The competition is fully online and includes voluntary meetings on each Wednesday 1. – 15.4.2026. at 16.00-18.00 EET.

The official meetings don’t coincide with lessons since they are in the afternoon, but students could create their solutions as a groupwork for the class as well as the hackathon. Our 1000€ prize for the winning team is sure to increase motivation.

A gamified method refers to a way of supporting youth participation via game elements that increase engagement. The goal is the active involvement of youth in decision making in their communities or on a wider scale. We encourage teams to build methods that support already existing participatory practices or to create a framework around the use of your method. This will increase the real-life application possibilities of the creations. The method can be virtually anything; an online platform, an activity program, a roleplaying theatre exercise for a letter writing campaign… participants can think outside the box!

The competition is fully in English, and we will use Discord and Zoom. Other than the English language skills there are nothing the participants need to know how to do beforehand. Many kinds of skills can be utilized when bringing these creations to life. Our judging criteria emphasize practicality, accessibility, engagement, and novelty value. In this flexible framework, it is possible to steer students’ participation in a way that makes it more curriculum appropriate.

More detailed information on the hackathon can be found here:

Youth Participation Idea Competition – a GameIN event – Nuorten Akatemia