The 2022 Earthshot Prize ceremony was held in Boston in December. Prince William flew in celebrities like Ellie Goulding and Rami Malek to act as presenters and he soaked up his time with the Kennedys and local Massachusetts politicians. People almost missed the fact that Earthshot didn’t invite ANY of the Earthshot Prize finalists or winners to Boston. No, that part of it was “virtual.” The actual handing out of prizes wasn’t done in person. William wanted to hang out with celebrities in person, but of course he would never want to actually interact with the peasant environmentalists and scientists. Please, of course not. So, funny story? Now he’s inviting all of the Earthshot winners to Windsor for the first-ever Earthshot Retreat:
The Prince of Wales is set to meet the 2022 Earthshot Prize finalists as part of the first-ever Earthshot Prize Fellowship Retreat in Windsor.
Prince William, who created the Earthshot Prize in 2020 as a way to inspire people and businesses to come up with solutions to tackle climate change and other environmental issues, will host this year’s finalists at Cumberland Lodge in Windsor.
The Retreat will bring together all 15 finalists, and five winners, to meet with industry innovators and firm up their projects and plans over a nine-month period.
The week-long summit will see the finalists meet with the likes of Christiana Figueres, an Earthshot Prize board chair and former United Nations executive, and Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, an activist, geographer and Earthshot Prize council member. The finalists will also attend a forum in London where they can connect with specific partners and funders to see how they can build their projects.
Announcing the event, Earthshot Prize confirmed, “The Retreat is a vital part of the new Earthshot Prize Fellowship Programme, a unique accelerator designed by leading global design company IDEO, to help the Finalists of The Earthshot Prize grow their solutions by unlocking new routes to market, finance, and major partnerships. All 15 Finalists will take part in the nine-month programme to help them leap ahead in their scale and impact via strategic support and ambitious collaborations with The Earthshot Prize Global Alliance of 48 businesses, NGOs, and philanthropists.”
Someone in KP reads Celebitchy, I swear to god. This is the point I made in December – that it was important to put these environmentalists, scientists, innovators and financiers in the same room because you never know where the next big idea, next big collaboration or next big project is going to come from. The point of Earthshot should be for William-as-facilitator – putting smart people and money people in the same room and seeing what collaborations and insights happen. Instead, the Earthshot Prize is nothing more than William’s pathetic vanity exercise and a chance for him to look powerful and important without actually doing anything. Anyway, this “Earthshot Summit” is what he should have done in the first place but he was too stupid. Oh well!
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images and Backgrid.
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- Boston, MA – The Prince and Princess of Wales are in Massachusetts after flying in to Logan International Airport Wednesday afternoon. Pictured: Kate Middleton, Prince William BACKGRID USA 30 NOVEMBER 2022 BYLINE MUST READ: Patriot Pics / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Boston, MA – Prince William and Kate Middleton are at the Boston government center outside of City Hall in the pouring rain as they visit the USA for the first time since 2014. They stood next to Maura Healy (purple dress) and were introduced by Mayor Wu. Kate shared some laughs with Mayor Wu. Pictured: Prince William, Kate Middleton BACKGRID USA 30 NOVEMBER 2022 BYLINE MUST READ: Patriot Pics / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- East Boston, MA – Prince William and Kate Middleton arrive in East Boston during their first United States visit since 2014. Pictured: Prince William, Kate Middleton BACKGRID USA 1 DECEMBER 2022 BYLINE MUST READ: Patriot Pics / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Prince William And Catherine Princess Of Wales Visit To Boston – Day 1 The Prince and Princess of Wales arrive at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, to attend the second annual Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony. Featuring: Prince William and Catherine Princess Of Wales Where: Boston, Massachusetts, United States When: 30 Nov 2022 Credit: Chris Jackson/PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- Prince William And Catherine Princess Of Wales Visit To Boston – Day 1 The Prince and Princess of Wales arrive at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, to attend the second annual Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony. Featuring: Prince William and Catherine Princess Of Wales Where: Boston, Massachusetts, United States When: 30 Nov 2022 Credit: Chris Jackson/PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales, at Speaker’s Corner outside City Hall, Boston, USA, at the start of the countdown to the Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony by lighting up Boston City Hall and landmarks across the city green. Picture date: Wednesday November 30, 2022. Featuring: Prince William, Catherine, Princess Of Wales Where: Boston, Massachusetts, United States When: 30 Nov 2022 Credit: Chris Jackson/PA Images/INSTARim/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony at the MGM Music Hall, Fenway Featuring: Catherine, Princess Of Wales, Prince William Where: Boston, Massachusetts, United States When: 02 Dec 2022 Credit: Ian Vogler/Daily Mirror/PA Image/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony at the MGM Music Hall, Fenway Featuring: Catherine, Princess Of Wales, Prince William Where: Boston, Massachusetts, United States When: 02 Dec 2022 Credit: Kirsty O’Connor/PA Images/INSTAR/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony at the MGM Music Hall, Fenway Featuring: Prince William Where: Boston, Massachusetts, United States When: 03 Dec 2022 Credit: Kirsty O’Connor/PA Images/INSTAR/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
Stupid is as stupid does
Kaiser, they need to have you a check in the mail.
Yes! As I read the article I thought hey, that’s what Kaiser said last month! Several commenters came up with equally brilliant suggestions. You know they read this site!! They should invite the first year’s winners, too, since all they got was the stupid awards show. Anybody know if they’ve even received their award money?
1. Why didn’t they have finalists go to Boston to collaborate with incubators and academics there?
2. What’s the excess carbon footprint for Willy & Kitty to go to Boston and hang out with celebrities?
3. Why host them in Windsor, then locate the forum in London? Was comparative carbon cost done?
4. Since they had former Goldman Prize winner as presenter at W&K’s colonize America tour, are they now borrowing some Goldman Prize ideas?
5. Why not talk to Ideo in U.S.?
Because the Boston trip was never about earthshot, it was about Billy bully and botox barbie trying to upstage Harry and Megan, EPIC FAIL, because the fact that NONE of the winners were there meant most normal thinking people saw right through it. That’s one of the reasons (other than those missing millions) that he’s doing this now. He realises he has been not only caught out but has proved Harry right AGAIN
My guess: William needs some type of “cover” for why he took 7 million pounds of earthshot money.
Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner.
@kaiser can you please not put these ideas in those people’s heads 😂
He’s going to charge them to attend 😂
He should really spare the winners this nonsense and not show up. Let the winners meet and talk shop do they don’t have to dumb down for rage boy.
So…. what IS Earthshot, really?
I still cannot grasp the concept of this entire event. All I’ve known from what I’m seeing is William and Kate’s red carpet performance and what they’re wearing.
The whole point for William IS to show up and pretend the sit-down with the winners doesn’t come as a sorry-ass afterthought.
He never intended to meet them or have them meet up with one another. This is pure corrective PR customized to offset the initial blunder.
I wonder if the people who actually fund this thing gave William a talking to and told him to fix his mess.
I still don’t get why or how you have virtual presentations to finalists but present in front of an audience and have performers.
These people flew to Boston to do a green screen presentation?
I never watched any of it. It sounds like self promotion only.
It was self promotion only. Except now his advisors have worked out how self centered it looked, so they are bringing everyone together – just not where the celebrities might pay more attention to the winners than to “Big” Willie .
@reign; even his own fans didn’t bother to tune in 😂
I completely forgot he didn’t meet them and the headline made me cackle when I remembered. Better late than never? At least the finalists and winners might get something good out of it
If they would have planned the week leading up to the ceremony doing this that would have been great.
Exactly. This was done because he saw the backlash at not inviting the nominees.
That would have been perfect and what he should do going forward. Someone on here – Eurydice maybe? Chloe? Cant remember – was describing what normally would happen when someone like Kate would go to Harvard, or if the Earthshot nominees had been invited to a symposium or something at Harvard, and it sounded a lot like this – a chance to meet other innovators and researchers in the field, presentations, potential financial connections, etc.
On its face this retreat/summit/whatever they’re calling it is actually a good idea. But its a good idea that should have happened with the first awards ceremony. Its clear that William’s focus was a big glitzy awards ceremony and not the environment.
Yes!! This should be what the actual annual awards are – a week of meetings and collaboration of all the finalists. If William really needs to have his fancy schmancy award show, do it at the end of the retreat to award the prizes. This should be the focus. Not him or celebrities.
Never miss the chance to use innocent people in your propaganda parade, no matter how inconvenient for them. These people are such a waste of money
Right? Getting away from work/family/responsibilities for a long weekend for an awards ceremony if a lot more manageable for many than a week in the UK? Know who will have to miss? The people responsible for their families, who will be overwhelmingly female.
I swear I thought the same thing!! This is EXACTLY what we said here!!! They are TOTALLY reading Celebitchy!!
As well they should! Now if they would just abolish the monarchy, our work here is done. 🙂
Yeah and Kaiser should totally bill KP for our collective PR consulting services.
The retreat should have been done before the prize giving but I guess better late than never.
They are making it up as they go along. Now he gets to keep Earthshitshow in the news and knock Spare out of the headlines. The fact that something productive might happen when you get all these talented people in the room is a side note.
NB: everytime I try to write ES spellcheck changes it to earthshitshow. I can’t stop laughing so I’m leaving it. Even spellcheck knows.
I’d warn the finalists and runners up to be super careful if they have to sign anything. If he’s taking after is Uncle Andrew, they might be signing away their rights to their ideas.
Thinking same on “better late than never.” At least someone got a clue sometime, plus he gets to pimp himself, so win-win, I guess.
It’s good they’re doing this finally, I guess? It’s just weirdly anticlimactic. Why not do this in Boston the week of the awards? Build momentum. I hope the winners get something out of it. So if it’s a week long, is earthshot paying for their travel and stay? Hope they get put in a nice hotel, especially since they didn’t get invited to the actual awards.
“weirdly anticlimactic” is the perfect way to describe it. This could have been a very good way to raise awareness of the nominees and their projects, to promote the causes, while they had a lot of attention from politicians etc. Instead, its just…..anticlimactic. It really does scream “we know we need to do more with this so here you go!”
Jais, I am wondering the same thing. It will be interesting to see if we hear more about the logistics, or if this is just another pr stunt.
Why do it now instead of in Boston when the actual awards were held? Can you imagine the horror if someone like Rami Malek chose to talk to someone of substance and ambition rather than a photo op with William’s wife? Clutch those pearls and grab the smelling salts! Chaos would happen.
This is clearly a mulligan because of all the criticism after the Boston Flop Tour. However, I have a few questions and comments — didn’t it come out around the BFT that last year’s Earthsh!t winners had not yet received their monetary awards? Why aren’t THEY included in this retreat? Because, if true, there is no distinction between finalists and winners, and everyone should be brought together with industry leaders and other financial professionals. I mean, maybe they can get financing for their initiatives from other sources since they’re not getting any from Bulliam’s PR slush fund.
I agree that this kind of incubator can be a great idea. I wonder who thought of it? Highly doubtful that Bulliam or Knife came up with this.
ETA — I’m so curious about weather Earthsh!t has gotten any donations from the likes of Bezos (who Bulliam chastised last year for pursuing HIS vanity project (“billionaires spending money on space instead of earth” to paraphrase).
I’m sure Bezos contributed again. to someone like Bezos, the amount he’s donating to Earthshot is probably the equivalent of what King Arthur Flour donated to our PTA silent basket auction, you know? It barely registers with him.
This is mostly Bezos money. He gave most if not all of the 50 million spread over 10 years
@C-Shell: The 2021 winners have been included in the retreat, apparently – although it’s not clear from this tweet whether they attended IRL or virtually.
https://twitter.com/EarthshotPrize/status/1617567839208063004
The more I think about it, it seems like every retreat should include all the winners and finalists, current and prior, to maximize the synergies and potential for real innovation. At this point, it’s just a few hands full of people, but the cross-pollination could produce some really interesting results.
That’s good. I was afraid those first year winners got shafted, no chance to network AND no prize money yet.
I think they got it. At least one talked about what they were able to do with the money.
No doubt Pegs will take credit for all if the winners & finalists come up with great ideas.
He must not have spent all the money on the Boston trip.
I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when a staffer had to tell Willy that he was making Earthshot look like it was only about him. And then when that staffer had to tell him why that wasn’t a good thing.
This should have been done over a month and a half ago but William didn’t want the finalists and winners there in Boston because American journalists would have likely focused on the finalist and winners, unlike the bootlicker media in the UK. William couldn’t have anyone taking his limelight from him so he didn’t invite the main focus to the event. He is such a narcissist married to another narcissist.
The US media is all about access journalist.
So…Earthshot is now an accelerator, I see. Hmm. Someone finally hired professionals, MBAs, and a techie or two to right this ship. Making it an accelerator is actually the right move, and very smart. William no doubt had nothing to do with that. But an accelerator devoted to solving the world’s climate (and other) crises? That’s something I’d pay attention too. But only if they, you know, actually celebrated and publicized who the winners were and what their inventions/solutions were. I mean, open it up to a high school and college division. Offer scholarships to those in high school who do the research and present papers/studies on the topic(s). You might actually find a way to make a difference rather than glorifying yourself, William. If you took a back seat to the actual cause, you might actually create value.
Earthshot is a separate entity now, with trustees who are professionals. Maybe this idea comes from them.
Eurydice, isn’t Knauf part of that board now?
@S&S – Yes he is. A couple of the other trustees appointed last year also worked for Will (last I heard there were only 7 trustees altogether). See the CB article from July 18, 2022.
If I would hold the job to advise them what to come up with next, I would totally use comment sections like this one here to learn from. Also this one can be considered “high quality feedback” – something that will never come out of polls that address the masses.
I am in shock, though, because IDEO is my favorite company. You can consider them industry leader in innovation – and what I adore about them the most is that they held that quality up for the last 20 years I knew about them. So well played, Peg, it’s hard for me to imagine that this one will fail. But should IDEO resign at one point in the process I will forever know everything there is to know…
@Tara: Agreed! IDEO is an impressive organization. I was taken aback to see them associated with ES! Although, as you say, if they can turn it around it will be a win-win-win for everyone.
Everything about this award is a flop
I don’t get the feeling that any of the finalists are going to see the benefits of this association with William and the BRF.
In a way it diabolical that they’ve been drawn into this charade because accolades and attention aside, William & his cronies would never invest in progressive environmentalism because it’s in direct conflict with their imperialistic hearts.
Remember, Africa is his! Why would he want that continent or any other majority Black & Brown nation to thrive and survive without his meddling and undermining?
Maybe I’m just a cynic but I’d be looking for a graceful way to bow out of this just to avoid everything that comes with Willy the Bully.
You can’t come to the fancy ceremony I’m holding because that’s about me (and CELEBRITIES) but come to my house. Oh but I’ll be busy so you’ll see me for a five minute photo op followed by all the rota rats shouting about how engaged I am and how I had you all hanging on my every word.
Sounds like William is no longer in charge of Earthshot, no way he or any one who works for him cared enough to come up with this
William will be living at Windsor Castle that week and its proximity is likely why he volunteered Cumberland Lodge, which is a conference center that specializes in these types of corporate/research retreats. He can pop in for a five minute photo shoot everyday and then scoot back to his pint and video games.
An accelerator is the right step. Tech transfer organizations across the globe pair money with an accelerator program because typically innovators do not have the business skills (e.g., how to produce a deck or a milestone-driven business plan) or financial connections (e.g., where/how to find the right venture capitalists) to create a good path forward on their own. I would put this in the category of William letting real tech professionals take over so that Earthshot has a chance of producing anything tangible–and pulling in higher quality candidates going forward. It’s no reason to celebrate him, but it is a positive step for Earthshot.
Sooooo to help save the planet they’re flying peeps around the globe a SECOND time striving for a redo on this event. Sure, sounds about right.
I think when Brits and the white north American women that agree with them say they’re tired of the Meghan drama, I think they’re projecting, they’re tired of these two and all the royal nonsense these two bring.
I never noticed this before, but the pix posted by Kaiser with the Wails in suits shows that Kate’s hands are almost the same size as Willy’s!
From the fact that you can’t apply for the prize to the way funds are doled out piecemeal, there’s something so…off to me about this whole thing. And now it’s an “accelerator”?
I’m getting Pitch@Palace vibes. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if William plans to get a cut of whatever deals emerge from these retreats.
I was thinking the same thing. Instead of Pitch@Palace with Andrew getting a cut of the action it’s Pitch@Castle with William getting a cut. I hope some enterprising journalist is paying very close attention to the money.
Interesting, interesting. I think you’re onto something there.
If you told me the header pic was him standing next to her figure in Madame Tussaud’s I would believe you. I’d forgotten how bad it was.
Just when I think he couldn’t be any more of a dumbass than before, Willie proves me wrong. Is the EarthShotItselfInTheFoot organization going to pay Kaiser a consulting fee? It should.
He just Mea Culpa’d himself for the unjustified flying of David Beckham and the green rug (FFS) over to Boston for the ceremony, while claiming it was “green” to leave the finalists and winners at home. This is a step in the right direction, but the participants would probably have made more effective “accelerator” connections in Boston/Cambridge than in Windsor.
Still, no location for next year’s prize ceremony……interesting and suspicious.
Totally. Boston was a missed opportunity.
I’ve used 3 different search engines ” how have Earthshot winners been paid” and get nothing back except glowing reports about the money coming from Wm personal foundation. Appears to be a big secret. Does anyone know?
You can find more info by looking up the winners themselves. But there was one article which talked to a previous winner. Puff piece but nice to see the money was effective. Not the recipient’s fault William’s an idiot.
https://people.com/royals/earthshot-prize-winner-prince-william-leading-from-the-heart/
I think this will end up the same as the “Diversity Czar” they said they were hiring.
This seems to be an afterthought after the negative backlash they received.
After the first award show they announced on the spot that the next awards will be held in the US. Did they make any such announcement at the awards in Boston?
I thought Earth shot was a separate entity from inception. William’s new Communications Secretary stalks social media regularly, looking for tips and inside information. He made the mistake of engaging and was discovered. I give credit to Kaiser as well as others who made similar suggestions. The Boston event was an attempt (failed) to up one on Montecito. The entire event should have occurred in Windsor, with conferences leading up to the award ceremony. The shameful part is they have a huge platform and the necessary funds to support the projects. They don’t have the ambition and prefer cheap PR and splashy headlines in tabloids.
Has a date for this retreat been set? It seems strange that an announcement like this isn’t accompanied by a set of dates. It almost is like one of their announcements to be keen. They are working with great partners. I assume someone other than the incompetent KP team is in charge?
He should have hosted the awards in his home country and had the winners decide if they wanted to be present or not. This event was a celebrity extravaganza and did not feel like it was about earth. This re-retreat idea seems to be his PR solution to all the critisim he received about the winners not being there at the awards.
LOL when do they actually get their money? 😆