Earthshot Prize: Prince William's new awards: BBC News Review

With the COP26 Climate Conference just around the corner,

Prince William has created and held the first ever 'Earthshot Prize',

which awards innovation in the attempt to tackle climate change.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil and with me is Roy. Hello Roy.

Hello Neil and hello everybody.

If you would like to test yourself on the vocabulary around this story,

all you need to do is head to our website

bbclearningenglish.com to take a quiz.

But now, let's hear more about this story from this BBC News report:

So, the Earthshot Prize was created by Prince William

and awards those who come up with creative solutions

to deal with climate change.

Each of the winners receive £1 million

to help them build on their initial ideas

and the ceremony, which was the first ever,

was held in North London.

OK. Well, you've been looking at this story on the various news websites

and you've picked out some really good vocabulary

that can help us talk about it and use it further afield.

So, what have you got?

Yes. We have 'star-studded', 'looms' and 'upcycled'.

'Star-studded', 'looms' and 'upcycled'.

So, let's have a look now at your first headline please.

So, our first headline comes from Sky News and it reads:

'Star-studded' – featuring lots of famous people.

Right. So, this expression is spelt:

S-T-A-R, hyphen, S-T-U-D-D-E-D.

And in the headline, it's being used as an adjective

and that hyphen is important.

Now, it's quite an informal expression

and it means that an event features a lot of famous people.

Yeah. So, the first part of this is pretty obvious:

the word 'star'. Obviously, there's the twinkly thing in the sky;

that's a star, but we obviously use this word to describe famous people.

The second word is... I'm not quite so clear about, Roy.

I can see 'stud'. I thought that 'stud' was a thing

that sticks out the bottom of a football boot.

What's... what's it got to do with this story?

OK. Well, it can mean that,

but remember that time when you decided to go

through that phase when you were always wearing a leather jacket,

and that leather jacket had lots of little metal pieces in it, didn't it?

What are those metal pieces called?

Those are called 'studs' as well, yes.

So, if something is 'studded',

it normally has lots of those metal pieces in,

so we call it a 'studded' leather jacket.

Now, when we talk about 'star-studded',

it normally refers to the night sky as you said.

So, we talk about a 'star-studded' night sky;

it means there's lots of stars in the night sky,

like on that leather jacket – lots of 'studs'.

Now, of course, this has been used in the meaning with word...

where word 'star' means 'celebrity',

so we're talking about lots of 'stars' sprinkled all over.

So, there's lots of celebrities.

Yeah. And it's used very frequently in, sort of,

the headlines because they are interested in celebrity,

but I think it's important to point out

we cannot use this formula more widely, so you can't...

you can't describe the BBC as a 'journalist-studded' building.

No. It's a very fixed expression.

'Star-studded' – it will... it will relate to, like, films

with lots of celebrities or events – something like that.

Yeah. You wouldn't... you wouldn't say, like, a school is 'teacher-studded'.

This is limited to 'star-studded'.

OK. Let's get a summary:

Well, if you would like to hear about a 'star-studded' event,

we have the perfect video for you, don't we, Roy?

Yes, this episode of News Review is about the Golden Globes

and all you need to do to watch it is click the link in the description below.

OK. Let's have a look at the next headline please.

OK. So, our next headline comes from France24 and it reads:

'Looms' – is about to occur.

Yes. So, this word is spelt L-O-O-M-S

and it is being used as a verb

and it means that something is about to happen or occur.

Yeah, often something bad, isn't it?

So, for example, climate change.

Climate change 'looms' – this big, scary thing

is, kind of, waiting in the future.

This conference, though, isn't really a big, scary thing,

so how come it's being used here?

Is that an unusual use?

Yeah. It is a bit of an unusual use.

I mean, it may, as you say, refer to the climate change,

but quite often we use it to talk about something that is threatening

or, kind of, dangerous coming towards you.

It's making you feel unsettled, a little bit.

So, for example, the other day I asked you if you wanted to go to lunch,

but you told me you didn't want to. Do you remember this?

Yeah. That was right. I had a... I had a deadline 'looming'.

You did!

So, deadlines – they're full of pressure, they can be quite difficult

and we talk about it 'looming'. It's almost like this presence is there.

This entity is 'looming' and notice the preposition.

We often use the preposition 'over':

the deadline is 'looming over' you.

But we don't only use it for situations or things like this;

we also use it for physical things:

a person can 'loom over' you, can't they?

They can. For example, I was...

was in the office the other day making myself a cup of tea,

and I took a biscuit from the biscuit tin and before I knew it,

Rob was 'looming over' me.

Unbelievable. Unbelievable.

So, there's an example of 'looming' used to mean

that there's a real person or a physical entity, which is there,

causing you some kind of worry.

Yeah. It feels like something negative is over you,

and another way we can use it, just very quickly,

is to say that 'a storm is looming' – that it's coming.

Again, that idea of something threatening,

maybe on the horizon – you can see it.

But it's that idea of something dangerous as well.

OK. Let's get a summary:

So, perhaps one of the biggest things 'looming' for all students is exams,

and we have a video about...

about exams and how to deal with them, haven't we, Roy?

Yes, we do.

This is from our series The Storytellers and it's for children for...

stories for children.It's to help children learn English.

So, you can learn English with a child,

or actually they're really, really good to watch just by yourself as well.

And all you need to do is click the link.

That's right. OK. Let's have a look at your next headline please.

OK. So, our next headline comes from the Telegraph and it reads:

'Upcycled' – made something better or new from something old.

Yes. So, this word is spelt: U-P-C-Y-C-L-E-D.

And it means that something is created from something old

into something better or something of more value.

Now, that word is really important there:

the fact that it has – potentially has more value.

Yeah. Now, if we break down this word and look at the second part,

there's the word 'cycled', which is the same word we see

in 'bicycle' and 'recycle',

and it's got that idea of things going around – a kind of repetition.

That's... that's the same in this. What's different, though,

is the first part – the 'up-' rather than 're-'.

So, what's the difference between 'recycle' and 'upcycle'?

OK. So, we commonly use 'recycle' to talk about making something

out of something that was waste,

and it's probably of similar value to the original property.

So, you make a new bottle:

you 'recycle' a bottle from old bottles.

Or maybe you'll get some 'recycled' toilet paper from old waste paper.

When you 'upcycle' something, you maybe take something

that's old and tired, or maybe it is waste,

and you improve it and you make it better and you increase its value.

Now, the other day, Neil, I saw that you've a brand new table in your house.

Where did you get that table?

Well, it looks like a brand new table,

but it was a table that had just been left in the street.

Somebody didn't want it any more and I thought,

'Ah! I can upcycle this,' so I took it home,

I kind of sanded it down, I painted it,

I made sure that the legs weren't wobbly any more

and I've got a – what looks like a lovely new table.

Magnificent.

And that's an example of 'upcycling'. Brilliant.

OK. Let's get a summary:

Time now for a recap of the vocabulary please, Roy.

Yes. We had 'star-studded' – featuring lots of famous people.

We had 'looms' – is about to occur.

And we had 'upcycled' – making something better or new from something old.

If you want to test yourself on the vocabulary,

go to our website bbclearningenglish.com,

where there's a quiz and so much more stuff to help you improve your English.

We're all over social media as well. Thanks for joining us and goodbye.

Bye.