Photo: The Prince and Princess of Wales/Twitter;
Prince Williamhas entered the chat!
The Prince of Wales, 40, messaged the cohort of finalists for this year’s Earthshot Prize in a playful video shared onsocial mediaFriday. In the quick clip set to upbeat music, William walked outside and created a text chat titled “Earthshot Finalists 2022,” adding the15 innovatorsand sending a personal video message.
“Hello Earthshot finalists for 2022,” William said with a smile, the camera panned selfie-style. “Great to have you on board, you’re doing fantastic work, and I’m really looking forward to Boston.”
Some of the changemakers “replied” to the royal, agreeing that they were humbled and honored to be in the running for the prestigious environmental award, which comes with over $1 million in prize money and support to scale solutions for global impact.
Early Friday morning, the Earthshot Prize released the list of the contenders being considered for the five awards this year. Over 1,000 solutions were submitted for the second Earthshot cycle — a 30% leap from last year. The winners will be announced during a glitteringawards ceremonyin Boston at MGM Music Hall at Fenway on December 2. Prince William and his wifeKate Middletonare set to attend — theirfirst tripto the United States in nearly a decade.
In a statement shared with PEOPLE,Prince Williamsaid, “The innovators, leaders, and visionaries that make up our 2022 Earthshot Finalists prove there are many reasons to be optimistic about the future of our planet. They are directing their time, energy, and talent towards bold solutions with the power to not only solve our planet’s greatest environmental challenges, but to create healthier, more prosperous, and more sustainable communities for generations to come.”
“I am so excited to celebrate these fifteen Finalists and see the five Winners of The Earthshot Prize announced in Boston – the hometown ofPresident John F. Kennedy, who shared The Earthshot Prize’s belief that seemingly impossible goals are within reach if we only harness the limitless power of innovation, human ingenuity, and urgent optimism,” he added.
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Incentivizing change across five critical categories — Protect and Restore Nature, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build a Waste-Free World and Fix our Climate — finalist Charlot Magayi toldPEOPLEthat whatever the outcome is at the awards ceremony next month, she and her team are thrilled to have made it this far.
Earthshot Prize Awards
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“I really do want to win, but even if I don’t get the top prize, it gives me a platform that we’re going to be able to leverage to get the financing and the resources that we need to scale our business,” she added.
source: people.com
