Prince William announces inaugural environmental Earthshot Prize Awards in London

The Duke of Cambridge announced today that the first winners of his environmental Earthshot Prize will be unveiled during an awards ceremony at Alexandra Palace in London later this year.

The Earthshot Prize, which was founded by the Duke in 2020, aims to discover and reward the best solutions to help repair the planet over the next 10 years.

This year’s finalists will be announced in July and the five winners will then be selected by the Earthshot Prize Council which includes Prince William, Sir David Attenborough, Shakira and Cate Blanchett.

The winners will each receive a £1 million prize fund and tailored support to scale their environmental solutions.

Prince William revealed that the first awards ceremony will be held at Alexandra Palace on 17th October in a short film captured by a drone.

Standing in front of the venue’s ornate Rose Window, he said: “Join me for the first ever Earthshot Prize Awards, where we'll unveil five global prize winners and their game-changing solutions to repair our planet, on October 17th, here in London.”

The footage is being shown at Piccadilly Circus at 8am on Friday.

William said: “By hosting COP26 conference in Glasgow just weeks after our inaugural awards, the UK is helping lead the world in tackling climate change.

“London is a fantastic location to showcase this leadership, spotlight the finalists and award our very first Earthshot Prize winners.

“The awards ceremony will be a truly global event, connecting people from all over the world to celebrate these inspiring leaders and their innovations to solve the world’s greatest environmental challenges.”

Sadiq Khan met with Prince William to discuss the award. Credit: Kensington Palace

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who met with Prince William at Kensington Palace earlier this month, described the Earthshot Prize ceremony as a “momentous occasion for London”.

He said: “The Earthshot Prize: London 2021 is an unprecedented opportunity to inspire all Londoners and people around the world to be part of this global effort to repair our planet. I am thrilled that our city will be the inaugural host to award the first Earthshot Prizes for these ground-breaking solutions that can help improve all of our lives.”

The first ceremony in William's decade-long £50 million global environmental competition will be broadcast on BBC One.

Organisers said the event, which will also be televised internationally, will feature "some of the world's leading performers, all committed to repairing our planet”.

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