The Prizes & Awards

The Lush Prize is a major initiative aiming to bring forward the day when safety testing takes place without the use of animals.

It focuses pressure on toxicity testing for consumer products and ingredients, in a way which complements the many projects already addressing the use of animals in medical testing.

Since 2019, Lush Prize has become a biennial event.

 

The Prizes

 
The prize consists of a biennial fund of £250,000 – the biggest prize in the non-animal testing sector.

It rewards the most effective projects and individuals who have been working towards the goal of replacing animals in product or ingredient safety testing across five strategic areas:

In any prize cycle where there is a major breakthrough in 21st Century Toxicology – the area which holds out most hope for a ‘Eureka’ moment leading to the replacement of animal tests, a Black Box Prize of up to the entire £250,000 fund can be awarded to the individual or team responsible.

If there are no potential winners in a category in a particular prize cycle, the un-awarded amount may be shared around the other categories or ‘rolled-over’ to another prize year, or applications may be invited for new projects that year. An organisation may not win an Award for 2 for two prize cycles in succession.

 

Recognition Awards

 
There are three non-cash awards, in areas where monetary prizes were either not appropriate or necessary.

These are for Political Achievement, Major Science Collaboration and Health Charity Project.

Winners are judged from entries received in the usual way, they receive trophies, are invited to the awards events, and are celebrated in our communications and outreach along with the other prizes.

 

Andrew Tyler Award

In 2017 we introduced an award for outstanding contribution towards ending animal testing.

This non-financial prize is named after Andrew Tyler, a remarkable activist, former director of Animal Aid and a founding Lush Prize judge.

 

Eligibility

 
The Lush Prize is open to projects anywhere in the world, to reflect the international nature of the issue. See the full eligibility requirements.

 

Entries

 
By combining an invitation for open public nominations with research in each sector, we are able to identify genuine excellence in the sector each year.

Nominees can enter themselves or their own organisation. We do not accept nominations on behalf of other people, except for the Political Achievement award.

 

Judging

 
A panel of independent judges including research scientists, campaigners, and politicians select winners from a short-list compiled by the Lush Prize Team.

 

Awards Ceremonies

 
The Lush Prize Awards are normally presented at a ceremony in November.