Re finalists in the audience at the awards show. It was clearly an operational decision made from the very beginning that the show would have all 15 finalists remote in their home locations.
The first Earthshot was 2021 in London so much of that early decision was made in the planning stages when the world was still in working out Covid and post Covid travel. For a while there was that situation with red zone countries needing 2 weeks of quarantine and some countries who were not letting their own citizens travel.
At the point they needed to create the set and plan the execution of the show they would not have known how travel etc would have worked out for the different finalists - I’m sure they considered options with some remote and some in the studio etc.
After the first show though it’s clear from an entertainment point that the remote option is much better - it’s more visually pleasing seeing the participants in their home environments.
It’s better for understanding the breadth and variety of the finalists themselves - from a single teenager, to a city, to a whole country.
And operationally it’s a very clean and efficient TV option for the award show format. You don’t have to have multi cameras on the same five boring ‘person sitting in seats’ shot and then all the waiting for the winner to walk down to the stage and then all the faffing about getting on and off the stage. It’s more enjoyable for the viewer.
The Earthshot organization then creates multiple in person networking opportunities for all 15 finalists not just the winners following the initial awards show - and not just that years winners - looks like they are continuing to support and showcase past participants too at the in person events.