Nominations are now being accepted for the 2007 St. Andrews Prize for the Environment, an international award that recognizes practical solutions to global environmental problems.

The winner of the prize will receive $50,000 and a medal. Two runners-up will each receive $10,000.

The application deadline is Oct. 31, 2006.

The St. Andrews Prize recognizes outstanding contributions to the environment, in fields as diverse as sustainable development, urban regeneration, health and water issues, recycling, and renewable energy.  It was launched in 1998 as a joint initiative of the University of St. Andrews, Scotland鈥檚 first university, and ConocoPhilips, an international integrated energy company.

, dean of Nicholas School and James B. Duke Professor of Biogeochemistry, serves on the 2007 prize committee.  He says the committee, which includes representatives from science, industry and government, will select the winner and runners-up based on three chief criteria: scientific validity, economic realism and political acceptability.  Preference will be given to projects that can be replicated in different nations and regions, to benefit as many people as possible and increase the project鈥檚 overall effectiveness.

Past winners of the St. Andrews Prize have included conservationists and scientists working in developing nations and environmental hotspots worldwide, from Africa and the Middle East to Southeast Asia and Central America.  They have used the prize money to fund a wide array of worthwhile projects, from providing inexpensive pumps and filters to purify contaminated drinking water in Malawi, to bringing solar energy technology to remote regions of the Himalayas. 

For more detailed information on the prize, including application guidelines, go to.