Zayed Sustainability Prize Opens Submissions For 2023 Cycle With US$3 Million Annual Fund Rewards
* photo source: zayedsustainabilityprize.com
Established in 2008, the Zayed Sustainability Prize is the UAE’s pioneering global award for recognising excellence in sustainability.
Launched at the 2008 World Future Energy Summit, by H.H. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, the Prize is a tribute to the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan’s legacy of humanitarianism and commitment to sustainability.
During his lifetime, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan's vision was such that it became a legacy ensuring the long-term sustainable development of the UAE.
Sheikh Zayed placed great emphasis on education and individual and social empowerment. This included addressing the welfare of the less fortunate – in both the UAE and for others around the world. He was also a tireless advocate of protecting the heritage of the land, supporting and overseeing the implementation of a series of measures to protect the natural world and its resources.
The Zayed Sustainability Prize recognises nonprofit organisations (NPOs), small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and high schools for their impactful, innovative and inspiring sustainable solutions across the categories of Health, Food, Energy, Water, and Global High Schools.
Inspired, every day, by Sheikh Zayed's principles and approaches to global sustainability, the Prize proudly carries forward and shares this vision with an ever-increasing number of people and organisations worldwide.
With 96 winners across the world, over 370 million people have been impacted by the sustainability solutions and school projects since the first awards ceremony in 2009, with this number continuing to rapidly grow.
Find out more about the prize in this video.
* The 2019 annual awards ceremony, photo source: zayedsustainabilityprize.com
Eligibility criteria
While the submission forms vary per category, the core elements of each entry lie in the innovative, impactful, and inspirational ways in which the proposed technology, applications, and solutions aim to transform people’s lives for the better.
For the Health, Food, Energy, and Water categories, organisations should demonstrate that they are improving access to essential products or services and have a long-term vision for improved living and working conditions. For the Global High Schools category, their projects should be student-led, with emphasis placed on the students being actively involved in the planning, implementation, and monitoring processes.
To be eligible for this category, organisations must be small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or non-profit organisation (NPO).
Evaluation criteria
The evaluation criteria are split into three parts, each with their percentages of influence on the initial assessments. They 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.
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.
INSPIRATION 30% - The inspiration criterion requires organisations to demonstrate that their solution reflects 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.
The Zayed Sustainability Prize has a three-stage evaluation process, beginning with the due diligence conducted by an independent research and analysis consultancy. This identifies the qualified entries and results in the selection of eligible candidates. Following this, evaluations are undertaken by a Selection Committee consisting of category-specific panels of independent international experts. From this shortlist of candidates, the finalists are chosen and then sent to the Prize Jury who unanimously elect the winners, across all five categories.
Winners will be announced in 2023 during an Awards Ceremony as part of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW).
Awards fund and applications deadline
The Prize’s US$3 million annual fund rewards winners US $600,000 in each category.
The Global High Schools category is split into six world region winners, with each school able to claim up to US$100,000 to start or further expand their project. The six world regions of the Global High Schools category are The Americas, Europe & Central Asia, Middle East & North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and East Asia & Pacific.
Entries will be accepted until 6 July 2022 through the Prize’s online portal.