Prince William and Kate Middleton Will Help Create a Meaningful Tribute to the Late JFK (Watch Video)
Prince William deeply admired President John F. Kennedy's Moonshot initiative.
What do Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Boston Red Sox, and the late John F. Kennedy have in common? The Earthshot Prize awards, which will take place in Boston, Massachusetts, this December.
Today, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge announced the location of the next ceremony.
“In 2022, we’re back, and bringing Earthshot to the USA, where we’ll award the next five winners of the prize,” Prince William says in the announcement video on Twitter. The next scene is of Red Sox All-Star Xander Bogaerts, standing in Fenway Park, the home field of his team.
“And we will be doing it right here in Boston,” Bogaerts says.
What is Prince Wiliam’s Earthshot Prize Awards program?
A quick recap of the award’s history: Earthshot Prizes are monetary awards gifted to organizations that go above and beyond in their efforts to combat climate change and promote environmentalism. (Each year, five winners receive £1 million to help finance their projects.) Sometimes called the “Eco Oscars,” the prize ceremonies take place in cities around the world. The last ceremony took place on October 17, 2021 in London.
Prince William launched the initiative in 2020, inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s Moonshot initiative. In 1961, JFK announced the plan, whose goal was to make the US the first country to land on the moon within a decade.
“This extraordinary realization of President John F. Kennedy’s iconic Moonshot continues to be a great inspiration to the #EarthshotPrize,” the Earthshot Prize Twitter account wrote this morning. “This December, as we head to Boston, we are proud to partner with the [JFK Library] and [Michelle Wu, Mayor of the City of Boston].”
This extraordinary realisation of President John F. Kennedy's iconic Moonshot continues to be a great inspiration to the #EarthshotPrize
— The Earthshot Prize (@EarthshotPrize) July 20, 2022
This December, as we head to Boston, we are proud to partner with the @JFKLibrary and @wutrain pic.twitter.com/unkexRxetA
The Reason Behind Earthshot
The Duke of Cambridge hopes the Earthshot Prizes will help him do his part in the fight against climate change. As Jason Knauf, chief executive of the Royal Foundation, previously explained, “The challenge the Duke set himself was, ‘What is the maximum positive personal contribution I can make in the next 10 years in the fight against climate change? What am I going to do in the next decade that means I can look my children in the eye and say that I did my bit? Every aspect of the Prize bears the stamp of his contribution.”
So, why Boston? Prince William and Kate want to highlight Boston’s contributions to environmentalism. “Mayor Wu’s administration is committed to making Boston a Green New Deal city by leading the charge to mitigate the threats of climate change while transitioning to a thriving green economy,” a statement from the City of Boston reads.
Don’t forget to tune into the Earthshot Prize Awards in December, 2022. More details on the ceremony (including date, time, and celebrity attendees) will be announced later this year.
