The Zayed Sustainability Prize awards 5 categories:

• Health
• Food
• Energy
• Water
• Global High Schools (1 award for each of the below regions)
  • The Americas
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Middle East & North Africa
  • Europe & Central Asia
  • South Asia
  • East Asia & Pacific

The total prize fund is US$3 million, distributed as follows:

• Health - $600,000
• Food - $600,000
• Energy - $600,000
• Water - $600,000
• Global High Schools - $600,000 – (divided amongst 6 Schools, awarding each up to US$100,000)
  • The Americas
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Middle East & North Africa
  • Europe & Central Asia
  • South Asia
  • East Asia & Pacific

The Prize fund comes from the Abu Dhabi Government as a way to honour and continue the sustainability and humanitarian legacy of the founding father of the United Arab Emirates, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Masdar, Abu Dhabi's renewable energy company, manages the Zayed Sustainability Prize. A dedicated team works on the Prize all year round.

For Health, Food, Energy and Water categories, the criteria are:

INNOVATION: 40%

Innovation refers to a novel solution or a transformation of an existing solution that solves a challenge or a need, generates value and brings significant positive impact. A solution can be a technology, a service or a business model.

The innovation criterion requires organisations to demonstrate that their solution:

• has a unique value proposition;
• is disruptive or transformative;
• is technically and commercially viable; and
• is adopted by the market.

The Prize does not award early stage start-ups, demonstration projects, prototypes or solutions that have not demonstrated any impact on the ground.

IMPACT: 30%

Impact refers to a positive change that addresses social, economic, technological and/or environmental challenge(s) and has proven to make the world a better place by improving the well-being of humanity.

The impact criterion requires organisations to demonstrate that:

• their solution already has had a positive impact on the quality of peoples' lives;
• they are resilient to potential social, economic, technological, and environmental challenges;
• they have good governance by employing skilled people and establishing fair policies;
• they have a detailed plan of how the Prize money would be used to further increase their impact.

INSPIRATION: 30%

Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the UAE, was a pioneering advocate of global sustainability and human development. Leading by example, he placed great value in the pursuit of socioeconomic development that meets the needs of both current and future generations. Continued through the Prize, Sheikh Zayed’s legacy is a source of inspiration for the entire world.

The inspiration criterion requires organisations to demonstrate that their solution:

• reflect’s Sheikh Zayed’s core values – sustainability and human development that were central to his own approach and actions;
• can inspire and influence others to advance sustainable and human development; and
• can further inspire sustainable actions from the wider community by instigating behavioural changes.

For Global High Schools category, the evaluation criteria are:

INNOVATION: 30%

Innovation refers to a creative idea, proposed by students, which solves a challenge or a need for the school and/or local community in the areas of health, food, energy and/or water.

The Innovation criterion requires schools to demonstrate that:

• the project is driven by students who work together to identify a challenge and create an innovative solution either by utilising existing technologies or by developing their own;
• the students use project management techniques – planning, scheduling, and budgeting to implement the idea, and apply learnings at school to deliver the desired sustainability outcome.

The Prize does not award early stage start-ups, demonstration projects, prototypes or solutions that have not demonstrated any impact on the ground.

IMPACT: 30%

Impact refers to a positive change, as a result of the proposed project, that improves the well-being of the school, students and/or local community.

The Impact criterion requires schools to demonstrate that:

• the project delivers measurable sustainability outcomes – in terms of access to sustainable energy, clean water, basic healthcare and/or nutritious food in your school or wider community;
• the project delivers benefits for both current and future students. These benefits may include, but are not limited to opportunities for education and/or improving technical skills in the area of
  sustainable development.

INSPIRATION: 40%

Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the UAE, strongly believed that a country's greatest investment lies in building generations of knowledgeable youth. He was a firm believer of youth’s active role in the development process by sharing responsibilities to lay foundations for the success of the society. Continued through the Prize, Sheikh Zayed’s legacy is a source of inspiration for the young generation.

The Inspiration criterion requires schools to demonstrate that:.

• the project reflects Sheikh Zayed’s core values – sustainability and human development that were central to his own approach and actions;
• the project can be sustained in the long term;
• the project inspires students to become the next generation of innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders capable of addressing sustainability challenges;
• the project further inspires responsible actions from the wider community and other schools.

Previous winners can be found here in the Winners section of the website.

The evaluation of each submission to the Prize consists of a rigorous, three-stage process. Each category is evaluated according to our three core criteria: Impact, Innovation, and Inspiration.

• First stage: Due diligence conducted on all submissions to ensure that they meet the evaluation criteria of the Zayed Sustainability Prize.
• Second stage: The Selection Committee evaluates and scores entries to create a shortlist of finalists to pass on to the last stage of the process – the Jury.
• Third stage: The Jury , in person, to deliberate on the finalists and select the winner(s), in each category. Final decisions must be unanimous.

The winners of the 2024 Zayed Sustainability Prize will be announced at an Awards Ceremony during the COP28 Climate Summit.

You can nominate an organisation (SME or NPO) only for the new Climate Action category by registering in the Zayed Sustainability Prize submissions portal and filling out the form. You can nominate an organisation you are affiliated with or one with which you have no affiliation.

The Prize only accepts entries completed in English.

The online portal allows entrants to save the progress of their submission details and return to add or complete the entry at a later time.Applicants must remember to save their progress and can update and change the content as many times as needed, up until confident it is ready for submission. Simply log in using the credentials you used to set up your account.

All entries received during the submissions period will receive an acknowledgement of receipt. However, should the submission not reflect one of the three criteria, and therefore not progress for further evaluation, the feedback will only reflect that the submission did not meet the minimum requirements.

A maximum of five attachments are allowed with a maximum single file size of 4MB per attachment.

Yes. Only one video link is allowed.

Video links from only YouTube and Vimeo are accepted, but due to the size (MB) of actual video files, no attachments will be accepted.

As long as the emerging start-up company meets the required criteria of the Prize and can demonstrate a proven track record of innovation, impact, and inspiration it may apply in any of the non-Global High School categories (Health, Food, Energy or Water).

No additional material will be accepted via email or airmail. All material relevant to your submission should be submitted through the Online Submission Portal.

The response boxes in the form only accepts plain text. Therefore, candidates will be unable to include graphs and charts in these response boxes. However, there will be a separate attachment facility for you to upload your supporting documents such as graphs and charts. Please describe each attachment as an "Appendix" - i.e. Appendix A – Graphs and Charts. You may upload them as Word, PDF or JPG files.

The answer section only accepts plain text or a plain URL (e.g. http://wikipedia.com); however, please avoid using charts, tables or hyperlinks. Should this information be critical, please include this in a word document and attach it in the “Attachments” section of the submission form.

Please feel free to contact us at techsupport@zayedsustainabilityprize.com.

There are no fees associated with completing a submission.

Interested applicants can participate by submitting an entry using the online submissions portal.

If you wish to review the step-by-step application process, please watch our video tutorial.

If you require technical assistance for using this portal, please email the technical support team at techsupport@zayedsustainabilityprize.com 

Respecting equitable geographical representation, the Prize defers to the definition of Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the applicant’s country of origin. Please consult your national Chamber of Commerce or relevant legislation for the definition of SMEs in your own country.

The Prize awards solutions by Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) in the categories of Health, Water, Energy and Food.

Additionally, under the Global High Schools category, the Prize recognises high schools or secondary schools from six global geographic regions that propose innovative, impactful and inspirational sustainability projects in the areas of health, food, energy and/or water. Universities are not eligible for participation.

For the successful retrieval of their log-in information, applicants must remember and have access to the email ID used at the time of registration. It is very important to save the information shared in the automated confirmation email received upon registration for any future inquiries.

For the Global High Schools category, we ask schools to submit proposals for funding consideration to implement sustainability measures in their schools and/or community. These measures could range from the implementation of technologies to the incorporation of dedicated curricula.

All entrants will receive a notification email upon submitting.

Yes. You can download a copy of your submission by logging into the submissions portal.

Yes. You will be notified by email by the Prize administration team. You will also receive an email should you not make it to the shortlist.

Please note that a public announcement of the finalist candidates can only be made following the meeting of the Jury of the Prize.

The Zayed Sustainability Prize has incorporated a non-disclosure policy on announcing shortlisted candidates before the final stage of the evaluation and the Jury Meeting is concluded.

The judges will not visit or communicate directly with the candidates as part of their assessment. For this reason, it is imperative that all information critical to your submission be included in the entry form.

All finalists will be invited to attend the ceremony, with flights and accommodation costs provided.

The winners of the 2024 Zayed Sustainability Prize will be announced at an Awards Ceremony during the COP28 Climate Summit in December 2023.