St Andrews Prize for the Environment

Overview

About the Prize

The St Andrews Prize for the Environment is a major international initiative led by the University of St Andrews that recognises innovative solutions to the environmental crisis.

Entries are sought from projects from across the world that have made a tangible impact in solving a major environmental challenge and have ambitions to extend the impact of their work.  

The projects should align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and should provide opportunities for learning and inspiration – both by educating those working in the field and by motivating the next generation of environmental leaders.

From 2025, the winner and runners-up will receive a prize package comprising prize money to enable them to take their project to the next stage and a two-week internship visit from a University of St Andrews student, funded by the University.

The winner will receive prize money of $95,000 (US dollars) and the runners-up will receive $20,000 (US dollars).

Three projects will be selected to participate in the St Andrews Prize for the Environment final, which will take place at the University of St Andrews on Tuesday 17 March 2026. Finalists must be present in St Andrews from Sunday 15 March to Wednesday 18 March 2026 to participate in the proceedings.  

Finalists must deliver a presentation to the judges in English and must respond to questions in English. Finalists who require the assistance of a translator are permitted to bring a translator to St Andrews. The translator’s services must be secured by the finalist and all expenses paid for by the finalist.

Eligibility

The St Andrews Prize for the Environment welcomes entries from individuals, organisations and community groups from across the world that are tackling major environmental issues in innovative ways.

As a general rule, the University is unlikely to be able to make payments to countries under international sanctions and encourages projects based in such locations to consider carefully if this may impact them before applying.

Entrants must be able to clearly explain the environmental problem they are tackling and how their solution to this problem is innovative. They must also be able to demonstrate the success of their approach and state how the prize funds would enable the project to develop and be implemented more widely.  

Entrants must also be able to host a University of St Andrews student for a two-week internship visit.

Eligible projects

For a project to be eligible, it must:

• be solving a major environmental problem
• be contributing to the long-term global pursuit of sustainable development, conservation and or biodiversity
• be innovative
• be fully established
• be able to provide data and evidence to demonstrate the success of the solution
• have the potential to expand to another location or for its key elements to be applied in another context
• have a need for funding to develop the project further and a clearly defined plan for how the prize money will facilitate this
• have the ability to inspire others in the field
• meet high ethical standards in respect of intellectual property and in how it interacts with people and with the environment
• be able to host a University of St Andrews student for a two-week internship visit
• be inclusive