Young Lions Finland

YOUNG LIONS FINLAND 30.1.–1.2.2026

Schedule 2026

• November 28.2025: Pre-registration opens
• January 27: Pre-registration closes
• January 30: Competition brief at Supercell at 17.00
  • The competition time starts at 21.00 (24h or 48h, depending on category)
• January 31: 24h competition dl at 21.00
• February 1: 48h competition dl at 21.00 (if participating in FILM category or in more than one category)
• February 4 – 25: Online judging
• March 4: Shortlist published
• March 10 – 17: Presentations 
• March 9 & 18: Closed judging
• April 9: Announcing the winners at the Awards Ceremony
• April 17: Registering for Cannes Young Lions Competitions
• May date tbc: Mentoring Event for Gold Winning Teams
• June 22th – 26th 2026: Young Lions Competitions and Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes, France

We reserve the right to make changes to timeline, if needed. Participants will be notified of all changes.

Categories for 2026

Digital – build a digital-led campaign that uses the powers of digital technology to respond to the challenge in the brief.

Introducing the category sponsor:

• Eligibility: The team entering Digital competition must be made up of two professionals aged 30 or under, working in creative communications or advertising or for a digital agency.
  • Freelancers are welcome to compete in this competition.
  • In-house creative teams from client companies are also accepted.

Film – produce an original maximum. 60-second film ad in response to the brief. Note: just for this Competition, the deadline is 48 hours.

Introducing the category sponsors:

• All competitors taking part in the Film category will receive a Finnkino movie ticket.
• Eligibility: The team entering Film competition must be made up of two professionals aged 30 or under, working in creative communications or advertising or for a digital agency.
  • Freelancers are welcome to compete in this competition.
  • In-house creative teams from client companies are also accepted.

Marketers – create a product or service that answers the challenge in the brief.

Introducing the category sponsors:

• Eligibility: The team entering Marketers competition must be made up of two professionals aged 30 or under, working as client marketers. Teams must represent the company they work for.

Media – develop an innovative media strategy based on compelling insights, showing how you’ll use different media channels and encourage engagement in response to the brief.

Introducing the category sponsor: 

• Eligibility: The team entering Media competition must be made up of two professionals aged 30 or under, working for media agencies or specific in-house media departments in agencies.
  • Freelancers are welcome to compete in this competition.
  • In-house creative teams from client companies are also accepted.

PR – construct an effective and engaging PR campaign in response to a communications challenge described in the brief.

Introducing the category sponsors: 

• Eligibility: The team entering PR competition must be made up of two professionals aged 30 or under, working for PR agencies or specific in-house PR departments in agencies.
  • Freelancers are welcome to compete in this competition.
  • In-house PR teams from clients will be accepted to compete in this competition.

Print – create an eye-catching print ad that answers the challenge described in the brief.

Introducing the category sponsor: 

• Eligibility: The team entering Print competition must be made up of two professionals aged 30 or under, working in creative communications or advertising or for a digital agency.
  • Freelancers are welcome to compete in this competition.
  • In-house creative teams from client companies are also accepted.

Eligibility

All Young Lions taking part in the Young Lions Finland 2026 competitions must be 30 years of age or younger, born on or after 26 June 1995. You must enter as a team of two. Team members do not have to be employed by the same company (except for the Marketers Category). Each person can only enter in one team. Teams can enter once in one or several competitions. Entrants must be full-time working professionals or freelancers within the advertising/marketing/communications industry.

How to enter

Stage 1: Pre-register by 27.1.2026.

The briefing events for the 2026 competition will be held at Supercell offices on January 30th.

Stage 2: on January 30th, right after the briefing session, we will open the competition platform, where all information, eligibility, guidelines and entry forms will be available. The competition will be run completely online. The link to the platform will be added here later.

Entry fee 250 € / entry (+vat)

Need for more information?

If you are interested in a nomination for the jury or the steering group or establishing a partnership with our competition, please contact: maarit.aarrekangas (@) marketingfinland.fi, +358 50 435 5613.

About the competition (in Finnish)

Young Lions Finland on viikonlopun mittainen hackathon-tyylinen tiimiparikilpailu, jossa luovuus, nopea ajattelu ja tiimityö ratkaisevat. Jos sinulla ei ole valmista paria, Marketing Finland auttaa löytämään juuri sinun osaamistasi täydentävän tiimikaverin. Kilpailuviikonloppu alkaa perjantaina myöhään iltapäivällä, kun tiimit saavat toimeksiannon, jonka he palauttavat 24 tai 48 tunnin kilpailuajan kuluessa. Tuomaristo valitsee töiden joukosta shortlistan, jolle päässeet työt siirtyvät toisen kierroksen tuomarointiin ja valtaosassa kilpailukategorioita tiimit presentoivat työnsä tuomaristolle tässä vaiheessa. Toukokuussa kunkin kategorian voittajatiimi osallistuu myös iltapäivän mittaiseen mentorointitapahtumaan, jossa heitä valmistellaan ja sparrataan tulevaan kesäkuun koitokseen.

Levitä sanaa kilpailusta ympärilläsi – tämä on ainutlaatuinen tilaisuus nuorille tekijöille näyttää kykynsä kansallisella ja globaalilla näyttämöllä.