Youth Perspectives and Digital Encounters: The Youth Juries 2026
It’s not only professional children’s media experts who discuss and judge the submitted children’s programmes at PRIX JEUNESSE INTERNATIONAL. Young people themselves also get the chance to discuss and evaluate the programmes from different parts of the world and award their own prizes at the world’s most renowned and oldest children’s and youth TV festival.
At PRIX JEUNESSE INTERNATIONAL, one of the key long-standing elements of the festival is the International Youth Jury, which consists of groups of young people in five countries. They come together to judge the programmes in the categories “11-15 Fiction” and “11-15 Non-Fiction”. In 2026, youth juries were held in Kosovo, Ecuador, Taiwan, Italy, and Canada. During intensive screening days in March and April, the teenagers curiously reviewed and lively discussed the international quality programmes.
For those young people, taking part in the youth jury means actively engaging with foreign cultures, values and world views, some of which may differ greatly from their own cultural perspective and their usual viewing habits. The participating groups reported how much fun it was for the young jurors stepping into the role of experts, even though their starting points and set-ups varied across countries. The Fubon Cultural & Educational Foundation in Taiwan, which had already participated in the Youth Jury in previous years, further professionalized its pre-selection process in 2026, focusing on recruiting teenagers passionate about film with “vibrant personalities and diverse family backgrounds” from across the country. The Italian Youth Jury, represented by Indyca, joined the Prix Jeunesse 2026 Youth Jury process for the first time as an organizing partner. Beyond contributing to the selection process, the organizers highlighted how closely their own development as emerging producers is tied to understanding young audiences. As they put it, it offers an “opportunity to better understand what young audiences enjoy and how to create content that meets their expectations.” The impressions once again showed that the Youth Jury process is about far more than selecting two winning programmes: it creates a shared space for exchange, reflection and dialogue in which both young viewers and media professionals gain new perspectives.
Beyond the sessions themselves, the organizers behind the Youth Juries showed a strong commitment to continuously rethinking the process. In exchanges between the five organizing countries and the PRIX JEUNESSE team, discussions focused on how to make participation accessible to an even broader range of young people across different social and cultural backgrounds, for example by reducing language barriers and exploring new technical and organizational approaches. Rather than simply repeating an established format, the Youth Jury section of the PRIX JEUNESSE festival continues to evolve as an important element aimed at reaching and including young audiences more broadly in the future.
The very first PRIX JEUNESSE INTERNATIONAL Shorts Youth Jury
For the first time in the history of PRIX JEUNESSE INTERNATIONAL, the festival also opens a new space for young voices in the Shorts section: the International Shorts Youth Jury! As short formats up to 3 minutes play a stronger role within the 2026 festival, the idea was clear, that we also need young people here who help shaping the dialogue. What follows is a truly special setup: ten teenagers from five countries – Ukraine, Germany, Chile, the Philippines and the USA – coming together in a video call that makes an international, shared discussion across continents possible for the very first time in this form.
Feedback from the young target group is heard at PRIX JEUNESSE
Interesting quotes from the discussions of both the youth juries will be presented at the PRIX JEUNESSE festival week from 29 May to 3 June at Bayerischer Rundfunk in Munich, in the form of an exhibition. The direct feedback from their young target group is always an enriching experience for the professional children’s media experts. At the grand closing gala on 3 June, the prizes of the Youth Jury and the Shorts Youth Jury will then be awarded to the lucky winners.
Further information on the competition and photos are available at www.prixjeunesse.de
Contact: Kirsten Schneid, festival coordinator
kirsten.schneid@prixjeunesse.de / Tel: +4989590042058