Meet the winners of the EYCA Excellence Awards 2026

Conference means one thing above all: the moment we get to brag about our members. Every year our network quietly (and not-so-quietly) does incredible work, and once a year, we get to put it on stage, hand out some trophies, and remind everyone just how good this network is at what it does. So grab a coffee, because these seven projects deserve the full story.

Climate & environmental impact award
Winner: Dirección General de Juventud - Carné Joven Comunidad de Madrid, for the Young Entrepreneurship Awards

This initiative empowers European Youth Card holders to build financial and business skills with sustainability baked in from day one. Participation is exclusively reserved for EYC holders, reinforcing the card's role as a gateway to meaningful opportunities beyond travel discounts, and proving that youth entrepreneurship and climate responsibility can be taught together, not as an afterthought.

Communications award
Winner: BONEVET Prishtina, for "From zero to youth culture: Art-driven communication for the European Youth Card Kosovo"

When the European Youth Card launched in Kosovo in December 2024, there was no existing audience, engagement infrastructure, or visual identity to build on. BONEVET started from scratch and built a complete, distinctive communication strategy: bold and artistic graphic design, dynamic video content, and youth-centred storytelling delivered consistently across every channel. The result is a brand young people in Kosovo actually recognise and want to be part of, not just another government card.

Digital engagement award
Winner: Centre for Youth Education, Montenegro, for "From Card to Platform: The Digital Transformation of the European Youth Card (EYC) in Montenegro"

Montenegro took the EYC from a physical card to a full digital ecosystem, enhancing accessibility, visibility, and participation among young people. The numbers speak for themselves: over 650,000 annual visits, more than 65,000 active cardholders, and over 1.3 million page views, generating over 10.4 million video views along the way. It's a genuine shift in behaviour, showing young people don't just hold the card anymore, they actively engage with it, day to day.

Inclusive engagement award
Winner: Young Scot, for "Young People's Experiences of Poverty"

Young Scot took on a genuinely difficult and sensitive subject, how poverty shapes young people's everyday lives, wellbeing, and access to opportunity, and gave it a mental-health-informed, evidence-based platform. By giving visibility to authentic youth perspectives, the initiative influenced public policy conversations and helped ensure decision-makers were engaging with lived experience, not assumptions.

Quality benefits & discounts award
Winner: Reisenetz e.V. (EYCard Deutschland), for "Berlin Youth Card"

The Berlin Youth Card aims to make the most important places for food and leisure genuinely accessible and affordable for young people, with over 180 stores offering discounts through the card network. Beyond savings, the project strengthens local economic ties by encouraging young people to support neighbourhood businesses, proving that a good discounts programme can double as community-building.

Collaboration award
Winner: Youth Act Centre, Albania

Youth Act Centre built a brand-new formal partnership with Albania's Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport and the National Youth Agency, a collaboration designed to boost tourism, culture, and sport engagement opportunities for young cardholders across the country. It's the kind of institutional groundwork that quietly makes everything else possible: more benefits, more visibility, more reach.

Youth participation & education award
Winner: EYCA Youth Panel, for "Your Voice, Our 2030"

Straight from our own network's youth voice mechanism, this project put young people directly at the table with EU decision-makers, culminating in a consultation report shared with the European Commission. It's participatory policy work in its truest form: young people not just consulted, but genuinely shaping the conversation about their own future.

A huge congratulations to all our winners. Every single one of these projects is proof of what this network can do when member organisations lead with creativity, care, and a genuine commitment to young people.