Nominations now open for £1 million Earthshot Prize

If you have a project that will make a positive impact on the planet you could be in to win one of five £1 million prizes in 2025.

An overhead view of the wind farm on the hills of Makara with the ocean.
Makara's Whispering Winds, by Haesum Ali

The Earthshot Prizes are awarded annually to sustainability projects that highlight how we can bring about change, and inspire collective action.

The prizes are awarded by The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington is one of only three organisations in Aotearoa New Zealand that is an official nominator for the awards. In 2023 one of our nominees, Sea Forest, was a finalist.

The prizes are awarded across five categories:

  • Protect and Restore Nature
  • Clean our Air
  • Revive our Oceans
  • Build a Waste-Free World
  • Fix our Climate

You can find out more about the prize and submit your entry here. The deadline is 25 October 2024.

Our review panel will then assess which applications best respond to The Earthshot Prize’s criteria:

  • Relevance—How well does the solution align to The Earthshot categories and priority areas and does it use any of the cross-cutting enablers?
  • Impact—Will the solution make a significant global impact? Does it also have a positive human impact?
  • Maturity—How developed is the solution? Is it proven and at a stage where The Earthshot Prize will provide the boost needed to scale the solution?
  • Organisation—Does the solution have a solid organisational structure whereby we can trust that if they won The Earthshot prize it would be invested well?
  • Overall—Does the solution have wow factor? Is it innovative and inspiring?

Once the panel have made their selection, the best nominees will be supported by the Sustainability team to hone their official nominations to make them stand out against the other international nominations for each category.

Our nomination process will be followed with an article celebrating the projects we put forward, to help raise their profile and build awareness of The Earthshot Prize.