On October 9th, the third edition of the Trophées des Français des États-Unis was held at the Consulate General of France in New York, recognizing the achievements of U.S.-based French leaders in business, innovation, culture, humanitarian work, and beyond.
Organized by Lepetitjournal.com, the online daily French news outlet dedicated to French and Francophone communities around the world, the awards are presented in partnership with French-affiliated businesses, institutions, and organizations. This year, 8 prizes were awarded, spanning heritage preservation to humanitarian and charitable work, highlighting the exceptional contributions of each laureate’s projects to their communities, and the diverse range of French expertise and savoir-faire in the U.S.
The Trophées support and promote the work of French-American charitable initiatives and nonprofits, many with international reach, creating transformative change and new approaches. With a dedicated prize for Social and Humanitarian work, the Trophées aim the spotlight on how French-American partnership can confront challenges around the world.
We are proud to count our Executive Director, Domtille Marchal Lemoine, among the laureates, having received the first-ever Social and Humanitarian (Caritatif Humanitaire) Trophée in the premier edition of the U.S. Trophées in 2023. The award recognized her for her dedication to furthering French-American philanthropy through Friends of Fondation de France, helping to connect American donors with French causes and supporting French non-profit fundraising in the U.S.
We applaud this year’s recipient of the prize, Alban Maino, who founded Memory Lane TV in Portland, Maine in 2015 to bring dignity, emotion, and human connection back to Alzheimer’s and dementia care. Drawing on personal experience and backed by U.S. clinical research, Memory Lane TV offers over 1,200 sensory-rich films designed to soothe, engage, and reconnect individuals living with cognitive decline.
Dubbed the “Netflix for dementia”, this organization provides an accessible, global solution in transforming care for millions worldwide: through the Memory Lane Foundation, Alban Maino now seeks to raise $1 million to donate the platform to a large NGO, so that it can be accessed free of charge worldwide.
We are honored to share this distinction alongside initiatives like Memory Lane TV that embody compassion, innovation, and cross-cultural collaboration—values at the heart of this award and of French-American philanthropy itself.
These values are equally embodied by this year’s winner of the Water and Environment Trophée, Fabien Lamaison, Co-founder and US Director of Plastic Odyssey. The French nonprofit — now also a 501(c)(3) organization based in San Francisco — combats ocean plastic pollution by developing and sharing recycling solutions, training local entrepreneurs, and leading global expeditions to reduce plastic waste at its source.
Through its international mission and local action, Plastic Odyssey illustrates how Franco-American collaboration can drive environmental innovation and inspire global change.
We are grateful to Le Petit Journal for their dedication to amplifying the visibility of these remarkable organizations and for their commitment to celebrating the many ways French and American changemakers are working together to build a more connected, compassionate, and sustainable world.
Congratulations to the 2025 Trophées laureates, and the mark they’ve made in the U.S. As Damien Bouhours, Editorial Director and Associate Partnerships Director for lepetitjournal.com, emphasized, “From Los Angeles to New York, our laureates embody the true American dream: crossing the Atlantic with an idea, courage, and a lot of resilience. Congratulations to them!”
For a full list of the 2025 laureates, read more here.
