Celebrating ideas and energy of future leaders
We strive for greater interest and participation in social challenges from students around the world through our competition.
The 2026 International Youth Competition invites students to share their ideas and perspectives regarding social challenges they find vital to better social progress and well-being.
There is no fee to enter this year’s competition, so go ahead and enter!
This year’s competition theme is “Why Me?”
2026 Competition Submission Categories
Visual Art submissions may include drawings, illustrations, and paintings as well as photos. Visual Art submissions can be in the following filetypes: JPG, PNG, PDF (please send high-resolution files for better viewing). AI-generated works are not accepted and will be automatically disqualified. All entries must be the students’ original work.
Essay submissions may persuasive or creative written works. Essays can be in any language, but they must also include the English translation if the original essay is in a non-English language. Essay submissions should be in the following filetypes: WORD, PDF. AI-generated works are not accepted and will be automatically disqualified. All entries must be the students’ original work.
Do you have something different to share?
Go ahead and submit your own idea of “Why Me”!
The 2025 International Youth Competition is open to any students in primary, middle, and high school as well as college. Students may enter as individuals or teams. This is an international competition, and students residing anywhere in the world are eligible to enter.
Awards are given for each category (Visual Art, Essay, Open) in each division (Primary, Middle School, High School, College).
**All participants will receive a “Distinguished Achievement” certificate for their participation and submission.
Individual, Team:
1st Place (Visual Art)
2nd Place (Visual Art)
3rd Place (Visual Art)
Distinguished Idea Honor (Visual Art)
Distinguished Creativity Honor (Visual Art)
Exceptional Skill Honor (Visual Art)
1st Place (Essay)
2nd Place (Essay)
3rd Place (Essay)
Distinguished Idea Honor (Essay)
Distinguished Creativity Honor (Essay)
Exceptional Skill Honor (Essay)
1st Place (Open)
2nd Place (Open)
3rd Place (Open)
Distinguished Idea Honor (Open)
Distinguished Creativity Honor (Open)
Exceptional Skill Honor (Open)
*All awards and honors are in recognition of excellence in students’ competition submissions and do not entail any monetary awards. Therefore, all awards and honors will be in the form of electronic award/honor certificates that are sent to the winners by email.
Judging will be based on the submission’s message, idea, originality, and delivery.
The organizers of the competition promise to manage the competition fairly and ethically. All judging decisions are final. All winners will be notified by email. We reserve the right to use all submissions for its promotional purpose in any and all media. Winners are announced by the end of September 2026.
The competition submission deadline is August 30, 2026.
There is no fee to enter this year’s competition.
You should send your submission by email only (no physical mail will be accepted) to the following email address:
admina@internationalyouthcompetition.org
Attn: 2026 International Youth Competition
All submissions should include the following information and materials:
1) Your contact information (your full legal name, the names of your city and country, your school name, your school grade level, your email address). For team submissions, this information must be provided for all team members.
2) The title (name) of your Visual Art, Essay, or Open submission
3) Your submission (the Visual Art, Essay, or Open submission should be attached to the email)