Jamaica Pavilion Wins Silver Award at Expo 2025 Japan

The Jamaica Pavilion walked away with a Silver Award at Expo 2025 Japan.

The island was recognised for theme development in the shared pavilions ‘Connecting Lives’ category.

Kazakhstan won the Gold Medal while the East African country of Djibouti received the Bronze.

The Official Participants Awards were presented at the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) Day Awards Ceremony on Sunday (October 12) in the Expo Hall. A total of 45 Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards and four new Sustainability Awards were presented during the ceremony.

“When our name was called for a prize, we were elated, and as always, once we hear Jamaica on a global stage, it boosts our national pride. It is wonderful that the team could come together and present this Pavilion, which earned a prestigious award,” said Commissioner General of Section, Jamaica Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, Maureen Smith.

The Official Participant Awards, presented at every World Expo recognise various aspects of pavilions, including architecture and landscape, external design, exhibition design, theme development and sustainability.

A total of 158 countries participated in the Expo in various clusters, showcasing different themes.

Jamaica was among 26 countries featured in the Commons B shared pavilion in the Connecting Lives zone. The pavilion stood out for its cultural vibrancy, collaborative spirit and sustainable innovation.

In explaining the sub-theme, Connecting Lives, Mrs. Smith noted that the concept centres on collaboration.

“It’s about working together towards achieving our sustainable development goals. I know all the countries are trying to work together towards a sustainable future, and so this Expo presented that platform for us to do so,” she said.

She noted that partners from Jamaica and Japan worked to bring the title of the Pavilion ‘Out of Many, One People: Let’s Link Up’ to life.

“For example, the entrance has a mural which was created by a Jamaican Japanese couple – Marvin and Reika Thompson, who also created other key elements of the Pavilion, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) pushcart and the grill for the jerk chicken,” said Mrs. Smith.

Other key partners were Ogawa Coffee; the Association of Japanese Importers of Jamaican Coffee; RUDDER, distributors of Worthy Park Rum in Japan; Gangalee Kitchen; Universal Music; and Link Up Jaja, which all contributed to showcasing different aspects of the Jamaican culture.

“We were very happy for those kinds of partnerships, thanks to the Embassy of Jamaica in Japan… a lot of those on-the-ground connections was because of our Embassy. We truly appreciate the efforts of Ambassador Shorna-Kay Richards and her team who were very instrumental in that regard,” Mrs. Smith told JIS News.

She noted that a partnership made from Jamaica’s participation in Expo 2020 Dubai generated the Near-field Communication (NFC) pins and business cards that were issued during this year’s Expo.

Expo 2025 Osaka, held over a six-month period, concluded on October 13 and was staged under the overarching theme, ‘Designing Future Society for Our Lives’.