The Earth Prize


The Earth Prize is the world's largest environmental sustainability competition for young people that empowers students aged 13-19 with mentorship and $100,000 funding to develop creative and actionable solutions addressing critical environmental issues.
Born out of the global climate movement of 2019, when thousands of students rallied for climate action, It is the first and flagship initiative of The Earth Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, founded by Peter McGarry. The competition was first launched in September 2021, and first awarded in March 2022.
Since then, The Earth Prize has empowered over 15,000 young people from over 160 countries and territories to solve environmental sustainability problems. Having started with the 2025 edition, there are seven regional winners selected by an expert jury to represent Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Central and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Oceania & Southeast Asia. Each regional winner receives $12,500 to implement their solution, before a public vote decides the global winner.
Furthermore, each regional winner becomes the custodian of a special Earth Prize flag: hand-embroidered from recycled sailboat cloth - which they look after for one year, passing from one generation of change-makers to the next.
Three mentors are also recognised as “The Earth Prize Mentor of the Year” and will be awarded with a $2,500 prize each. Furthermore, $10,000 is also allocated to the new project, Educators Hub, coming for the 2026 competition, to award teachers and educators registered to The Earth Prize competition.

2025 award winners

In the 2025 edition, The Earth Prize awarded 7 regional winners chosen by the adjudicating panel, with team PURA from Europe achieving the Global Winner title following a public vote. The finalists created pioneering, never-seen-before solutions spanning physical inventions, digital platforms, and community-focused solutions.
The Earth Prize 2025 Awards
Global Winner: Team PURA, Slovakia & Czechia for A pioneering water purification solution that uses the power of light and plasma to remove harmful pollutants and combat antibiotic resistance.
North America Winner: Team StuyBigCompGroup, United States for an origami-inspired and eco-friendly alternative to styrofoam packaging.
Africa Winner: Team Preserve Our Roots, Nigeria for a project turning underserved urban sites into green community hubs.
Middle East Winner: Team Sustainability Heroes, United Arab Emirates for an AI-powered platform that integrates sustainability into school subjects.
Oceania & Southeast Asia Winner: Team Kultibado, Philippines for an innovative web app that connects farmers, consumers, and cooperatives directly.
Asia Winner: Team Thermavault, India for a first-of-its-kind electricity-free refrigeration unit for medical supply transport in remote areas, using reusable salt-based reactions.
Central & South America Winner: Team EcoAction, Brazil for a tech-driven solution using AI, satellites & data analysis to plan strategic greenery and cool overheated cities.
The Earth Prize Educators of the Year: Joseph Abbey Ogundlade and Soniya Jadhav.
The Earth Prize Mentors of the Year: Fransisca Majala, Irine Odera, and Chloe Luzar.

2023 Award Winners and Finalists

Team Delavo, a group of four teenage girls from Diyarbakır Bahçeşehir College Science and Technology High School in Turkey secured the top position as winners of the second edition of The Earth Prize on April 25th, 2023 for their “e-Caundry” invention, a filtration device that can be installed in washing machines to recycle approximately 8,200 liters of
wastewater per year.
The Earth Prize 2023 Awards
Winner: Team Delavo, for their washing machine filtration device that allows for the recycling of laundry wastewater.
Runner-up 1: Runner-up 1: Team AgriVision, for a hyperspectral imagery system to measure agricultural plant health during early, treatable stages.
Runner-up 2: Team AgriPod, for a high-tech advisory system that can reduce fertilizer waste in farming.
Runner-up 3: Team Bactoplastics, for a new cost-effective method of producing PHA plastic to substitute petroleum-based plastics for packaging.
The Earth Prize Educator of the Year: Kathy Dada from Collège des Sœurs des Saints Cœurs Ain Najm in Lebanon.
The Earth Prize Mentor of the Year: Pierfrancesco Merico, Stephen Okoth and Chloe Luzar.

2022 Award Winners and Finalists

In the 2022 edition of The Earth Prize, ten teams of teenage students from Armenia, Great Britain, Vietnam, Switzerland, Taiwan, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Jamaica, and Kenya advanced to the final phase of the competition, including students from Eton College.
The Earth Prize 2022 Awards Ceremony took place virtually on March 25, 2022. Team Adorbsies, a team of three teenage girls from Vietnam who proposed the idea for a biodegradable sanitary pad made out of dragon fruit waste, was announced as the first-ever winner of the competition.
The Earth Prize 2022 Awards
Winner: Team Adorbsies, for a biodegradable sanitary pad made out of dragon fruit peels.
Runner-up 1: Team Big GEMS, for a filtering kit that uses enzymes to degrade dye wastewater produced by the textile industry.
Runner-up 2: Team CIECO, for a reusable cup circulation system that replaced plastic cups at their school.
Runner-up 3: Team Viridis, for a mobile app that helps fight food waste from supermarkets.
The Earth Prize Educator of the Year: Safa’ Obeid from Sweileh Preparatory Coeducational School in Amman, Jordan.
The Earth Prize Mentor of the Year: Annamaria Szelics, student at the University of Glasgow.