Prince William's Earthshot Prize Shares Important News amid Kate Middleton's Surgery Recovery

The Prince of Wales just revealed an exciting piece of information about the next Earthshot Prize awards ceremony

Prince William's environmental prize has a new venue on a new continent!

The fourth annual Earthshot Prize ceremony will be held in Cape Town, South Africa this November, the organization revealed on Friday.

A year after Prince William, 41, showcased the finalists and revealed the winners in Singapore, this will be the fourth iteration of the awards show. It kicked off in London in 2021 and then was held in Boston in December 2022. Earthshot is planning to run for 10 years, handing out more than $50 million in prizes in that time.

Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton, attended the first two ceremonies together. But last year, Kate stayed at home to support their son Prince George, 10, as he faced school exams.

Related: Kate Middleton Won't Join Prince William in Singapore So She Can Support Prince George During a Busy Time

With Princess Kate, 42, recovering after her abdominal surgery that took place three weeks ago, it is too early to say whether she or Prince William will attend this time in Cape Town. Any international travel plans will come in due course, a source says.

The last prominent visit by members of the royal family to Cape Town was when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle toured there (with their son Prince Archie as a baby) in September 2019.

Prince William returned to public duties earlier this week after taking time off to help Princess Kate amid her recovery. Over the coming week or so, he will be helping look after the couple’s three children during their half-term vacation from school, which starts this weekend.

As in other years, five winners across five categories — Protect & Restore Nature, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build A Waste-Free World and Fix Our Climate — will be picked from 15 finalists. That shortlist will be announced in September.

Like in Singapore, a week of events around the prize will be held in Cape Town, helping those who are nominated to bond with supporters and share ideas for their own development.

This cycle, there have been 400 nominations from across Africa — three times more than in any previous set of nominations — the Earthshot Prize says.

Hannah Jones, CEO of The Earthshot Prize, said in a statement, "The nominations to The Earthshot Prize remind us that human ingenuity, grit and determination can turn the seemingly impossible into the new normal."

"We’re delighted to be working with changemakers and partners across Africa to spotlight the incredible innovation emerging across the continent, to convene courageous conversations about scale and finance, and to partner with young creators and filmmakers to tell the story of changemakers across Africa," she added.

Related: Prince William Pens Foreword for New Book Inspiring Next Generation of Climate Changemakers (Exclusive)

The prize doesn’t just help the winners with an initial monetary reward. The cohorts, and the finalists, become part of a network where they are given advice and the means the scale up their projects. And it is having a great success, the Earthshot Prize says. The first three cohorts of 45 finalists have already “driven incredible impact to repair and regenerate our planet with more than 1.5 million people benefiting directly from their solutions,” it announced on Friday.

“Over 7,000 hectares of land and almost 2.1 million hectares of ocean have been protected or restored, while over 35,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions have been reduced, avoided or sequestered. The Prize’s 2023 Finalists, announced this past autumn, are well on their way to creating similar impact.”

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Before he headed to Singapore, last December, Prince William visited New York as a prelude to the last prize ceremony.

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