PEYA has two parts — a regional award for Grades K-5 and a regional award for Grades 6-12.

EPA has ten regional offices across the country. Based on the evaluation criteria, each regional office will be responsible for selecting up to two winners per region– one for Grades K-5 and one for Grades 6-12. Applicants are welcome to include youth across multiple grade levels; however, the application will be categorized based on the applicant with the highest grade level.  For example, if one applicant group consists of two 4th graders, one 3rd grader and one 6th grader, the application will be evaluated in the Grade 6-12 category.

Each award-winning project will receive a Presidential plaque. All qualified applicants will receive recognition from EPA leadership honoring them for their efforts to protect human health and the environment.

Eligibility

• Project is completed while the applicant(s) is in kindergarten through 12th grade.
• Applicant(s) is a citizen of the United States or its territories or has been lawfully admitted for permanent residency.
• Represented preferably by a teacher sponsor. If the sponsor is not a teacher, the sponsor must seek a co-sponsor that is a teacher.
• The sponsor/co-sponsor must be an adult at least 21 years of age.
• Projects started on or after January 1, 2019 are eligible for consideration. As long as there was activity on the project after January 1, 2019, a project initiated prior to that date is eligible for consideration.
• Projects must include an environmental stewardship component.