Competition entries will be accepted from 6:00am on Monday 21st June 2021 until 5:00pm on Tuesday 17th August 2021.

Two primary school and two secondary school winners will have the opportunity to showcase their ideas to tackle climate change via a speech, that will be premiered digitally at the United Nations Climate Conference (COP26) - it’s the largest conference the UK has ever hosted for world leaders.

Each of the four winners will receive a VIP shoot with a professional videographer to record their final speech on camera and be interviewed by the media to talk about their winning idea.

The four winners will also win £150 worth of National Book Tokens and toys, as well as a £5,000 grant for their school to put towards climate change and STEM-related initiatives or experiences for their students.

Six shortlisted runners up will receive a £50 National Book Tokens gift voucher for taking part.

First round vetting will be undertaken by Edelman on behalf of National Grid, who will select the five best entries from each school year category to reach a shortlist of 10. 

School year categories include:

• Primary school: years 3-6 (entrants aged 7-11)
• Secondary school: years 7-10 (entrants aged 11-15)

The 10 shortlisted finalists will then be invited to audition for the final prize by reading out their 200-word submission on a recorded video call. It’s this video submission that will be watched by our judging panel. 

The judging panel will include David Wright, Group Chief Engineer at National Grid, TV presenter Helen Skelton and two members of UK parliament who will select the final four winners.

If you are lucky enough to be selected as one of our 10 finalists, we will contact your parent/guardian between 1st September 2021 to 3rd September 2021 to let them know.

You’ll then need to be available between 1st September and 16th September to be filmed remotely by National Grid, reading your 200 word submission to camera via a video call service such as Microsoft Teams. 

If you’re selected as one of our four winners, you will then need to build upon your 200-word entry to create a two-to-five-minute speech – this is what we will present at COP26 and is an essential part of the competition process. You will not be able to win the competition without completing this step! 

You and your parent/guardian or another adult, will then need to be available for your VIP shoot experience where we will film and photograph you in person. This can be done at your school or any other suitable location between 4th October 2021 and 19th October 2021.

The four lucky winners will be announced on Wednesday 20th October 2021.

We want to keep all our young minds who care about the planet safe and due to the ongoing uncertainty caused by the pandemic, we have decided to showcase your fantastic ideas virtually at COP26 rather than in person.