In 2006, Hamazaki Wong was the creative partner in the bid to bring the annual Alcan Prize for Sustainability to Vancouver. The US$1 million Alcan Prize for Sustainability is an annual award given in support of sustainable development initiatives around the world. However, the Alcan Prize for Sustainability did not have a permanent home and the goal among the Vancouver team was to bestow Vancouver with this honour. Coincidentally, a number of other cities in the world had the same idea. The result was a worldwide competition for hosting rights to the Alcan Prize for Sustainability.

In preparation of the bid, the advantages of Vancouver as a location quickly gave way to the fact that any benefits we had would be countermanded by any deficiencies. In other words, Vancouver was not much different than say, Zurich or Beijing, plus or minus. That realization gave rise to a more creative approach — the creation of a program that would be much larger in scope and allow the Alcan Prize for Sustainability to be one of the program’s anchors. That thinking was Hamazaki Wong’s inspiration for the creation of 30 Days of Sustainability — a 30-day celebration of sustainability and its natural role in the world.

Hamazaki Wong created a bid book to express the Vancouver team’s ideas, and central to this presentation was 30 Days of Sustainability. Success ensued as Vancouver became the host city for the Alcan Prize for Sustainability — but for one year only. Senior executives decided that the other competing cities should also have a chance to host this prestigious prize. However, 30 Days of Sustainability continues as an important legacy of the global competition.