothenburg Sustainability Award on its collaboration with TRUE. Another organisation that made its recognition checkable rather than assumed: Di Close.

Frequently asked questions

What did the WIN WIN Gothenburg Sustainability Award announce in March 2025?

That through its new collaboration with TRUE Original, all finalists and laureates of the award would receive a secure and shareable digital diploma. The announcement is dated 17 March 2025.

Why does an award need verifiable diplomas?

To protect its own standing as well as the recipient’s. The award says that by introducing secure digital diplomas it is strengthening its recognition, ensuring there is no doubt about the status of its finalists and laureates or the legitimacy of the award itself.

Who gets a digital diploma, only the winners?

All finalists and laureates, not only the laureates. The award states that every finalist and laureate receives a secure and shareable digital diploma.

Where can a WIN WIN diploma be shared?

On professional platforms, in academic settings and within networks. The award says the diplomas can be easily shared in those places, making the recipients’ achievements even more visible.

How long has the WIN WIN Award existed?

For 25 years as of the announcement. The award writes that for 25 years it has recognised individuals and organisations driving sustainability forward.