Our 2026 prizes
This year, we are delighted to announce that there are more prizes to be won than ever before.
For 2026, we will be awarding:
- One top prize of £10,000 per category
- One runner-up prize of £2,000 per category
- A Change Makers Spotlight Prize of £2,000
Change Makers Spotlight Prize
This year, Change Makers is awarding a £2,000 prize to support and spotlight a technology from a start-up or spin-out that could move the dial for two key areas aligned with the Change Makers 2026 cohort themes: sustainable polymers-in-liquid formulations (PLFs) and advancing PFAS innovation.
We want to reward technologies that have the potential to make significant impact on these key challenges for building a healthier and more sustainable world.
To be eligible, you must be a start-up or spin-out, registered on Companies House, and you must be able to show how your technology could have impact in either of these areas:
- PFAS innovation
These are technologies that are advancing the detection, monitoring, remediation and destruction of PFAS, or the creation of alternatives and re-design of products.
- Sustainable polymers-in-liquid formulations
Sustainable PLFs are not end products but performance‑critical enablers—binders, thickeners, stabilisers, emulsifiers, and delivery systems. Even at low levels, they determine how products work, how long they last, and their environmental fate. PLF design choices therefore drive circularity outcomes across sectors from construction and coatings to detergents, personal care, agriculture, and wastewater treatment.
If you would like to enter yourself for this Spotlight Prize, you will be asked to include a short statement on your application, which highlights how your technology could make a significant difference in either of these two missions. Companies that enter themselves for the Spotlight Prize will be assessed for eligibility for this prize by the Royal Society of Chemistry’s internal experts, and then subject to the same judging process as the other prize.
A win in this category does not preclude you from taking home a top prize or runner-up prize, and you can be considered for this Spotlight Prize regardless of the main Emerging Technologies Competition category that you enter. On the pitch final day, your application will be scored as normal by the judges, and the top scoring prize that has been selected as eligible for this category will take home the Spotlight Prize.