A total of 29 finalists have been selected to compete for the Zayed Future Energy Prize, the UAE's international awards for energy and sustainability pioneers.

Jury members will evaluate the finalists' submissions on October 29, following which an awards ceremony will take place on January 18, 2016 during the annual Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, to announce the final winners.

Dr Sultan Ahmad Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and director-general of the Zayed Future Energy Prize, said: "This has been a record-breaking year for the Zayed Future Energy Prize, which is a testament to the leadership shown by the UAE in seeking long-term solutions that will meet our future climate and energy challenges. This continued growth reinforces the prize's influence in inspiring and rewarding the world's innovators and creating a robust, shared knowledge economy. To this end, our evaluation process plays a vital role in ensuring that the prize not only continues to empower but is also held in high regard right across the world.”

The Zayed Future Energy Prize was established by the UAE leadership in honour of the environmental, social, and economic sustainability advocated by the nation's founding father, Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Three finalists in both the Large Corporation as well as the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) categories will go before the jury for consideration. Four finalists will join them in the Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) category.

The new Global High Schools Committee selected three project proposals by schools from each of the Africa, Americas, Asia and Oceania regions and two from the Europe region for final evaluation in late October. The selection committee also put forward five finalists as potential winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The names that have made it to the final evaluation phase from the Large Corporation category are BYD, Iberdrola and Infosys. For Small and Medium Enterprise (SME), SMEFunds, Greenlight Planet or Off Grid Electric will be announced as the winner at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week in January. For the Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) category, there are four finalists: Kopernik, SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, SolarAid and Rural Services Foundation.

This was also the first year that the Global High Schools Committee convened. On October 4-5, the committee agreed upon 14 Global High School finalists. Mfantsipim School (Ghana), SOS HG Shaikh Secondary School (Somalia) and Abaarso School of Science and Technology (Somalia) made it to the finals.

Manuel Picasuti High School (Bolivia), Professional Technical High School Juanacatlán (CONALEP131, Mexico) and Institucion Educativa Gabriel Plazas (Colombia) are in contention.

The finalists from the Asia region are Mahindra United World College of India, Royal College (Sri Lanka) and Korea Science Academy of KAIST.

From Europe, the finalists include Belvedere College (Ireland) and Schuelerforschungszentrum Suedwuerttemberg (Germany).

As far as the Oceania region is concerned, Cashmere High School (New Zealand), Huonville High School (Australia) and Lume Rural Training Centre (Vanuatu) will be evaluated by the jury.

Source: Gulf News