The Earthshot Prize achieved victory at Sunday evening’s BAFTA TV Awards, winning Best Live Event for its inaugural awards ceremony last October at the Royal Albert Hall.
In a tweet, the Duke of Cambridge wrote: “I am so proud of the whole team behind The @EarthshotPrize London 2021 for taking home a BAFTA tonight!
“It’s a joy to work with you all, and this accolade sets the bar high for inspirational, sustainable live events right around the world. We can’t wait for USA 2022! W.”
The Earthshot Prize tweeted, “Huge congratulations to everyone involved in our inaugural Awards, which celebrated some of the most extraordinary solutions to the Earth’s greatest challenges.”
William also appeared via video at the BAFTA TV Awards in his role as BAFTA’s President, speaking about environmentalism and how television programmes are focusing more and more on the issues.
To preface a segment called ‘Planet Placement’ about dramas, comedies, sports shows and entertainment programmes adding messages about climate and the environment, the Duke said: “Now more than ever, programme-makers have a unique opportunity to ensure climate change and sustainability remain at the forefront of our collective consciousness.
“By creating innovative, educational and emotive content for television, writers and producers are playing a unique role in ensuring the future of our planet is something that we all want to talk about.
“Over the past year, we’ve seen some fantastic examples of this across a wide variety of programmes and genres.
“I hope you will all continue to carry on your invaluable work, keeping environmental issues high up on the agenda of programming in the years ahead.”
Dermot O’Leary, one of the hosts of the Earthshot Prize awards ceremony, thanked Prince William during the acceptance speech, calling working on the programme “the most life-affirming experience for all of us.”
About William, he said, “Just a special thanks to Prince William, because it is very easy to be cynical about someone who comes from such privilege, but he approached the whole thing with this incredible empathy and enthusiasm, vitality and this really is his baby which is why Earthshot is now fourth in line to the throne.”
The Earthshot Prize, a decade-long initiative founded by William to find solutions to environmental problems, is now in its second year. Five prizes are awarded annually to teams or companies working on solutions. An awards ceremony will be held in the United States this fall.
