SUSTAINABLE PLANS PAY OFF
BLOGPOST, Tue 22 February 2011 14:16, Tessa Weber
The yearly Postcode Lottery Green Challenge is soon to open its gates again, but ... it is not the only prize for sustainable plans.
A quick scan shows that in the Netherlands alone there are several prizes to win for bright minds with green hearts. I have selected a few for you. Find out about them and make sure your passion for a fair, just and healthy world is supported by others.
Shell Bachelor Master Prize
The best Bachelor's thesis for a sustainable future is rewarded with 2,500 Euros and the best sustainable Master's thesis receives 5,000 Euros. The essays should be about a technical innovation for a sustainable use of energy. The master thesis should describe a scientific breakthrough with international impact. The prize is rewarded each year and is in the hands of TU Delft, TU Eindhoven and Twente University, together with Shell Netherlands.
Het ei van Columbus (The egg of Columbus)
A prize for sustainable innovations that is issued every two years. All organisations can register: small and large companies, governments, not-for-profit, knowledge and education, individually or together. Small or large, technological ingenuity and practical idealism. In five categories, you can earn 12,500 Euros. The prize is organized by the Ministries of Housing, BZ/OS, Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Education.
GasTerra Transitie Jaarprijs
A call on all (Dutch) College students to contribute to the sustainability of energy supply with practical and applicable ideas that are aimed at reducing energy, the use of renewable energy sources, reducing CO2 emissions or increase the efficiency of the use of fossil fuels. For this purpose a total over 100,000 Euros is available for no less than 5 prizes.
Philips Innovation Award
Not necessarily a sustainability prize, but very inviting for the green mind this award challenges all students with innovative ideas. Contesters will be kept busy: the kick-off is a symposium March 16, semi-finals April 20, a coaching day on May 6 and the final on May 12, 2011. The prize is a starter kit consisting of a cash prize of 5000 Euros and additions such as legal advice, consulting, insurance, office space and more.
It is important for people with faith in their own abilities to make changes for the better, to keep that faith alive. And fortunately many organisations see that importance also and put their money behind that vision.
And dear reader: if you know of more prizes and awards, please let us know. The more, the merrier :-).
Tessa Weber
Great thanks to Gerard van Westrienen, senior project manager Green ICT en Sustainable Development at SURF, for contributing most of the named prizes.
