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Comment and Health

Martin Rees: Why challenge prizes can solve our most pressing issues

As the winner of the Longitude prize on antimicrobial resistance is announced, chair of the prize committee Martin Rees, the UK's Astronomer Royal, explains why it pays to reward ideas

By Martin Rees

12 June 2024

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Martin Rees at the 2017 Hay Festival of Literature in Hay on Wye, UK

Keith Morris/Hay Ffotos/Alamy

The Oscars. The Booker prize. The Nobels. The award ceremonies that punctuate our year are all inherently backward-looking, celebrating past achievements. But there is another type of award, one that looks to the future – a challenge prize. Such prizes don’t recognise past successes, rather incentivise future ones.

The idea is simple: a challenge is selected – with a clear-cut target – and a jackpot is offered to whoever first reaches that goal. Examples include the Longitude prize on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which has…

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