The Earthshot Prize, founded by Britain’s Prince William to honor groundbreaking solutions to environmental issues, will broadcast its second ceremony on PBS and the BBC.
William, who launched the global prize with The Royal Foundation, will join the event to be filmed Dec. 2 in Boston and air Dec. 4 on Britain’s BBC. On Dec. 5, it will stream on PBS.org, the PBS app and PBS YouTube channel and on The Earthshot Prize YouTube channel. PBS stations will air the ceremony on Dec. 14.
Prince William and Kate Middleton had announced last summer that they would be coming to Boston in December for the Earthshot ceremony, but the exact date had not been confirmed until now. That announcement included a video from Boston Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts, standing in the outfield at Fenway Park.
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In a statement Thursday, BBC executive Jack Bootle said last year’s inaugural ceremony included “big-name stars and brilliant musical acts. This year’s will be every bit as spectacular.” Participants besides the prince have yet to be announced.
The prize was founded by Prince WIlliam and The Royal Foundation in 2020. It was inspired by and with a name echoing President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 challenge to America to land a man on the moon by that decade’s end, and aims to “discover and scale the best solutions to help repair our planet within the next decade,” according to a release.
The second annual awards ceremony will celebrate this year’s cohort of 15 global finalists before awarding the five winners of The Earthshot Prize. Last year’s first-ever awards ceremony took place in London.
Each of this year’s five winners will receive $1 million to accelerate their projects aimed at the prize’s 2030 goals: protecting and restoring nature; cleaning the air; reviving the oceans; building a waste-free world, and fixing the climate.
“We support the mission of The Earthshot Prize and are looking forward to creating year-round content that showcases the work of the individuals and teams who are working to protect the planet with breakthrough innovations,” Paula Kerger, PBS president and CEO, said in a statement.
