Build a better
next century
for young people.
How are Finland’s youth doing? What kind of new opportunities do young people want and need? How could young people be even happier?
The Vuosisadan Rakentajat (Builders of the Century) challenge prize is open for everyone and focuses on youth. We are looking for ideas that improve young people’s wellbeing and enable them to participate in society more fully both now and in the future. The prize is a gift from 44 Finnish foundations and trusts to Finland as the country celebrates its centenary of independence.
Competition timeline:
Competition opens 1.10.2016
Submit an idea by 1.2.2017
Development stage starts 9.3.2017
Develop the solution
Winners announced 1.10.2017
The Challenge
This challenge prize seeks solutions to help build a better future for young people. So develop a solution that improves the abilities of young people aged 10 to 26, as well as the abilities of people involved in their daily lives, to support the wellbeing of young people and their paricipation in society. The solution may relate to any area of life, such as school, education, skills, leisure time, home environment or employment.
By abilities to support the wellbeing of young people we mean things such as skills related to self-awareness, life and personal economy maangement, social relationships and health. These skills enable young people themselves or people involved in their everyday lives to support their social, mental and physical wellbeing.
By participating in society, we mean activities and a sense of belonging in a community, which may be related to education, work, hobbies and leisure activities or societal organizations.
By people involved in the everyday lives of young people, we mean for instance families, friends, teachers, neighbours, leisure activity instructors and coaches as well as others with whom young people interact in their daily lives.
Solutions can mean new communities and peer groups, smart new ways of doing things, technological applications or functioning services.
Who can participate?
- The Builders of the Century challenge competition is open to everyone. Participation in the challenge competition is done as a team, which must have at least three members or parties. There is no maximum team size. Team members can be an organizations or natural persons.
- At least one of the team members must either be a non-profit registered association, foundation, state/municipal public actor or private person. Other team members can be private persons or freely any form of legal actors whatsoever.
- Applications can be submitted in Finnish, Swedish or English.
The competition journey
What does participating in the challenge competition mean in practice?
Begin by familiarizing yourself with the challenge. Then think of an idea that will answer it. Assemble a team around the idea, with at least three different persons or organisations in it.
Before submitting the idea you are advised to participate in the application clinics, where you will receive help with designing your idea and answers to all questions related to the competition. They will take place in Helsinki on 22.11.2016 and 18.1.2017. Specific times and locations will be announced later on this website.
Remember to submit an application by 1.2.2017. After that the jury will select the finalist teams. If you make it to the final you will be notified personally. The teams who have made it to the final will be announced in the beginning of March 2017.
The journey of the finalists begins on 9.3.2017, when the teams will present their ideas to the foundations. After that there will be a joint trip to a two-day boot camp during 16.-17.3., where participants will spend the night and solutions will be intensively developed. Thereafter we will convene at workshops once a month, where a different topic will always be addressed. Every workshop will develop the teams’ ideas and move them toward a real, implementable solution.
The competition final is on 6.9.2017. There, the teams will present their finalized solutions to the jury. After that the jury will withdraw to choose the winners, who will be announced in the closing ceremony on 1.10.2017.
That’s when the winners’ work really begins: they will use the prize money to start making their solution real.
What kind of solution can win?
The solution proposals selected for the challenge competition will be evaluated based on these criteria:
- Novelty: The solution must be novel in its own context. The solution is either completely new or it makes use of, combines or applies an existing solution or solutions in a novel way. The team has to be able to clearly demonstrate what is new about the solution. A solution is not eligible for the competition if it can be considered a clear copy of an existing solution. Applicants are also expected to demonstrate how participation in the challenge competition can benefit the development of their solution (e.g. prize money, mentoring, networks, coverage or something similar).
- Impact: The solution significantly increases the ability of young people and the people present in their everyday lives to support the well-being and societal participation of youth. The team who has developed the solution has metrics or criteria with which to evaluate the impact of their solution.
- Co-creation and testing: The solution has been created and tested together with groups relevant to the solution, such as young people.
- Reproducibility, spreadability and durability: The solution can be reproduced and it can be spread nationally or internationally. The solution is also able to function after the competition’s prize money has been used.
- Feasibility: The team developing the solution can realistically implement it and the solution has already been tested during the development stage of the competition. The team members must have strong and versatile skills with which they can credibly implement their solution. If the team’s skills in terms of implementing the solution are lacking, the team commits to getting someone with these skills on their team if it gets selected to the competition’s development stage.