PETA to Pay Students for Animal-Saving Inventions

For Immediate Release:
May 12, 2021

Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382

Just as the car has replaced the horse and buggy and the iPhone has replaced the carrier pigeon, mushroom leather is taking the place of cows’ skin and virtual reality interactions are leaving roadside zoos in the dust—so PETA is searching for the next great animal-friendly innovations. The group’s new Future Without Speciesism Award has just opened to all graduate and undergraduate students, and the winning submissions could receive up to $10,000.

Applicants must identify a way in which animals are still being exploited and come up with a marketable animal-free replacement. PETA previously awarded students for creating a state-of-the-art “organ-on-a-chip” technology that could prevent countless animals from being used in painful experiments and then killed.

“If you’re in school and you have an idea for revolutionizing an animal-abusing practice or industry, we’re eager to hear from you,” says PETA Senior Director of Youth Programs Marta Holmberg. “PETA is banking on—and will help bankroll—bright young people’s ways to stop animals from becoming pizza, parkas, pack mules, or anything else that denies them their right to be themselves.”

This award does not convey ownership rights to PETA or prevent applicants from patenting their inventions. Students can work in teams or individually. Prize amounts run from between $1,000 and $10,000 and will be determined by PETA based on the workability, practicality, and promise of the submissions. For more information and to apply, please click here.

PETA’s motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way.” For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.