The AlgaePrize 2025–2027 Competition, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), supported by the Algae Foundation and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and part of DOE’s American-Made Challenges, challenges students to develop novel solutions to production, processing, and new product development, which will help lower the costs of producing algal biofuels and bioproducts.
Student teams will compete for a total of $250,000 in prize awards and national recognition, while shaping the global future of converting algae to biofuels (e.g., sustainable marine and aviation fuels), vitamin- and protein-rich foods and animal feeds, ecological services, and industrial compounds (e.g., biopolymers). The AlgaePrize 2025–2027 competition will span 24 months and is open to teams of two or more students currently enrolled in a U.S.-based high school, community college, college, university, or graduate program.
Students may begin registering on April 1, 2025, for AlgaePrize 2025–2027. To participate, teams must complete registration by Sept. 12, 2025, by 12 p.m. ET.
The three areas of interest for the AlgaePrize include both microalgae and macroalgae. Student teams should focus their project on one of the following areas of interest:
1. Production
- Cultivar enhancement
- Aquaculture engineering
- Husbandry and productivity
2. Downstream Processing
- Harvesting, dewatering, and preprocessing
- Development of biorefinery applications
3. Novel Products, Analytical Tools, or Ecosystem Services
- New product development
- Remote sensing and modeling
- Ecosystem services
This competition will award two separate rounds of prizes:
- Research Synopsis Prize: The first stage of judging will result in up to 15 student teams being selected as AlgaePrize finalists. Each finalist team will be awarded $10,000; $8,000 of the award will be paid upon notice of finalist selection and an additional $2,000 will be awarded in support of travel upon submission of the research program’s final report.
- Final Awards: Finalist teams will present their research at the AlgaePrize competition event over the AlgaePrize Weekend. The five top student teams will be selected as AlgaePrize champions. Each champion team will be awarded an additional $15,000 prize. The five champion teams will then present their research to a final panel of judges. These judges will select a single grand champion and award them an additional $25,000 grand prize (The grand champion will have received a cumulative total award of $50,000, including both finalist awards and the research synopsis prize).
The five champion teams will be invited to participate in a national algal-based conference or symposium, e.g., the Algae Biomass Summit, to present their research and network with conference participants from the national and international algae community.
Awards:- $250,000
Deadline:- 01-04-2025
