The choice of challenges for the Prize was presented on an episode of the BBC science programme Horizon,[5] with a poll opened to the public afterwards.
[5] The committee issued a draft of the criteria with a two-week opportunity for open review, which finished 10 August 2014.
[10] The vote was urged and welcomed by the Biochemical Society[11] and Jamie Reed, the Shadow Minister for Health at the time and chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Antibiotics (APPG-A), who said "The scale of the challenge that antimicrobial resistance presents is beyond any doubt and new innovative thinking is essential.
"[12] Since the announcement of the Longitude Prize, the foundation has selected thirteen organizations for seed funding between £10,000 and £25,000 to go toward their research.
[15] The first prize of £8m was awarded to Sysmex Astrego on 12 June 2024[16] for a antibiotic susceptibility test for urinary tract infection based on an invention [17] from Uppsala University.