Applications have opened for the European Commission’s Youth4Regions 2026 competition, offering aspiring journalists a week of training and newsroom experience in Brussels in October.
Selected participants will take part in the programme from 10 to 16 October 2026, with activities including expert-led training, hands-on newsroom work and access to EU institutions and media organisations, the European Commission announced on Tuesday.
Entries can be submitted in four formats — written feature journalism, video, audio, and photojournalism — with applications open until 7 July 2026 via the Youth4Regions website.
The scheme is open to students and junior journalists from EU member states as well as neighbouring and candidate countries.
Around 300 young reporters have taken part since Youth4Regions launched in 2017.
Prize for young journalists
Participants will also be eligible for the Megalizzi – Niedzielski Prize, which the Commission said will be awarded on 14 October 2026.
The winners will be appointed “Cohesion Correspondents 2027” and sent on a two-week field mission to report on cohesion policy projects across EU member states.
Cohesion policy refers to EU funding aimed at reducing regional economic and social gaps.
