UNESCO Youth Hackathon 2026

The UNESCO Youth Hackathon 2026 invites young changemakers worldwide to co-design innovative solutions for Media and Information Literacy (MIL) under the theme "Play Your Part: Youth Designing the Future of Media and Information Literacy". Teams (2-6 members) collaborate to develop proposals across challenge tracks such as AI and MIL, MIL education, community impact, youth engagement and an open track.

The competition requires a Proposal Document (PDF or Word) and a short Pitch Video (max. 3 minutes). All registered participants have access to a two-day online mentoring programme (1-2 July 2026) featuring experts in MIL, digital transformation, AI, project development and innovation; live places are limited and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, with recordings available to all registrants.

The submission window runs from 6 July to 16 August 2026, followed by global evaluation and winner announcement periods. The winning teams will be invited by UNESCO to attend the Voices European Festival of Journalism and Media Freedom in Thessaloniki, Greece (26-28 November 2026) where they will showcase their projects.

The event is open to global youth aged 18-30 and welcomes teams with no prior experience, prioritising inclusion, gender balance and alignment with UNESCO values.