Wendy Schmidt, an environmental activist and the wife of Google’s chief executive, Eric Schmidt, will put up $1.4-million in prize money for a contest to find new ways to clean up big oil spills, MSNBC and Fast Company report.

The Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X Challenge will be run by the X Prize Foundation, which offers large cash awards for new solutions to thorny technological problems. Ms. Schmidt is president of the Schmidt Family Foundation and co-founded the Schmidt Marine Science Research Institute with her husband.

The yearlong competition carries a $1-million first prize for the project that most quickly and efficiently recovers oil on the seawater surface.