RELX Environmental Challenge 2026: Clean Water, Sanitation, and Ocean Innovation Prizes

RELX Environmental Challenge 2026: Clean Water, Sanitation, and Ocean Innovation Prizes

The 2026 RELX Environmental Challenge is now a historical opportunity. RELX’s official challenge page states that applications for the 2026 competition are closed. It also says that applications for the 2027 competition will open in Spring 2027, but it does not publish a specific opening day, closing day, application form, or 2027 eligibility update yet. This page therefore preserves the verified 2026 terms for reference rather than presenting the closed competition as available to apply for now.

RELX runs the challenge through RELX (UK) Limited. The programme supports practical ideas that improve access to safe and sustainable water, improve sanitation, or protect ocean health and marine ecosystems. The 2026 edition marked a change in the prize structure: instead of the earlier first- and second-prize arrangement described in older programme material, the official 2026 page and rules provided for two category winners, with one prize for Clean Water or Sanitation and one prize for Ocean-related innovation.

Current status

The 2026 application period ran from 09:00 GMT on 13 March 2026 through 23:59 GMT on 12 July 2026. The official rules call this the Challenge Period and state that entries submitted outside it were invalid. The RELX challenge page now says plainly that applications for the 2026 competition are closed. The archived deadline in this record is therefore the real closing date, 2026-07-12, rather than a projected date for a future round.

RELX’s page gives the next-cycle status as follows: applications for the 2027 competition will open in Spring 2027, and visitors should return to the page for more information. That is an announcement of an expected future opening period, not a currently open application window. No exact 2027 deadline or current 2027 form is published on the official page at the time of this update. Readers interested in a future round should use the official page and wait for the new instructions instead of submitting through an old 2026 route.

Verified 2026 terms at a glance

The rules say the two prizes had a combined estimated value of at least US$150,000. Each prize was a single US$75,000 payment for the relevant winning proposal. The money was to be used to launch, sustain, or effectuate that proposal in accordance with the judging benchmarks. The rules also say that prizes were not transferable and that an unclaimed or unused portion could be forfeited.

What the 2026 competition supported

The Clean Water or Sanitation category covered proposals that advanced sustainable access to safe water where it was at risk and/or improved access to sanitation. A proposal did not need to address both subjects, but it needed to fit the category’s purpose and show a credible connection between the idea and the access problem it addressed.

The Ocean category was new for this edition. It covered work supporting ocean health, marine ecosystems, or ocean-based solutions that contributed to environmental sustainability and resilience. The official page connects this category to the environmental and social importance of healthy oceans, while the rules describe the required contribution in terms of ocean health, marine ecosystem protection, or ocean-based environmental sustainability and resilience.

RELX said that projects needed clear practical applicability, a defined need, and a contribution to related issues such as health, education, equity, or human rights. Early-stage projects were preferred. That preference did not mean that an applicant could submit only a broad aspiration: the proposal still needed to explain the problem, the proposed response, and why the approach could work in practice.

Eligibility for the closed 2026 round

The official rules allowed people aged 21 or older to enter, provided they had internet access and an email account during the Challenge Period and the later Prize Award Period. RELX could request proof of age and residency. The rules allowed applications from individuals, teams of individuals, and people applying individually or in teams on behalf of an organisation. The organisation examples named in the rules were educational institutions, not-for-profit institutions, and corporations.

A person submitting on behalf of a team or organisation represented that they were authorised to submit the application, distribute any prize money, and meet the eligibility requirements during the relevant periods. RELX reserved the right to verify eligibility and disqualify an applicant who did not provide requested documentation within the required time.

The rules excluded directors, officers, and employees of RELX (UK) Limited, RELX plc, and their affiliates, along with their immediate families and household members. Employees of the advertising and promotion agencies connected with the challenge and their immediate families or household members were also excluded. Applicants remained responsible for checking restrictions that might apply under their own employer’s rules or local law. The challenge was void where prohibited, and no purchase or payment was required to enter or win.

How applications worked in 2026

The official rules required an applicant to access the application form through the challenge website and submit the proposal according to the instructions there. The archived route was not a standing application service: the form had to be submitted during the published Challenge Period. The 2026 rules say applications submitted in another manner, before or after the period, or in an incomplete, defective, forged, irregular, or otherwise non-compliant form could be disqualified.

The entry limit was one application per person or organisation. The rules specifically warn that multiple entries made with different email addresses, identities, or devices could result in disqualification of all related applications. RELX’s server and clock controlled the timing, and proof that an applicant had sent an entry was not proof that RELX had received it. Greenwich Mean Time controlled the challenge for all purposes.

Because the 2026 window is closed, there is no current application step to complete from this page. For a future round, an applicant should wait for RELX to publish the new form and rules, then follow those instructions exactly. The 2026 form and its deadline should not be reused as if they were a 2027 application. The official page is the correct place to check when the future round opens.

What a strong proposal needed to address

The judging criteria provide a useful record of what RELX sought in 2026. Applications were expected to:

• set a benchmark for innovation;
• demonstrate replicability, scalability, and sustainability;
• show practical applicability;
• address non-discrimination and equity of access;
• involve and positively affect a range of stakeholders; and
• show strong local or community-level engagement.

These criteria point to a proposal structure that starts with a defined access or environmental problem, identifies the people and places affected, explains the intervention, and describes a realistic path to implementation. A concept could be early-stage, but it needed enough detail for reviewers to judge whether it could be used, repeated, and adapted beyond a single demonstration.

For the water or sanitation category, that meant explaining how the idea would improve safe water access or sanitation in a setting where access was at risk. For the Ocean category, it meant showing how the work would contribute to ocean health, marine ecosystems, or a sustainable and resilient ocean-based solution. In either category, a strong submission would connect technical or operational choices to users, local partners, equity, and measurable practical effects.

Review and award process

RELX’s advisory group reviewed applications against the challenge criteria. The official page describes the group as including relevant internal and external water and sanitation specialists. The rules say the advisory group reduced applications to a shortlist of semi-finalists, after which an expert panel of external and internal judges reviewed them. The 2026 rules anticipated a shortlist announcement in or after August 2026 and winner announcements in or after October 2026.

Those review milestones were future expectations in the rules, not additional application deadlines. They did not keep the application window open after 12 July. Judging decisions were final and not subject to appeal. A potential selection was not itself an award; the potential winner still had to complete RELX’s eligibility and compliance review and provide requested documentation, including an eligibility affidavit or release documents where required.

Original work, publicity, and rights

The rules required an application to be the original work of the submitting participant or, for a team application, the participating team members. An application could not infringe another person’s copyright, patent, trademark, publicity, privacy, or other proprietary rights. A participant using third-party elements needed the legal right and any releases necessary to submit them.

By entering, participants granted RELX a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free licence to use, reproduce, publish, display, distribute, broadcast, and otherwise use the application as described in the rules. The rules also covered use of names and likenesses and said that winners’ names, institutions, location information, and applications could be announced or featured on RELX websites, with photographs in connection with the programme. Anyone preparing a future submission should read the then-current rules carefully before including confidential or third-party material.

The 2026 rules also state that applications were not returned and became the property of the sponsor. They advise participants not to submit proprietary information they do not want handled under those terms. The challenge was governed by the laws of England and Wales. Tax obligations were the winner’s responsibility; the rules specifically mention a 1099-MISC for US winners and note that other jurisdictions may have similar requirements.

Archive guidance

This page should be read as a verified record of the 2026 competition, not as an active listing. Its historicalReference flag is enabled because the official closing date has passed and the application page is closed. The deadline field intentionally keeps the closed cycle’s actual date so the archive retains a precise historical marker.

The next useful check is the official RELX challenge page when Spring 2027 approaches. RELX has announced that the 2027 competition will open in that season, but it has not yet supplied the exact date, categories, prize terms, eligibility wording, or application instructions in the material verified for this update. Those facts should be taken from the new official page and rules when published, rather than inferred from the 2026 edition.

Official sources

• RELX Environmental Challenge, the current programme page and status notice.
• RELX Environmental Challenge Official Rules 2026, the governing 2026 eligibility, timing, prize, judging, and rights terms.
• 2026 RELX Environmental Challenge announcement, RELX’s official resource-centre announcement of the expanded prize structure and Ocean category.