6.20.2003 ET

(CSRwire) LONDON - The University of St Andrews and ConocoPhillips have announced the launch of the 2004 St Andrews Prize for the Environment. Applications are now invited from individuals, multi-disciplinary teams or community groups for the annual prize of $30,000 for the winner and $5,000 for each of the runners-up.

The primary objective of the St Andrews Prize is to find innovative solutions to environmental problems. The solutions should be practical, combining good science, economic reality and political acceptability. The Prize offers people from all backgrounds the chance to transform their environmental ideas into reality. The St Andrews Prize network is also available to provide other connections and support.

The 2003 winner, Bunker Roy of the Barefoot College of Rajasthan, was announced at a prize seminar at the University of St Andrews last month. His project brought much-needed solar energy to remote Himalayan villages in India using an army of 'barefoot engineers'.

The St Andrews Prize for the Environment is an initiative of the University of St Andrews, a world leader in environmental studies, and ConocoPhillips, a major integrated energy company active in more than 40 countries. It is open to entrants from anywhere in the world and from any professional or personal background. It is judged by a distinguished panel, which is chaired by Sir Crispin Tickell, former Convener of the Government's Panel on Sustainable Development.

Entries for the 2004 Prize will be shortlisted early next year and the winners will be announced at a seminar at the University of St Andrews on 13th and 14th May 2004. Full details on how to enter are available on the Prize website at www.thestandrewsprize.com.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. Full details of the St Andrews Prize for the Environment are on the prize website at www.thestandrewsprize.com, or can be obtained from the St Andrews Prize office (tel) 01334 462 544 or (email) prize@st-andrews.ac.uk.

2. The Prize consists of an award of $30,000 and a medal. There will be additional awards, each of $5,000, for the runners-up. The St Andrews Prize network is also available to provide other connections and support.

3. Submissions are requested in two stages: the first a single page summary of no more than 500 words, which should be submitted by 31 October 2003. The second is for applicants invited to make a more substantial submission, by 16 January 2004.

4. The St Andrews Prize board of trustees, chaired by Sir Crispin Tickell, comprises: Baroness Susan Greenfield, Prof. Sir John Krebs, Julia Marton-Lefèvre, Sara Parkin, Dr Alun Anderson, James Currie, Archie W. Dunham, Roger Ramshaw, Keith Henry, The Rt. Hon. Lord Jenkin of Roding, Richard Sandbrook, Dr Brian Lang, Sir Neil Chalmers, Professor Howard Dalton, and Jonathan Startup.

5. Previous winners include (in 2002) a team from the Philippines with a project to educate rice-farmers in Vietnam to stop spraying harmful and unnecessary pesticides; (in 2001) a project to make local communities around Lake Victoria in Kenya aware through traditional song, dance and drama of the environmental hazards that are threatening it; (in 2000) two Palestinian academics who proposed to turn the waste of olive oil production into valuable by-products; and (in 1999) a South African project to reverse the environmental degradation caused by early mining development.

6. Logos and pictures of previous winners are available from Colman Getty PR on 0131 477 7950.

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