Asian Youth
Champion Awards
2026
Celebrating Young People and Organizations Turning Ideas Into Impact
Celebrating
changemakers
The Asian Youth Champion Awards 2026 is an international recognition program celebrating exceptional young people, organizations, social enterprises, and young public leaders across Asia who are creating meaningful change through innovation, leadership, entrepreneurship, service, advocacy, and community action.
The Awards recognize that changemaking takes many forms. A young person may develop an innovative technology, build a social enterprise, improve education, lead a community initiative, advocate for a cause, or create opportunities for underserved communities.
The inaugural Awards will recognize 35 outstanding young people aged 15–35, alongside distinguished recognitions for Social Impact Organizations, Social Enterprises, and Young Politicians. The Awards will be presented as part of the Philippine Youth Innovation Summit 2026.
Why these awards?
Across Asia, young people are already creating solutions to some of the region's most pressing challenges. Many of these changemakers, however, remain outside traditional recognition systems. The Asian Youth Champion Awards seeks to shine a spotlight on these individuals and organizations—not because of their titles or visibility, but because of the change they have created and the people they have inspired.
Turning Ideas Into Impact
The Awards are built around five simple principles:
SEE
Recognize a challenge or opportunity.
ACT
Take initiative and do something about it.
CREATE
Develop a solution, initiative, organization, enterprise, campaign, or movement.
IMPACT
Create meaningful change for people, communities, or society.
INSPIRE
Encourage others to participate, lead, innovate, and create change.
What the awards
aim to do
Recognize Asian Changemakers
Celebrate young people and organizations creating meaningful change across Asia.
Celebrate Innovation and Impact
Highlight innovative ideas, solutions, enterprises, and initiatives addressing real-world challenges.
Give Visibility to Inspiring Stories
Share the stories of people and organizations whose work can inspire others.
Build an Asian Community of Changemakers
Connect recognized individuals and organizations across countries and sectors.
Strengthen Youth Leadership and Innovation
Encourage more young people to take action in their schools, communities, countries, and the wider region.
What Each Champion Receives
- +Official Asian Youth Champion recognition
- +Certificate of Recognition
- +Official citation
- +Recognition during the Philippine Youth Innovation Summit 2026
- +Inclusion in the official Asian Youth Champion digital gallery
- +Opportunity to be featured through official communications
- +Invitation to participate in future Asian youth innovation activities
Who can be
nominated?
- 01Be 15 to 35 years old
- 02Be a citizen, resident, or person meaningfully contributing to a community in an Asian country
- 03Have demonstrated leadership, innovation, entrepreneurship, service, advocacy, or community action
- 04Have undertaken or significantly contributed to an initiative, project, organization, enterprise, campaign, or other meaningful contribution
- 05Demonstrate meaningful impact or contribution to others
Open to young people regardless of whether their work is formally registered or previously recognized.
Who May Nominate?
The Awards use an open nomination system. A person does not need to be famous, highly credentialed, or affiliated with a major institution to be nominated.
13 categories
A nominee may demonstrate impact across multiple areas. The areas of recognition are intended to guide the Awards rather than restrict the kinds of work that may be recognized.
Innovation & Technology
Using technology, artificial intelligence, science, design, or creative innovation to address real-world challenges.
Social Entrepreneurship
Building enterprises, products, services, or business models that create social or environmental impact.
Education & Youth Development
Expanding access to education, creating learning opportunities, mentoring young people, or advancing youth development.
Community Leadership
Mobilizing people, organizing communities, and creating meaningful local impact.
Sustainable Development & Environment
Advancing climate action, conservation, sustainability, sustainable communities, food systems, and related causes.
Arts, Culture & Creative Changemaking
Using arts, culture, media, storytelling, and creative expression to create positive social impact.
Advocacy & Civic Engagement
Advancing important causes, promoting civic participation, inclusion, awareness, and social action.
International Cooperation & Youth Diplomacy
Building bridges across cultures and countries and advancing international understanding and cooperation.
Inclusive Leadership
Creating opportunities and positive change for underserved, marginalized, or traditionally excluded communities.
Emerging Changemaking
Recognizing young people whose work is relatively new but already demonstrates exceptional promise and impact.
Non-Individual Changemakers
Social Impact Organizations
Organizations demonstrating exceptional and sustained impact in addressing social, environmental, educational, economic, or community challenges.
Social Enterprises
Enterprises that successfully combine sustainable business models with meaningful social or environmental impact.
Young Politicians
Young public leaders demonstrating innovative, inclusive, ethical, and impactful approaches to public service and governance.
Asian Youth Champion — South Korea
As a special recognition, the Awards will feature a dedicated South Korea category to highlight outstanding young changemakers and initiatives from the Republic of Korea. This category recognizes the important role of South Korean youth and institutions in innovation, technology, entrepreneurship, culture, education, international cooperation, and social impact. The category will also help strengthen youth-to-youth connections between South Korea, the Philippines, ASEAN, and the wider Asian region.
Simple, clear
criteria
The Awards prioritize impact and initiative over popularity, titles, financial resources, or previous recognition.
The most important criterion. What was the problem, what changed, and who benefited?
“What meaningful change has been created?”
The nominee took initiative, organized efforts, and demonstrated leadership in creating change.
“What did the nominee do and how did they lead?”
The approach was creative, original, or applied in a new and effective way.
“How creative, original, or innovative was the approach?”
The work encouraged, enabled, or created opportunities for others to participate or lead.
“How did the nominee inspire or enable others?”
In simple terms, the selection committee will ask:
Five simple steps
Nominate
Complete the official online nomination form. Self-nominations and third-party nominations are welcome.
Tell the Story
Nominees or nominators answer a short set of questions about who is being nominated, what they did, who benefited, and what impact was created.
Screening
The organizing team checks submissions for eligibility and completeness.
Evaluation
Eligible nominations are reviewed by the selection panel using the four published criteria. Shortlisted nominees may be contacted for additional information.
Final Selection
The selection committee determines the final awardees and special recognitions, considering geographic, sector, and gender diversity.
Each story follows
a simple format
- THE PERSON / ORGANIZATION
Who are they?
- THE CHALLENGE
What problem or opportunity did they see?
- THE ACTION
What did they do?
- THE IMPACT
What changed because of their work?
- THE INSPIRATION
Who did they inspire or enable?
Nominees may provide
Supporting evidence is encouraged but should not create a barrier to nomination. The Awards are about stories and impact, not the ability to produce extensive documentation.
Key dates
Call for Nominations
Public launch across the Philippines and Asia.
Nomination Period
Open self-nominations and third-party nominations until September 27.
Screening & Evaluation
Eligibility screening and assessment by the selection panel.
Shortlisting & Validation
Shortlisted nominees may be contacted for additional information.
Final Selection
Finalization of Asian Youth Champions and special awardees.
Public Announcement
Release of the official awardees.
Recognition Ceremony
Presentation during the Philippine Youth Innovation Summit 2026 at De La Salle University Manila.
A distinguished cohort
The 35 honorees will represent different Asian countries and communities, fields and sectors, backgrounds and experiences, forms of innovation, and approaches to creating impact. The 35 individuals will be recognized as a distinguished cohort rather than ranked from first to thirty-fifth.
20% PYIS 2026 Registration Discount
All eligible nominees will receive a 20% discount on registration to the Philippine Youth Innovation Summit 2026, providing an opportunity to participate, meet fellow changemakers, learn from experts, and experience the Enactus Philippines National Competition Finals.
An annual platform for Asian changemaking
The Asian Youth Champion Awards is envisioned as an annual Asian platform for identifying, celebrating, connecting, and empowering the people and organizations creating positive change across the region. Over time, the Awards can build an annual archive of Asian changemaking stories and a growing community.
Young people are not merely the leaders of tomorrow.
They are already creating change today.
Who is the
young person creating change
in your community?
The Asian Youth Champion Awards 2026 is looking for exceptional young people aged 15–35 from across Asia who are turning ideas into meaningful impact. We are also recognizing outstanding Social Impact Organizations, Social Enterprises, and Young Politicians.
You can nominate: