Prince William’s Earthshot Prize Awards Set to Be Bigger Than Ever

• Prince William’s annual Earthshot Prize Awards is headed to Cape Town, South Africa, with the ceremony scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 6
• Organizers call this the Prince of Wales’ “Superbowl moment,” and this year’s show is expected to be bigger than ever
• After a trip to Namibia in 2019, Prince William was inspired to launch The Earthshot Prize the next year, in 2020

Prince William is preparing for his “Superbowl moment” — his annual star-studded Earthshot Prize Awards ceremony, which promises to be even bigger (and greener!) this year.

A vast, reusable Superdome arena will seat 2,000 people for the fourth iteration of the Prince of Wales’ Earthshot Prize Awards, the centerpiece of William’s visit to South Africa, which begins Monday, Nov. 4. The green carpet at this year’s event is set to be the longest ever seen, organizers predict.

It is on that carpet in Cape Town, South Africa on Wednesday, Nov. 6, that perhaps the biggest impact will be had: The Earthshot Prize hopes to  highlight how fast fashion has brought damaging consequences to Africa, where millions of garments are buried in landfills every year.

Hosted by Nigerian TV presenter Ebuka Obi-Uchendu and South African rapper and host Nomuzi Mabena, the 90-minute pre-show green carpet, which is being broadcast live on YouTube for the first time, will have a focus on dressing to celebrate sustainably, says Hannah Jones, CEO of The Earthshot Prize.

Fashion is one of the priority areas where The Earthshot Prize is looking for solutions to green the industry, which Jones says is responsible for 10% of all global carbon emissions and creates a huge waste footprint. It is a big issue in Ghana, where one of this year’s finalists, Green Africa Youth Organization, are working to keep waste out of landfills through innovative methods.

The Earthshot Prize has five key categories: Protect and Restore Nature, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build a Waste-Free World and Fix Our Climate. The awards ceremony is described by William’s aides as his annual “Superbowl moment.”

Inside the Superdome — which, in keeping with the event’s sustainability theme, has already been used in many events across Africa — the show will be hosted by Billy Porter and South African television presenter Bonang Matheba. Actress Nina Dobrev and model and TV host Heidi Klum are among the presenters.

“I think you will see a lot more dancing in the event than you did before,” Jones adds.

The show has a particular focus on Gen Z this year, and they will infuse “urgent optimism into the global narrative … and spark the world’s imagination with an invitation to young people to join the climate creativity movement, solving the world’s problems one creative solution at a time,” Hannah Jones adds.

She says their “guiding principal has been by Africa, for Africa to the world,” and it will be shown live across Africa on Multi-Choice for the first time and broadcast live on Earthshot Prize’s YouTube channel and on BBC iplayer in the U.K.

It will be a poignant first trip to the continent for The Earthshot Prize, as it was on a trip to Namibia in 2019 that William was “inspired by projects which were working to protect their environment and support local communities,” says a Kensington Palace spokesperson. “The prince was frustrated by the pessimism and despair of the global debate and wanted to find a way to spotlight and scale the innovative solutions he was seeing on the ground.”

Prince William founded The Earthshot Prize the next year, in 2020.

“We are extremely excited to be hosting this event in Africa, where we will celebrating innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity from across the continent, which are contributing to efforts to protect the planet,” the spokesperson continues.

Despite having the lowest emissions, Africa is the most vulnerable continent to climate change. Even beyond the awards ceremony being held on the continent this year, nearly one in five of all Earthshot finalists have either been founded or operate in Africa, and one-third of this year’s finalists are from Africa.

There are 15 finalists (including three from the U.S.), all of which were unveiled by William in September. They are competing for a $1.3 million prize across the organization’s five categories, and the prize money is used to scale their respective ventures.

“We search for proven solutions that, if scaled, could be transformative in their impact,” Jones says.

Nominations came from more than 149 countries, and Jones adds, “Unlike most prizes, we don’t give awards to people for what they’ve already achieved. We reward for the future potential of their inventions.”

Soon after he arrives on Nov. 4, Prince William heads to his first engagement, which will see the prince meet more than 120 young leaders who have traveled from across Africa and some countries in Asia. He will have an audience with South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa at his official residence on Nov. 5, and throughout his time there hopes to celebrate and spotlight African innovation and highlight young people and the next generation.

William will also attend the global showcase for United for Wildlife, which was set up in 2013 by William and his Royal Foundation to tackle the illegal trade in wildlife. While there, William is set to make a speech on nature and conservation, and the event will bring leaders from law enforcement, governments and United for Wildlife’s taskforce in finance, e-commerce and law to further the mission of combating the illegal trade.

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Among other highlights of the visit, on his last day, Thursday, Nov. 7, William is to meet local fishermen in Kalk Bay Harbour and see the work of 2023 Earthshot Finalist Abalobi. Abalobi was founded in South Africa and aims to protect small-scale fishing communities and nurture their ocean stewardship while arming their customers with better information about where their seafood comes from.