Tag Archive for: Earth Prize

The Earth Prize returns for its third edition, calling for global participation in environmental sustainability

The Earth Prize is back for its third edition! Over the past two years, this initiative has reached more than 1,500 schools in 144 countries and territories, showcasing a global commitment to innovation and environmental sustainability. This year, the Earth Prize aims to grow even further and, as a champion of change, invites those who share the same ideals to participate and join in the important task of spreading this initiative through their networks.

The Earth Prize is an annual global environmental sustainability competition worth $200,000, open to students aged between 13 and 19. The competition recognizes and rewards teams whose projects demonstrate the utmost potential to address environmental issues.

As part of the competition, participants have access to mentoring from students of top universities and exclusive educational materials covering key concepts of environmental sustainability, featuring young change-makers from around the world.

The winning team of the competition will receive an outstanding cash prize of $100,000, to be divided among the team members and their school. The second-place schools, totaling three, will also be awarded $25,000 each to further support sustainability projects in their respective communities. Additionally, a teacher will be named Educator of the Year for the Earth Prize 2024 and will be rewarded with a cash prize of $10,000.

Registration for the Earth Prize 2024 is free and will remain open until November 30th. Students will have until the end of January 2024 to work on their projects and present innovative ideas.

This is a call to all passionate students and teachers of sustainability: it’s time to make your voice heard and contribute to a greener and healthier future for all of us.

Interested students and teachers can register on the website www.theearthprize.org.

Together, we can create a sustainable future for generations to come. Join us and be part of the change.

The Earth Prize 2023 competition: $5,000 prize for the three best Mentors

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The Earth Foundation is looking for university students passionate about sustainability and entrepreneurship to become MENTORS in The Earth Prize 2023 competition.

Following the successful first edition of The Earth Prize 2022 and a fantastic experience with our Mentors, The Earth Prize 2023 will now recognize not just one but three mentors with The Earth Prize Mentor of the Year award. The three best mentors, as voted by the competition’s Participants, will receive a $5,000 prize each.

The virtual mentoring will take place between September 1st, 2022 and January 31st, 2023 through The Earth Prize online platform. Mentors will contribute to the development of students’ innovative projects by offering them guidance on their projects and answering their questions.

If you know someone who might be interested in sharing their knowledge and making an impact, share this opportunity with them! You can find more information on The Earth Prize Mentors page.

Safaa Obeid, UNRWA teacher in Jordan, is the winner of the Earth Prize Educator of the Year

© 2022 UNRWA Photo by Dima Ismail

Following the legacy of the original award, WEEC’s  Secretary-General, Professor Mario Salomone selected Ms Safaa Obeid , a teacher at the UNRWA Sweileh Preparatory Girls’ School in Jordan,  as the Earth Prize Educator of the Year and awarded a prize of US$ 12,500.

Ms. Obeid entered her students in the Earth Prize competition – an environmental sustainability competition for students between the ages of 13-19 – under the themes of concern to them as Palestine refugees in Jordan. These include, desertification of the Dead Sea by 2030, making camps more environmentally friendly and managing food waste in Jordan.

Ms. Obeid said:

“I am very proud to represent UNRWA in this international contest on environment sustainability and be awarded the “Educator of the Year” title. This amplifies my sense of responsibility towards my environment, my community and my students. I have been very keen to integrate environmental sustainability in the classroom by creating an enriching an environmental activity kit, which is user-friendly and easy to implement for the purpose of increasing my students’ awareness of environmental causes.”

In addition to Ms. Obeid’s students, 34 teams from 24 UNRWA schools and one vocational training centre registered their projects in the competition. Two UNRWA schools were named in the top 34 Earth Prize Scholar teams, namely the UNRWA Amqa Secondary Co-educational School in Lebanon and the UNRWA Gaza Training Centre, in Gaza.

The Earth Prize 2022 Educator of the year nominees were:

Pauline Herbommez, french teacher at Eton College, in Berkshire, England.  With other members of the school staff, Ms Herbommez helped create the Belkshire Schools Eco Network (BSEN) and the Environmental Action Group (E@E). The BSEN and E@E attended COP26.

Imani Hudaa, teacher at Raila Educational Centre in Kibra, Nairob, Kenya.  She has been involved in a number of school activities related the environment by encouraging learners to draw, act, dance and even write poetry about environment.

Ram Chandra Dahal, a faculty member at the Druk Gylalpo’s Institute in Bhutan. He believes that education is the key to making people live in coherence with nature and assume responsibility for its protection. At the school, he acts as a teacher, mentor, and the Coordinator for Emotional Area of Development.

Luc Arvisals, a teacher at Our Lady of the Snows in Canmore, Alberta, Canada. He has supported student work on a variety of projects: planning for rewilding of urban areas, institutionalising the use of aeroponic growing gardens at the school, fundraising for a solar testing system to gauge the economic viability of installing solar panels on the school.

Ruth Parry, has taught at the Institute Le Rosey in Switzerland for nine years. She has built links with over 20 local and international charities to support environmental and humanitarian issues, and has helped develop a whole school curriculum to support Service Learning projects and skill development.

Laurence Myers is the K-12 Service Learning Coordinator at the American School of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He supports student work on a variety of projects including the elimination of plastic water bottles, composting all landscaping and food waste, and establishing school-wide sustainability goal. He provides training and support educators in using systems-thinking for sustainability.

 

 

 

Earth Prize: registration deadline extended to November 30th

Due to the overwhelming positive response and the significant number of requests for more time to sign up,  the Earth Foundation has decided to extend the registration deadline for the competition by one full month.

The new deadline to register is Tuesday, November 30th.

Students and supervisors will now have until the end of next month to:
– Register individually on the website to access all their learning content and mentorship.
–  Create (for supervisors) and join (for students) their teams.
–  Complete and submit their team motivation letter and a problem definition form, which will grant teams access to the Submissions Phase of The Earth Prize.

All participants will then have until January 31st, 2022 to submit their ideas for the competition.

Remember: if you pre-registered back in the summer, you will still need to register officially on the Earth Prize website by November 30th in order to compete for The Earth Prize.

The teachers who have registered already can send the school’s logo so it can be featured on the Participating Schools page on The Earth Foundation’s website. You can send it directly to info@theearthprize.org
If you still have questions regarding the competition,  you check out the webinar here, where you can hear directly from participating teachers about their experiences with The Earth Prize thus far.

The Earth Prize: registration is officially open

 

Photo by Mika Baumeister – Unsplash

Until October 31st secondary education students and teachers can register for the competition through the website, where they will then be able to:

–  Watch the bespoke learning videos covering key environmental sustainability concepts and featuring young change-makers from around the world such as Tom Szaky, Founder of TerraCycle, and Boyan Slat, Founder of The Ocean Cleanup.

– Form teams and start working on their ideas.

– Ask questions to The Earth Prize Mentors: 30 student experts from 26 top universities across 18 countries.

If you know of any secondary school teacher or student who might be interested in participating in the competition, please share this initiative with them.  The Earth Prize wants to reach as many schools and students all over the world as possible.

Earth Foundation: looking for university students mentors for the Earth Prize

The Earth Foundation is looking for university students interested in involving as mentors for the young people applying the Earth Prize. Becoming an Earth Prize Mentor is a unique opportunity for university students to share and expand their knowledge on environmental sustainability and entrepreneurship, by advising participants in The Earth Prize, a $200,000 global youth environmental sustainability competition for students between the ages of 13 and 19.

Mentors will contribute to the development of students’ innovative project proposals by offering them guidance on their ideas and answering their questions. Mentors who will have demonstrated the highest levels of engagement will be given the chance to work individually with one of the ten The Earth Prize Finalists.

Each year, the most engaged mentor, as voted by the The Earth Prize participants, will be recognized with the Mentor of the Year award and a $12,500 prize.

All mentors will become part of The Earth Prize Alumni Association, a community of inspiring individuals and organizations offering mentorship, networking, internships, and professional placement opportunities.
Mentors  will have access to a unique network of entrepreneurs thanks to The Earth Foundation’s incubator partnerships and they will be able to connect with inspiring new start-ups leading the way towards environmental sustainability.
Mentoring for the The Earth Prize offers an excellent opportunity to develop and showcase transferable skills such as project management, problem-solving, and consulting. Each mentor will receive a certificate upon completion.
All mentors will have access to The Earth Prize learning platform featuring bespoke online materials on environmental issues, interviews with activists and social entrepreneurs, and real-world practical skill training on how to effect change.

Joining The Earth Prize as a mentor allow to actively contribute to projects striving to make a positive impact on the environment and to serve as a role model for younger students, inspiring them to become future changemakers.

Application will close June 30thFill the form here to become a mentor.

 

 

 

Earth Prize: a $200,000 environmental sustainability competition for students

Great opportunities for students and teachers committed to environmental issues: the Earth Prize is here! The Earth Prize is an environmental sustainability competition open to teenage students everywhere.  It will recognize the students and schools with the best solutions to accelerate positive change towards environmental sustainability, as judged by The Earth Prize Adjudicating Panel.

Every participant will engage with original bespoke materials and get personalized mentorship from university students. They will also have the opportunity to interact with our world-renowned Ambassadors and showcase their solutions to a global audience.

The winning solution will have real-world impact potential, and the winning team will receive $100,000 (from a $200,000 total prize), to be split between their school and the team members.

The registration phase runs from 1st September to 31st October. Students and supervisors are required to register for The Earth Prize using the online platform.

Upon completing registration, teams and their supervisors will be granted access to bespoke online learning material, mentoring by university students (“The Earth Prize Mentors’’), and the portal where they will submit their Registration Confirmation.
Read all the participation guidelines here

The Earth Prize is a multi-phase competition: during the submission phase (1st November 2021 – 31st January 2022) students will submit their Fresh Ideas. Then, the Earth Prize Scholars will be are announced (February 2022) and the top ten teams will are selected and announced. After a social media engagement campaign the final idea will be presented to the Adjudicating Panel. The Earth Prize Ceremony will be Saturday, 26th March 2022 when the the Earth Prize Winner and 3 Runners-up will be announced.

The team recognized as “The Earth Prize Winner” will be provided with a USD 100,000 prize. Fifty percent (50%) of the prize will be granted to the team’s school to be used in a project focusing on environmental sustainability, and fifty percent (50%) as an educational scholarship grant to be split evenly amongst the team members.

Three teams will be recognized as “The Earth Prize Runner-up” whose schools will be awarded with a USD 25,000 prize each.  One prize of USD 12,500 will be awarded to The Earth Prize Educator of the Year. And one prize of USD 12,500 will be awarded to The Earth Prize Mentor of the Year.

The Prize is organised by the Earth Foundation, founded in 2020 in Geneva (Switzerland), to inspire, educate, mentor, and empower students, schools, researchers, and young entrepreneurs with innovative ideas to tackle environmental challenges. Through its initiatives The Earth Foundation strives to build its very own ecosystem.

David Quammen and Melati and Isabel Wijsen are the international winners of Earth Prize 2020

The Third Edition of Earth Prize international took place in Italy (Lake Maggiore 10-11 October). The Prize confirmed to be a real landmark for people involved in the field of environmental education. Earth Prize international is organized by WEEC Network and City of Luino, with the contribution of Lombardy Region.

The international winners are:

David Quammen, American science, nature, and travel writer. He is nominated for his activity of divulgation about the existing link between human activities and new zoonoses. The book Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic written in 2012, was rediscovered in this delicate historic moment due to Covid-19.

“Pigs, mosquitoes and chimpanzees can be the vectors of the next pandemic – Ebola, SARS, or dormant and still only partially known viruses, and a small spillover can transmit them to humans. Being informed, aware, ready to accept what science teaches us – you can read in the motivation of the award – is the first step to avoid being caught unprepared by the next pandemic, the next Big One, as Quammen calls it, whose name we still do not know”.

David Quammen’s speech is available here

 

Melati e Isabel Wijsen, two young Indonesian environmental activists who are involved in numerous initiatives to reduce plastic consumption in Bali. With the “Bye Bye Plastic Bags” initiative, they have managed to reach Governor Pastika’s attention, achieving the important result of banning polystyrene, plastic bags and straws from the island since 2018.
But they didn’t stop there and gave birth to youthopia a global movement that aims to train up a generation of changemakers and give them the tools to make a difference.
The two sisters are awarded “for their social commitment and for the involvement of young people in environmental initiatives”.

Melati’s interview is available here

A special mention goes to Phil Smith – Spaking 4 the planet and  NAAEE – North American Association for Environmental Education.

Phil Smith is the founder of Speaking for the Planet, an arts-based sustainability competition. It’s an event encouraging sustainability education for high schools. It uses performative arts such as public speaking, drama, and writing, to engage young people in thinking and creating a better world to live in. This initiative receives the Earth Prize nomination for its commitment in raising awareness among the younger generations, giving them the opportunity to share ideas, thoughts, and feelings though visual language.

The North American Association for Environmental Education is committed to promoting excellence in the field in order to accelerate environmental literacy and civic engagement. During the lockdown, this year they offered a rich tool containing initiatives of environmental education: seminars, webinars, online courses, certifications and much more. NAAEE is nominated for its commitment in creating a more sustainable future and in encouraging people to never stop learning.

Australia, US and Indonesia among the international nominations of Earth Prize 2020

The third edition of Earth Prize International for environmental education and landscape will be held in Luino-Lake Maggiore (Italy), at the border with Switzerland, on  October 10th and 11th.

Streaming of the live video will be available on Facebook.

To attend the whole prize: https://www.facebook.com/WEECEducazioneSostenibile

To attend the international part (at 7.30 pm Italian time) https://www.facebook.com/Earthprize

The categories into which the 2020 Award is divided are: Earth Prize/Italy, Earth Prize/International, EarthPrize/Landscape, Blue Prize, Asvis Award.

The international nominations include: American writer David Quammen (for the book Spillover), Australian professor Philip Smith (creator of the Speaking4theplanet competition), the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE for their Guide about EE and Covid), and Melati and Isabel Wijsen, Indonesian sisters and founders of Bye Bye Plastic Bags, an NGO driven by youth who says NO to plastic bags.

Earth Prize International is promoted by the WEEC Network (World Environmental Education Congress) and the City of Luino. It is supported by the Lombardy Region with the patronage of many associations involved in environmental protection,

The international prize gives recognition to those who have contributed with their ideas, actions or innovations to the transition toward a more sustainable lifestyle, by sharing best practices, producing literary and popular works, appearing on films and television broadcasts, realizing landscape projects, communication campaigns, studies and research that contribute to environmental education along all ages of life. Earth Prize wants to be a multiplier of positive actions for the environment and the quality of life.

Earth Prize international 2018

The first edition of Earth Prize: a prize for environmental education and landscape has been announced in Milan, in the prestigious venue of the Lombardy Region on Thursday 14 June.
The event will be place in Luino (Va) in Lombardy, on the border with Switzerland, on 23 and 24 June, where also schools and characters from Maggiore Lake and nearby valleys will be rewarded. «Earth Prize wants to be a multiplier of positive actions for the environment and the quality of life», explains the journalist and writer Luca Novelli, artistic director of the award.
Earth Prize International is promoted by WEEC Network (World Environmental Education Congress) and the City of Luino. Patronage of Touring Club Italiano, Slow Food, ISDE – International Society of Doctors for Environment, Comunità Montana Alpi del Verbano and FIMA – Federazione italiana dei media ambientali. Supported by Fondazione Comunitaria del Varesotto.

«I want to express my appreciation for this initiative that senses awareness society to adopting responsible lifestyles» declares the Councillor for Environment and Climate of the Lombardy Region, Raffaele Cattaneo.

«With over 15 years of experience and the organization of ten World Congresses of Environmental Education, the WEEC Network – says the International Permanent Secretariat of WEEC Mario Salomone – is pleased to give life to this first edition of the Earth Prize, first of all by awarding an important association of Young Reporters for the Environment, present in 34 countries involving 310.000 young people».

The nominations 2018

During the event the following exponents and representatives of environmental media will be awarded:
EarthPrize International to the Young Reporters for the Environment network, based in Copenhagen, which invites, informing, to universal brotherhood.
EarthPrize Media to the radio transmission Radio2 Caterpillar, Mi illumino di meno.
EarthPrize Landscape for the publisher and journalist Francesca Marzotto Caotorta.
Nomination for Linea Verde, historic italian television program and EarthPrize Media for the TV program of the Swiss Radio Television Il Giardino di Albert.
EarthPrize International award to Reinhold and Magdalene Messner.
Award for Silver, the creator of Lupo Alberto comic. A nomination for the Trekking Locarno-Venezia.
Nominations related to the territory hosting the event: the project GreenSchool that involved tens of thousands of young people and the APP made by the students of Luino, which allows you to find free and safe car, adding a technological value to the “Equostop” sustainable mobility project.

Earth Prize International is a prize born thinking of the Paris agreements on climate and Pope Francis, to whom this first edition will be dedicated. His encyclical “Laudato Sì” has placed Ecology and Environmental Education at the center of peace and our future.