The Competition

The Earth Prize is a $100,000 environmental sustainability competition open to teenage students worldwide. It recognizes and awards students who develop the best solutions to accelerate positive change towards environmental sustainability.

THE BASICS

HOW TO APPLY

Registration is open from September
1st until November 30th.

Fill out the online registration form to get access to My Earth Prize Platform, where you will have access to our exclusive content and mentoring

Make sure that your Supervisor or Team Lead (who could be you, if you are a student) registers and creates your team on the Submissions Portal.

Complete the necessary team information and get thinking!

ELIGIBILITY

Participants must have been born between 2005 and 2011 and be registered in a school or educational program.

THE TIMELINE

REGISTRATION PHASE

1st Sept - 30th Nov 2024

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Register
Start your journey by completing the online registration form on The Earth Prize website. Registration is open from September 1st, 2024 until November 30th, 2024.
Register
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Get your Supervisor on board
You are strongly encouraged to have an assigned Teacher or Supervisor for your team when registering for The Earth Prize. Teachers are allowed to supervise multiple teams. However, you have the option to opt-out of having a Supervisor. In this case, you will need to assign a member of the team as the Team Lead.
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Form your team
You have the choice to fly solo or be part of a dream team. You can gather up to five students from any class or grade in your school, or enter as an individual.

Once you and your team members have registered individually online, your Supervisor or Team Lead (if you opt out of teacher supervision) should create the team on The Earth Prize Submissions Portal and invite each team member to join.
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Spark imagination
Our learning content will provide knowledge, inspiration and tools. All The Earth Prize Participants can watch them on demand. Learn more about the world’s current environmental challenges and hear directly from people whose ideas have had a positive impact. Get the inspiration and skills you need to get thinking.
Learn more
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Get started
We are looking for ideas that tackle environmental challenges and accelerate positive change. Find an issue you are passionate about and figure out how you could solve it - and then tell us all about it.

Head over to the Submissions Portal to complete your first tasks!

SUBMISSIONS PHASE

1st Dec - 31st Jan 2025

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Fresh ideas
Now you can submit your Fresh Idea: your proposed solution to tackle an important environmental challenge. Remember, The Earth Prize will consider a wide range of projects: local, national and global in scope; new ideas and existing student projects; in the form of organizations, enterprises and campaigns.
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Mentoring
Do you have a question? Is something unclear? Do you need guidance? Throughout the competition, university students passionate about sustainability and entrepreneurship will provide support both through The Earth Prize Mentorship Portal and one-to-one mentoring sessions.
LEARN MORE

THE EARTH PRIZE SCHOLARS ANNOUNCEMENT

14th Feb 2025

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Scholars
The strongest Fresh Ideas from each Region will be awarded The Earth Prize Scholars distinction, which recognizes submissions of outstanding quality.

SCHOLARS PHASE

14th Feb - 7th Mar 2025

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Final Idea
Scholars will now work on their Final Idea, an improved and refined version of the Fresh Idea.
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Adjudicating Panel
The Adjudicating Panel will evaluate the Scholar teams based on their Final Idea submission and will propose seven teams to become the Regional Winners and enter the Regional Winners Phase.

REGIONAL WINNER PHASE

7th Mar - 7th Apr 2025

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Mentors and Ambassadors
The seven teams proposed to become The Earth Prize Regional Winners by the Adjudicating Panel will participate in one-to-one mentoring sessions with The Earth Prize Mentors and Ambassadors.
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Presentation
The teams will present their Final Idea to the Adjudicating Panel in a final live presentation, which will include a live Q&A session.

THE EARTH PRIZE REGIONAL WINNERS ANNOUNCEMENT

7th Apr - 13th Apr 2025

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Regional Winners
The Earth Prize 2025 Regional Winners are announced on The Earth Prize website and social media. The 7 Regional Winners will each be awarded 12,500 USD to implement their project.

PUBLIC VOTING PHASE

14th Apr - 22nd Apr 2025

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Public Voting
The public will be able to vote their favourite idea out of the seven Regional Winners.

THE EARTH PRIZE AWARDS CEREMONY

April 22nd 2025

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Ceremony
  • The Earth Prize 2025 Global Winner is announced.
  • The three Mentors and three Educators of the Year are announced each receiving a $2,500 prize.

Do you still have questions?

EVALUATION CRITERIA

REGISTRATION PHASE

All teams that have successfully submitted their Problem Definition and Motivation Statement will automatically enter the Submissions Phase of the competition.

SUBMISSION PHASE

At the Submissions Phase, the Fresh Idea will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

Applicability

The Fresh Idea takes into account the essential steps needed to bring the solution to life and demonstrates awareness of potential obstacles for the implementation of the solution for a prolonged period of time.

Innovativeness

The proposed solution - or any of the elements of its implementation process - is unique (it does not exist and it has not been proposed already by anyone else) and disruptive. The project differentiates itself from any other idea/initiative in the identified environmental sustainability context by at least one distinctive feature that defines the project’s impact potential.

Scalability

The Fresh Idea takes into account the possibility for the team or other individuals to replicate or adapt the idea in a different geographical location to serve a larger or a new target and whether there is a real-life need for the solution elsewhere.

Relevance

The Fresh Idea demonstrates that the proposed solution is needed and applicable to the selected geographical setting. If the solution has potential to be scaled up, it can be adapted according to the needs of different regions and customized for new target users.

Inspirational Impact

The Fresh Idea demonstrates the ability to raise awareness about the team's identified environmental problem and to inspire others within their community or elsewhere.

Regional Winners Phase

At the Regional Winners Phase, the Scholars' submissions will be evaluated by the Adjudicating Panel to select the seven (7) Regional Winners. Each of the two (2) submissions will be evaluated using specific criteria and weighting.

80%

Final idea

The Adjudicating Panel’s evaluation of the pitch video will taking into account the following aspects:

  • Applicability
  • Innovativeness
  • Inspirational Impact
  • Relevance
  • Scalability

20%

The Pitch Video

The Adjudicating Panel’s evaluation of the pitch video will taking into account the following aspects:

  • How clearly the video explains the problem, solution, and impact of their Idea
  • How logically the information presented in the video flows
  • How well the video draws in the audience

THE ADJUDICATING PANEL

Karen Wilson

Chair of the Panel

Karen Wilson is the Founder of GV Partners and an expert on innovation, entrepreneurship, finance, sustainability and impact measurement, working with private sector firms, international organizations, foundations and academia. She is an Associate Fellow at Said Business School at Oxford University and a Senior Advisor on Sustainability and ESG at the Institute for Strategy at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, where she is also a Visiting Lecturer. She has a Bachelors of Science from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Count me in

Registrations for The Earth Prize 2024 have now closed. Pre-register now for the next year's edition.

NEED SOME INSPIRATION?

Meet The Earth Prize 2024 Winners
and Runners-up

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