Three days, one city, and a whole lot of EYCA: inside the 42nd Annual Conference in Tirana

Every year, the EYCA network packs its bags and lands somewhere new for a few intense, inspiring days of meeting, deciding, celebrating and (let's be honest) not sleeping enough. This June, that somewhere was Tirana, Albania - and the 42nd EYCA Annual Conference delivered exactly the mix of substance and energy we've come to expect: board decisions, big speeches, candidate interviews, a General Assembly, and a party to close it all out.

Before the official programme even kicked off, EYCA sat down with local media for a press conference - a chance to introduce the network, the European Youth Card and what the conference would bring to Tirana and to young people in the region and beyond.

Then the real thing started, technically before it started. The EYCA Board arrived first, spending Monday getting Tirana-ready, followed by the EYCA Board meeting on Tuesday and the arrival of participants from across the network. A bittersweet meeting, as this mandate would come to an end in the days that followed.

And then we get to Wednesday, where the conference properly began, opening with a full morning of welcomes from all of our institutional partners and the network itself, including the Youth Panel, the European Commission and the Council of Europe. Of course, our hosts also took the floor, and a huge thank you to them - closing with welcoming words from the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sport, Blendi Gonxhja.

Then came the numbers - and they're worth sharing.

Hillary Kidd walked through a full mandate of achievements: card numbers, discounts and partnerships, Youth Panel projects, the Young Creators programme, DiscoverEU and European Solidarity Corps activities, Partial Agreement seminars and the Maximising Impact initiative - 96 applications in total across exchange visits, support visits, consultancy grants, training and regional and digital initiatives. Add in updates on ESG, strategy, code of conduct and branding, and it was clear: this has been a big mandate for the network. A number of long-standing partners also took the floor to share their own perspectives on the year, before the morning wrapped with a panel on the European Youth Card as a tool for cultural participation, tourism development and innovation.

The afternoon turned interactive with a World Café - small tables, big conversations - covering discounts, app and tech, communications, ESG and youth policies. It's always one of the best parts of conference: getting into the details with the people actually doing the work across different countries. Getting practical and real is what makes these things matter. The day was just about to get even more interesting as we headed into the board candidate discussions and got to know the candidates.

As we wrapped up an intense first day, Thursday was all about deepening into some key EYCA moments: finding out our new Board and, of course, the long-awaited Excellence Awards Ceremony. We opened with a warm moment - officially welcoming two new members into the EYCA family: Kosovo as a Full Member and Ireland as an Associate Member. We then moved to presentations from the Youth Panel, Young Creators, the European Commission, the Council of Europe and RYCO - before the results of the General Assembly came in and we found out the new Board.

And then, the grand finale: the Excellence Awards, handed out across categories celebrating everything the network stands for, recognising the people and projects pushing EYCA forward in every direction.

A huge thank you to our member Youth Act for their initiative in organising this conference and for their collaboration with the Ministry and all local partners throughout - none of this would have been possible without them.

Three days, great speakers, one new Board, two new members, a handful of awards and more coffee breaks than we can count - the 42nd EYCA Annual Conference was a proper snapshot of what this network is all about: people from all over Europe and beyond showing up, celebrating each other, and leaving with even more energy for the year ahead. See you at the next one.