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Rex Walford Award 2026

The theme for the Rex Walford Award 2026 is: From Source to Sea.

Let’s explore the world’s river systems

Rivers are the lifeblood of our planet - carrying water, nutrients and energy across vast distances. They sustain communities, support wildlife, and shape the landscapes we depend on to live. From the smallest stream to the widest river, these flowing waters connect mountains to oceans and people to nature. They remind us that a sustainable and thriving environment is not just a resource, but a responsibility that we all share. As we learn more about the world’s rivers, we also understand that it is our duty to protect them for future generations.

As they transport freshwater across continents, sustaining ecosystems, wildlife, and the billions of people who rely on them for drinking water, rivers also shape our landscapes through erosion and deposition. Carving valleys, forming striking features, creating fertile floodplains ideal for farming and influencing settlement, rivers provide physical boundaries between places and have also facilitated the growth of many of the urban areas we inhabit today. Rivers play a key role in the global water cycle, carrying rainfall from source to sea and helping to regulate climate. They provide transportation opportunities, trade routes, tourism, recreation and sustain the lives of a wide range of species, supporting fish, birds, mammals, and countless aquatic organisms.

But rivers can also be a source of conflict; where water is a shared commodity ‘water wars’ can be common. When flood management or hydroelectric power produced by dams happens upstream, dire consequences can fall on countries located downstream. And who owns this water? Industry and the misuse of rivers can lead to pollution and the degradation of river ecosystems, threatening both wildlife and the communities that depend on rivers to live. Flooding is a big issue, and the management of rivers to predict, mitigate and prevent the impacts of flooding is essential for protecting communities, safeguarding ecosystems, and reducing long‑term environmental and economic damage.

Entering the competition

We are interested to see lesson plans and accompanying resources that link directly to the curriculum and encourage students to think about any of the following:

• A range of named rivers, showcasing the processes that shape them, the features they create, and the many ways they are used by both people and nature.
• Curriculum topics such as energy production, conflict, ecosystems, sustainability, trade and more – we want to see how your resources help young people to understand why our rivers are so important.
• Themes across human and physical geography.

The lessons created can be aimed at any Key Stage eligible to enter the Young Geographer of the Year competition (KS2-KS5), and must include:

• At least two lesson plans
• Resources to accompany those lessons

We encourage entrants to be creative in their lesson ideas, whilst maintaining strong links to curriculum or specification content. There is no set format for the lesson plans. Please use the format you are used to using in your school.

Please read the Rex Walford Award guidelines before you enter

Submit your entry 

The deadline for receipt of all Rex Walford Award entries is Friday 2 October 2026 at 5.00pm.

Entries received after this time will not be accepted.

All entries must be emailed to competitions@rgs.org with ‘Rex Walford Award’ as the email title.

Please provide all documents, plus details of your name, address, contact details and where you are teaching or training.

We cannot accept or judge any entries submitted by post. Due to the volume of entries, we regret that we are unable to contact unsuccessful entrants or provide individual feedback.

The winning entry will be hosted as a resource in our teaching resources bank.