European Young Heritage Entrepreneur of the Year Award | History
14. 03. 2025
The future of our shared European cultural heritage lies in the hands of the next generation. With the annual NextGen Prize—the European Young Heritage Entrepreneur of the Year Award—the European Historic Houses Association honors young and future owners under the age of 45 who drive real transformation.
We are looking for visionary, entrepreneurial projects that generate a tangible, lasting impact on their historic properties through innovative, sustainable, and forward-thinking concepts. Preserving private heritage faces significant socioeconomic challenges today. This prize explicitly celebrates impact-driven entrepreneurship that goes beyond maintenance to secure the modern relevance and viability of historic estates. Whether through pioneering ecological frameworks, digital transformation, or new commercial models, we honor projects that create measurable economic, social, or environmental value for the property. By doing so, the NextGen Group fosters intergenerational knowledge exchange and highlights the vital role of sustainably managed, thriving heritage across Europe. The application for the 2027 NextGen Prize will open soon. Stay tuned!
2026 Award
- Winner: Ismaël Murat el Hakim & Laurie Mortreuil – Château de Paley, France Served by a background in video games, immersive creation, and creative entrepreneurship, the winners were honoured for their project to create a twin version of Château de Paley as a simulation game built from a real castle. While documenting and supporting its restoration, it allows the castle to become playable, explorable, and creatively reusable. Link
- 2nd Place: Otto van Bouwdijk Bastiaanse – Buitenplaats Zwanenburg, The Netherlands Link
- 3rd Place: Federico Gallo Perozzi – Palazzo Gallo, Italy Link
2025 Award
- Winner: Thibault le Marié – Château de la Mazure, France Thibault was honoured for transforming a once-crumbling 18th-century bleachery into BLANC BLANC BLANC, a unique combination of a training centre and upcycled textile workshop. His “Manufacture du Blanc” initiative integrates historical preservation, social entrepreneurship, and sustainable design, offering international residencies and rethinking work-life balance through a concept dubbed “Équilibre vie pro/vie pro“. Link
- 2nd Place: Thomas Emmet – Altidore Castle, Ireland Link
- Shared 3rd Place: Montague Cholmeley – Easton Walled Gardens, UK Link
- Shared 3rd Place: Luca Bizzozero, Château de Marnand, Switzerland Link
2023 Award
Winner: Jessica Flore Angel – Château du Feÿ, France Château du Feÿ, the winning historic house of the 2023 edition, has an ecosystem of ecological, social and artistic projects linked to the castle as its innovative entrepreneur project. The latter assembles five complementary structures including an international art festival, a community project for entrepreneurs and researchers to co-work, a non-profit organisation centred around natural and built heritage and others! A project with a strong entrepreneurial spirit displayed in its renovation and development of the quintuple Feÿ projects linked to the domain. Link
2022 Award
Winner: Vianney-Marie Audemard d’Alançon – Château de la Barben, France Vianney-Marie Audemard d’Alançon’s restoration of Château de la Barben for his acquisition and restoration of Château de la Barben, the oldest castle in the Provence region of France. Within the castle, he has developed the Rocher Mistral immersive experience, with animations and historical shows to promote the history of the region and the country to as many people as possible. The project included a programme for the protection of fauna and flora, as well as an agricultural programme. Link
The NextGen prize is kindly sponsored by Patrice Besse and Sothebys or Rothschild & Co.
