The annual prizes seek solutions in five broad areas: protecting and restoring nature, climate, waste, air quality and oceans. The ideas for the prizes were inspired by John F. Kennedy’s Moonshot speeches (1961 and 1962) which called for human ingenuity and collaboration to land a man on the moon within a decade. 

As New College School pupils are always very imaginative, it seemed natural to ask them for their ideas in light of selecting WWF as this term’s charity, and so the NCS Earthshot Prizes were born. As expected, a number of innovative submissions streamed in ranging from easy-to-adopt daily practices to creative projects that involved scientific investigation and fundraising. 

Winner: Michael (Year 4), for conducting a clean- up of a local stream which doubled as an informative scientific inquiry on pollution and food webs. 

Highly Commended: 

Alexander (Year 6), for a 29-page presentation full of ideas on how to create change 

Andrés (Year 3), for selling artwork to give to charities helping women to escape poverty 

Isaac and Jacob (Year 3 and Reception), for a stop motion animation explaining how changes to our diet will significantly impact the planet.