This year, the Prize broadened its mandate to align itself with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the UAE’s developing national agenda. The awards now recognise innovations in the sustainability categories of Health, Food, Energy, Water and Global High Schools.
Commenting on this year’s submissions process, Dr. Lamya Fawwaz, Director of the Zayed Sustainability Prize, said:
“While we have witnessed many outstanding achievements over the past 10 years, we are excited to note that under the Prize’s new format, interest levels in the new categories of health, food and water have been reflected in the sheer volume of responses we have received. That said, we would like to encourage those with a sustainability solution at hand to apply for the Prize.
“While there is shared assessment criteria across all categories for the solution to be innovative, impactful and inspirational, a key difference is that organisations must demonstrate an existing and operational sustainability solution; high schools are able to submit a concept or idea for a project proposal that they will develop within 12-24 months.”
Each of the five categories has a winning prize fund of US$600,000, which is primarily awarded so that organisations can further invest and develop their sustainability solution. The Global High Schools category is split into six winners, one per world region, with each of the six winners eligible for up to US$100,000 in project funding.