Youth Hackathon 2024: Shaping the Future of Media and Information Literacy

The Youth Hackathon 2024 is an exciting opportunity for young innovators around the world to take the lead in addressing the challenges of the digital age. As part of the Global Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Week, this hackathon offers a global platform for youth to engage with the theme: “Youth Leading the Way – Media and Information Literacy and the New Digital Frontiers of Information.” The hackathon will focus on empowering digital content creators, influencers, and tackling challenges posed by artificial intelligence.

Objectives:

• Empower Youth: Encourage young people to actively shape the discourse around Media and Information Literacy, fostering a sense of ownership.
• Foster Innovation: Inspire youth to develop innovative solutions that promote public interest information and address issues like misinformation and hate speech on digital platforms.
• Generate Actionable Insights: Produce insights and recommendations that can inform policy, education initiatives, and community-based interventions to enhance Media and Information Literacy globally.

Tasks and Challenges:

Participants will tackle one of the following key challenges:

1. Empowering youth to actively shape their digital environments, promoting public interest information.
2. Exploring solutions to the challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence.
3. Innovating in Media and Information Literacy Education through peer education and capacity building.
4. Activating Youth Organizations as agents of change by collaborating with digital content creators.

Timeline:

• 5 July 2024: Registration opens
• 26 August 2024: Registration ends
• 28-29 August 2024: Online mentoring program for all participants
• 8 September 2024: Deadline for submissions
• 9-20 September 2024: Judging process
• 31 October 2024: Presentation of winning projects during the Global MIL Week Conference in Amman, Jordan

Eligibility:

• Teams must comprise 3-6 members with gender parity.
• Members should be aged 18-30 years and uphold UNESCO’s values of peace, diversity, and freedom of expression.
• No prior experience is required, making this an inclusive opportunity for all.

Solution Categories:

Participants can submit their projects in one of the following categories:

• Games
• Applications/Websites
• Radio programmes/Podcasts
• Educational toolkits
• Creative community-based interventions (non-technology focused)
• Other innovative interventions

Submission Format:

Each team must submit:

• A document presenting the solution.
• A 3-minute video pitch (creative format encouraged). Submissions should include the team composition, problem statement, objectives, audience, prototype explanation, feasibility, sustainability, creativity, and deployment strategies.

Don’t miss this chance to make a global impact! Winning teams will present their projects in Amman, Jordan, on October 31, 2024.

Learn More and Register:
Visit the Global MIL Week website to register and get more details on the Youth Hackathon 2024.