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American-Made Program

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PROSPECT Implementation Prize

Enabling leading academic institutions in the U.S. to execute strategies that rapidly expand the critical minerals and materials workforce.
Education Energy, Environment & Resources Engineering
stage:
PROSPECT Implementation Prize Opens
prize:
$70,000,000
Education Energy, Environment & Resources Engineering
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Summary

Overview

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation is launching the Providing Opportunities for Specialized Education in Critical Technologies (PROSPECT) Implementation Prize. This prize supports academic institutions in activating, implementing, and demonstrating progress toward programs to expand the domestic critical minerals and materials supply chain workforce. 

PROSPECT launched its first prize in September 2026—the PROSPECT Planning Prize. The PROSPECT Implementation Prize is separate and distinct. See details on the PROSPECT Planning Prize at the bottom of this page. 

The United States is entering a new era of domestic critical minerals and materials development. Securing resilient domestic supply chains requires not only new mines, processing facilities, manufacturing capacity, and recycling infrastructure, but also a new generation of engineers, scientists, technicians, and skilled professionals prepared to build and sustain them.  

The $70 million PROSPECT Implementation Prize rewards U.S.-based academic institutions with eligible mining engineering programs for implementation plans and applied outcomes to expand the domestic materials supply chain workforce. The goal of the prize is to substantially increase—with the goal of doubling—the number of graduates and other credentialed professionals prepared for relevant mining and supply chain fields by the end of the 2028 calendar year. 

Competing schools must implement a connected education-to-employment pathway that links recruitment and awareness, pathway entry and enrollment, education and training, credential or degree completion, career-connected experience, and employment or continued education. 

Background

This prize is part of DOE’s broader PROSPECT initiative, which aims to unleash U.S. affordable energy dominance, rebuild domestic supply chains, and reduce reliance on foreign adversaries for the materials that power modern energy, manufacturing, and defense technologies.   

The PROSPECT Implementation Prize is funded by DOE’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation. The prize is managed by the National Laboratory of the Rockies under the American-Made program.  

Prize Structure

The PROSPECT Implementation Prize recognizes critical minerals and materials workforce program achievements across three anticipated phases. Up to $70 million total* is offered across the prize, with additional funding possible, pending availability of future funds. Read the prize rules for details on phase goals, submission materials, and submission scoring.  

Phase 1: Activate | Approximately $60 million prize pool | Up to 16 winners  

Recognizes completed implementation plans, as well as launch and readiness actions and early implementation.  

Anticipated Phase 2: Progress | Approximately $10 million | Up to 16 winners 

Recognizes demonstrated implementation and competitor results. 

Anticipated Phase 3: Document | Approximately $160,000 | Up to 16 winners  

Recognizes final outcomes and complete documentation of program results and lessons learned. 

*Phase amounts do not add to $70 million because they are dependent on response rate and application quality. 

Prize Timeline

The PROSPECT Implementation Prize includes three separate phases. View the official prize timeline for the most current dates and deadlines for each phase. All dates are subject to change, including challenge openings, deadlines, and announcements. 

Guidelines

Click on the “Follow Challenge” button at the top of this page to receive the latest prize updates. If you have questions, please use the contact feature on the HeroX platform or message us directly at PROSPECTprize@nlr.gov.  

For full eligibility requirements, please read the official rules. 

PROSPECT Planning Prize

From September 2026 to October 2026, DOE ran the PROSPECT Planning Prize. This prize challenged U.S.-based academic institutions with eligible mining engineering programs to submit plans for novel programs aimed at substantially increasing the number of graduates and other credentialed professionals prepared for relevant mining and supply chain fields by the end of the 2028 calendar year. DOE selected 16 PROSPECT Planning Prize winners, each earning $1 million. 

Winners of the PROSPECT Planning Prize as well as those who neither won nor applied are invited to compete in the PROSPECT Implementation Prize.  

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Challenge Updates

1 update
November 2026
NLR Prize Administrator · Nov. 2, 10 a.m. new

PROSPECT Implementation Prize Offers $70 Million to Schools Expanding America's Mining and Critical Minerals Workforce

The Providing Opportunities for Specialized Education in Critical Technologies (PROSPECT) Implementation Prize is now open! 

The PROSPECT Implementation Prize will award up to $70 million to support academic institutions in activating, implementing, and demonstrating progress within new and/or existing programs to expand the domestic critical minerals and materials supply chain workforce. Eligible U.S.-based schools are challenged to implement a connected education-to-employment pathway that links recruitment and awareness, pathway entry and enrollment, education and training, credential or degree completion, career-connected experience, and employment or continued education.

The $70 million* prize pool is offered across three anticipated phases:

  • Phase 1: Activate | Approximately $60 million prize pool | Up to 16 winners

Recognizes completed implementation plans, as well as launch and readiness actions and early implementation. 

  • Anticipated Phase 2: Progress | Approximately $10 million | Up to 16 winners

Recognizes demonstrated implementation and competitor results.

  • Anticipated Phase 3: Document| Approximately $160,000 | Up to 16 winners 

Recognizes final outcomes and complete documentation of program results and lessons learned.

*Phase amounts do not add to $70 million because they are dependent on response rate and application quality.

The PROSPECT Implementation Prize follows the recently completed PROSPECT Planning Prize, which awarded funding to universities for developing comprehensive workforce-expansion plans. The Implementation Prize focuses on executing workforce development programs and demonstrating measurable results.

A recording of the PROSPECT Implementation Prize informational webinar is now available. Competitors are encouraged to watch the recording, read the rules, and submit questions to . All questions that come to this inbox will be answered publicly on the HeroX FAQ page. 

Submissions are due no later than Nov. 25 by 5 p.m. ET. The prize administrators look forward to seeing your critical minerals workforce development plans implemented across the nation!

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Frequently Asked Questions

11 questions

  1. Yes, but it’s quick and easy. Just click the “Solve this Challenge” button on this page and follow the instructions to complete your registration. All you need to provide is your name and email address.

  2. You can register as a team or an individual. Every American-Made Challenge has a section in the submission form where you will list your team and team members, and those members do not have to match your HeroX team. The team you build using the HeroX team function is not part of the review—only the team you list in the submission counts in the review of your materials. Therefore, you can register and submit as a team or an individual, and it does not affect the review of your submission. If your HeroX team is made up of multiple individuals, only the team captain will be able to begin the submission. 

    To aid your decision, we have created a guide found in the Resources tab.

    Note: If you are competing in a prize with multiple phases, and if different people might submit at different phases for your team, we recommend building a team within HeroX and submitting that way, as you can swap the "captain" for your team, but keep the same team and permissions while just swapping the person who can actually submit the submission.  

  3. If you have a question not answered in the FAQ, post it in the Forum where a prize administrator will respond to you. This way, others who may have the same question will be able to see it. 

  4. No, if you are a contest winner you are receiving the prize for meeting or exceeding the contest goals. 

  5. The Submission Templates are found in the resources tab.

  6. The American-Made Network is a robust ecosystem of professionals and organizations designed to help competitors succeed using expertise, research facilities, and connections to other resources. 

    Network members are organizations—like test facilities, incubators, manufacturers, law firms, business development experts, and beyond—with expertise in a wide variety of energy and other tech sectors. 

    Learn more about the network and see which organizations are part of it.

  7. The National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) administers prizes and competitions on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Each prize is funded by a single DOE office or multiple offices. 

  8. All of your files are uploaded as part of the submission form. Access this form by clicking the “Solve This Challenge” button. The submission form contains an upload option for each of the required file entries. 

  9. If you encounter an issue when attempting to submit an entry to the challenge, you may need to contact HeroX or the Prize Administrator. 

    You may try to connect with HeroX using the online form which appears in the bottom right corner of your browser window, it says Leave a Message. 

    You may also send a message to the Prize Administrator inbox at

    Please allow at least 1 business day for a response. 

  10. All submissions must be written in English. 

  11. Competitor Question 

    Response 

    1. Does a team have to have won or submitted to the Planning Prize to compete in the Implementation Prize? 

    No. The PROSPECT Planning Prize and PROSPECT Implementation Prize are separate, stand-alone prize competitions that recognize distinct achievements.  The Planning Prize recognized completed planning activities necessary to develop a robust, institutionally endorsed PROSPECT workplan, including baseline analysis, program design, partner engagement, implementation planning, measurement design, and budgeting.  The Implementation Prize does not reward those same planning activities but instead recognizes achievements in activating and implementing workplans, demonstrating measurable implementation progress and participant results, and documenting final outcomes.  While the two competitions advance the broader PROSPECT objective of strengthening the domestic critical minerals and materials workforce, each competition has separate Official Rules, submission requirements, evaluation criteria, and prize determinations, and an award under one competition does not create an entitlement to or guarantee an award under the other. 

    2. Does a team have to win a phase of the Implementation Prize to be eligible to submit in the next phase? 

    Additional information regarding the Anticipated Phase 2 and 3 details and processes will be made available soon. 

    3. If a team participated in the Planning Prize, how closely do their activities for the Implementation Prize have to follow or match plans laid out in the Planning Prize materials? 

    The Implementation Prize does not reward the same planning activities from the Planning Prize but instead recognizes achievements in activating and implementing workplans, demonstrating measurable implementation progress and participant results, and documenting final outcomes. Competing teams should fully detail their programs and achievements, whether those plans followed or pivoted from any stated plans in the Planning Prize. 

    4. The stated prize pool is $70,000,000, yet the amounts across the three phases add up to more than that. Why is that? 

    Phase amounts do not add to $70,000,000 because they are dependent on response rate and application quality. See the table in section II.C of the rules for a breakdown of possible awards across each phase. 

    5. We are not currently an ABET-accredited mining engineering school, but would we be able to partner with current ABET-accredited schools to support their proposals? 

    Primary submitting institutions may partner with other entities and individuals as part of their participation in this prize. All competitors included in the prize submission must meet the eligibility requirements detailed in section II.E of the rules document. 

    6. If an organization partners with a U.S. degree-granting academic institution that meets the eligible mining program requirement and who serves as the primary applicant, would the organization be eligible to receive any portion of the prize funding as their project partner? Or is the prize funding restricted solely to the eligible academic institution? 

    Only the primary submitting institution may receive a prize award if selected as a winner. If the awarded institution would like to distribute that prize funding within the team, including any other partners, those arrangements must be made within the team. DOE nor NLR will not divide a prize among partners or arbitrate, intervene, advise on, or resolve disputes among team members or partner organizations. 

    7. Could you clarify whether the “near-term accreditation” pathway would allow an institution to submit for the prize specifically to establish a new mining and mineral-processing engineering program? Would a documented institutional commitment, program-development plan, and timeline for pursuing ABET accreditation satisfy the near-term accreditation requirement, even though a new program ordinarily cannot receive accreditation until it has produced graduates? If so, could you clarify what documentation would be needed at submission? 

    Competing entities must demonstrate and explain their accreditation status within the submission materials. The Eligibility and Institutional Certification section details these requirements. It is up to the competitor to fully describe their accreditation status and, if relevant, in-progress processes and plans. Please also refer to the definition of the near-term accreditation which states that for near-term accreditation situations, the institution must demonstrate a plan to attain accreditation by the start of the academic year in 2033. 

    8. Could you confirm whether participating in the PROSPECT Implementation Prize, either as the primary submitter or as a partner institution on another eligible institution's submission, has any bearing on eligibility or evaluation under other DOE funding opportunities? 

    The PROSPECT Implementation Prize is a stand-alone competition. Any participation only has bearing on eligibility or evaluation for this prize competition. 

    9. Is an institution allowed to submit multiple submissions? Our institution has multiple Mining and Mineral Processing degree programs, with different individuals interested in participating as a team, so we want to see if the multiple programs are each allowed to submit or if it needs to be a single submission per institution?  

    An eligible institution may submit one submission package for the PROSPECT Implementation Prize. The rules document describes how institutions may partner with other entities and individuals, and the submission materials allow for competing teams to describe any partnerships or organization within the team. 

    10. Could you confirm whether national labs are eligible to be sub-recipients of PROSPECT Implementation Prize funding, if they are part of a team led by an academic institution? 

    Only U.S. degree-granting academic institutions that satisfy the eligible mining program requirement are eligible to submit an application to this prize. An eligible institution must be the primary submitter and the designated prize recipient. Non-academic entities, such as national laboratories, may participate as partners but may not submit as the primary competitor. NLR will award a single cash prize amount to the eligible primary academic institution. The academic institution is solely responsible for its internal allocation or use of prize funds and for any arrangements with participating university units or external partners. DOE and NLR will not divide a prize among partners or arbitrate, intervene, advise on, or resolve disputes among team members or partner organizations. 

    11. Regarding the biosketch and resume - is a specific version required for the biosketch? Do resumes need to be a two-page document or a typical long-form with papers, etc.? Are there page limits for the biosketches or resumes?There are no format or page length requirements for the biosketch and resume components of the submission. Per the rules document, biosketches and resumes must be provided for team leadership only and are limited to six per application. See section IV.C.9 for details on what information must be included.