World YMCA announces 16 finalists for the 2026 YMCA Impact Awards
16 projects have been chosen as finalists for the World YMCA Impact Awards to be presented at the 21st YMCA World Council in Toronto on Thursday 23 July 2026.
“It has been an exceptional response to our call for Award submissions”, said World YMCA Secretary General Carlos Sanvee.
“And all are winners: the global YMCA Movement; its National YMCA Movements and Local YMCA Associations which carry out these exceptional programmes; and the young people and communities who are served by them.
It wasn’t easy to arrive at these 16 projects, and we thank all YMCAs who have proudly presented their work. We commit to sharing and multiplying it all, in the spirit of our wider work in ‘learning, innovation and impact’.
We very much look forward to revealing the winners in Toronto. For now, we invite the Movement to enjoy a taster of the 16 finalists, and also a summary of all the submissions from which they were chosen. It adds up to a story rich in content, excitement, energy and impact.”
From an initial 70 submissions, the 16 projects chosen as finalists
See below the full listing of the 16 finalists.
See a compendium of worldwide YMCA projects addressing the four Pillars of Vision 2030. It includes the 70 Award submissions from March 2026, and 12 submissions from the ‘Call for Content’ of November 2025.
World YMCA 2026 Awards
On Thursday 23 July 2026, within the 21st YMCA World Council in Toronto, Canada, the 2026 World YMCA Awards will be presented.
The Awards were launched in February 2026, and the deadline for submitting Nominations was 16 March 2026.
We received 70 superlative submissions of powerful projects, and have reached a shortlist of 16 finalists across the four Pillars of Vision 2030 to be shared - along with all of the Award nominations - ahead of World Council.
Read more about the Awards here
Read more about the Awards nominations here