As part of its ongoing work around youth engagement with democracy, the Evens Foundation has partnered with HackYeah! in Poland – one of Europe’s largest hackathon platforms – inviting thousands of participants to develop creative digital solutions for increasing youth voter turnout.

Taking place from 31 September to 1 October 2023, HackYeah! attracts more than 4000 participants, who will take on different ‘tasks’ in teams, coached by mentors.

The Evens Foundation’s “Empower the Youth” task offers a prize of 10,000 PLN and potential further support for development and deployment. It asks participants to “design and implement innovative digital tools to significantly increase youth voter turnout in the June 2024 European elections, with a primary focus on Poland. These tools should be creative, engaging, politically neutral, and scalable to address the broader European context”.

We look forward to sharing the results in October.

With the EU elections on the horizon in 2024, the Evens Foundation is exploring different ways to engage more young people with voting as a fundamental part of the contemporary democratic process. The objective is to find new ways to engage with young audiences, explore the potential of both emerging and existing technologies, and empower youth activists. In December 2023, the Foundation will host a dedicated hackathon challenge focused on this issue in Belgium.