'I'm really looking forward to Boston,' Prince William announces Earthshot Prize finalists

LONDON -- A bubble barrier that prevents plastic waste from reaching the ocean is one of 15 initiatives named as finalists for the year's Earthshot Prize, a global competition aimed at finding new ways to protect the planet and tackle climate change. 

Prince William, the heir to the British throne, unveiled the finalists on Friday. 

The five winners, who will be announced December 2 at the MGM Music Hall in Boston, will receive 1 million pounds ($1.1 million) to develop their ideas and scale up their projects. 

"I'm really looking forward to Boston," Prince William said in the video.  There's no official word yet on which performers and guests will be at the ceremony.

The prince and his charity, the Royal Foundation, launched the prize in 2020 inspired by President John F. Kennedy's 1962 "Moonshot" speech that challenged Americans to go to the moon by the end of the decade.