Prince of Wales meets Blue Peter Earthshot competition winners

The BBC competition invited children to submit an original proposal aiming to achieve one of the five goals set out by William’s Earthshot Prize.

Blue Peter presenter Joel Mawhinney, competition winners Annie, Llewyn, Mia, Ruby and Marni with the Prince of Wales — The competition winners attended a special reception held at Windsor Castle (Kensington Palace/PA)

The Prince of Wales has met the winners of a Blue Peter competition asking young environmentalists to submit sustainability-focused ideas.

William presented the children with certificates at a special reception held at Windsor Castle, and they also created eco-friendly bird feeders together themed around his Earthshot Prize.

The BBC competition invited children, aged five to 15, to submit an original proposal aiming to achieve one of the five goals set out by William’s Earthshot Prize – Protect And Restore Nature; Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans; Build A Waste-Free World; and Fix Our Climate.

The Prince of Wales meeting the winners, from left, Annie, Llewyn, Mia, Ruby and Marni, at Windsor Castle with Blue Peter presenter Joel Mawhinney (Kensington Palace/PA)

The prince founded the Earthshot Prize environmental award in 2020 with a 10-year mission to find ways to protect and repair the environment with innovative solutions.

The winners, who showed their ideas to William at the reception, also presented their ideas at the Speaker’s House in the House of Commons, in front of members of a cross-party environmental committee.

House of Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said: “I was absolutely thrilled to meet the Blue Peter Earthshot competition winners and to hear their imaginative and innovative ideas to help protect the planet.

“The thought that had gone into their ideas, and the enthusiasm with which they discussed them with us was genuinely exciting.”

The winning entries for the Blue Peter Earthshot competition on display at Windsor Castle — The winning entries for the Blue Peter Earthshot competition went on display at Windsor Castle (Kensington Palace/PA)

Among the winners was Marni, eight, from London, who came up with a “family forests” idea where a tree is planted for every person in the UK, and Mia, eight, from North Yorkshire, who proposed cleaning polluted water using algae ponds.

Llewyn, nine, from Glasgow, had an idea to invent compostable glasses, and 10-year-old Ruby, from Devon, won with her idea to reduce waste with solar-powered vans.

Annie, 12, from Milton Keynes, came up with a proposal to save coral reefs by supplying them with nutrients and calcium using “ocean bursts” – an idea inspired by bath bombs.

Blue Peter said it had received almost 2,000 entries from across the UK.

The ideas will be celebrated on the show at 5pm on Friday on CBBC and BBC iPlayer.