Fwd: Youth Hacking 4 Freedom: 5th round of the programming competition for European teenagers about to start

[Adrian McEwen]

We got sent this today.  Forwarding it in case any teenagers in the DoES community are interested.

Cheers,

Adrian.

-------- Forwarded Message --------

Subject:	Youth Hacking 4 Freedom: 5th round of the programming competition for European teenagers about to start
Date:	Tue, 18 Nov 2025 13:42:24 +0100
From:	Bonnie Mehring <bon...@fsfe.org>
To:	he...@doesliverpool.com
CC:	Alexander Sander <alex....@fsfe.org>

Dear DoESLiverpool,

Youth Hacking 4 Freedom will start with a new round on 1. January 2026. Registration is now open for teenagers between 14 and 18 years, who are currently living in Europe. Run by the Free Software Foundation Europe, Youth Hacking 4 Freedom [https://yh4f.org] is a programming competition for young Europeans that offers the opportunity to design and develop their own project using Free Software and win up to 4,096 Euro and a trip to Brussels.

Please help us to spread the message to as many young Europeans as possible to make them aware of YH4F.

Everybody participating in Youth Hacking 4 Freedom is getting something out of the competition. Participants have the chance to meet our Free Software experts from the jury and discuss their project ideas with them. The teenagers can also interact with each other, meet other like minded teenagers from Europe and build friendships that can last a lifetime.

The YH4F 2026 competition starts on January 1, 2026, and ends on June, 30, 2026.

Participants can register here for the opening event and Youth Hacking 4 Freedom 2026: https://yh4f.org/register

Throughout the competition the FSFE guides the teenagers through the 6 month programming period. We have regular monthly meetings in which we discuss how to use git, how to document your software, and many more subjects with the participants. At Youth Hacking 4 Freedom, participants not only improve their programming skills from beginner to advanced, but also learn how to work on a 6-month project, developing organisation, time management and project planning skills. It also gives them a chance to be creative and develop something they really like, as well as the pride of developing their own project.

Youth Hacking 4 Freedom in a nutshell.
• Participants must be between 14 to 18 years old during the time of the competition (01.01-2026 – 23.10.2026)
• Participation is free, but registration is mandatory: https://yh4f.org/register
• The opening event takes place on 8th of January 2026, 19:30 (Berlin time), online.
• The programming period runs from 1. January to 30. June 2026.
• During the programming period, participants are free to attend every first Thursday of the month our online meetings and workshops.
• The first, second and third place winning projects will receive €4,096, €2,048 and €1,024 respectively. There will also be three special prizes of €1,024.
• Each participant who submits a project will also receive a certificate of participation.
• The competition will be conducted remotely, except for the award ceremony, which will take place in Brussels during a weekend in October 2026, to which the winners (one winner per winning project) and a family member will be invited on an all-expenses-paid basis.

For more information, please visit: https://yh4f.org or send an email to yh...@fsfe.org.

Best regards,
Alexander Sander and Bonnie Mehring

[0] https://yh4f.org/register
[1] https://yh4f.org
[2] https://yh4f.org/faq

-- 
Bonnie Mehring - Senior project manager -
Free Software Foundation Europe
Revaler Str. 19, 10245 Berlin, Germany | t +49-30-27595290
Registered at Amtsgericht Hamburg, VR 17030  |(fsfe.org/support)

Support the FSFE with a donation or by becoming a supporter: https://my.fsfe.org/donate
Sign up to our newsletter: https://fsfe.org/news/newsletter.de.html
Follow us on Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@fsfe