The 2026 Ceremony for the Peace, nuclear Abolition and Climate Engaged Youth (PACEY) Award will place as an online event on Friday January 23 from 5pm - 6:30pm Central Europe Time (11:00-12:30pm Eastern Time). Three prizes of €5000 each will be awarded at the event for youth-led projects that have the potential to make a significant difference on peace, nuclear disarmament and climate issues.
The event will include project reports from a sample of the previous PACEY Award winners, followed by presentations from the nine youth projects chosen by the jury to be the finalists. The audience will then vote to determine the three winners.
Finalists
Finalists for the OSCE Award:
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Thirsty for Solutions (STSL) – Youth Advocacy for Water Access (Romania)
Thirsty for Solutions is a youth participation project designed to tackle a fundamental environmental and civic gap in Romania: the lack of free, accessible drinking water in public spaces. By advocating for public drinking fountains, the project aims to drastically reduce plastic waste from bottled water while ensuring that essential resources remain a public good.
Video presentation for the PACEY Award Ceremony -
Coventry Peace Ambassadors (UK)
Coventry Peace Ambassadors is a joint project of the Coventry Lord Mayor’s Committee for Peace and Reconciliation and 40 schools in Coventry to promote peace in three ways: create peace zones or gardens in the schools; develop peace projects in the community (examples include a Peace Trail and a Japanese Peace Garden), and develop friendship projects with young people in other countries including through the UNESCO schools network.
Video presentation for the PACEY Award Ceremony -
VoxForensics (Ukraine)
VoxForensics is a project run by LingvaLexa to undertake in-depth work on crimes related to propaganda in the context of armed conflicts. This work contributes to peace by addressing one of the structural drivers of violence: hatred-based propaganda widely used by authoritarian regimes.
Video presentation for the PACEY AWard Ceremony
Finalists for the Beyond OSCE Award:
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KivuGuard – Community-based early warning system for peace and the prevention of armed violence (DRC)
KivuGuard offers an innovative and humanitarian solution to recurring armed conflicts, looting, forced displacement, and inter-communal tensions in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It combines technology and citizen engagement to quickly detect security threats and connect with local response mechanisms.
Video presentation to the PACEY Award Ceremony -
EcoPeace Teen Café (India)
EcoPeace Teen Café is an online space for teenagers to discuss and have interactions with international experts on critical environmental, peace and sustainable development issues. In addition to running discussions with different groups on a range of issues, EcoPeace Café provides mentoring and environmental action tool-kits. -
No Hate Embassy (Mediterranean)
The No Hate Embassy was created to address the dangerous rise of hate speech, xenophobia, and polarized public debate across Europe and the Mediterranean. Launched in 2024, this project brings together organizations from France, Italy, Romania, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia to protect democratic values and prevent the violence that often follows hateful rhetoric.
Video presentation to the PACEY Award Ceremony -
Promoting peace and security by reducing threats of biological weapons (India)
This project, led by Dr. Suryesh Kumar Namdeo at the Indian Institute of Science, aims to build a replicable model for science-informed biosecurity governance in the Global South — directly contributing to global catastrophic biological risk reduction.
Video presentation to the PACEY Award Ceremony -
The Nomad Garden (Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic)
For nearly 50 years, Saharawi refugees have lived in the Hamada desert of southwestern Algeria. Climate change has intensified already extreme conditions, including temperatures exceeding 50°C, chronic water scarcity, violent sandstorms, and increasing environmental instability. The Nomad Garden shows how Saharawi youth have turned necessity into innovation, proving that climate adaptation, food sovereignty, and peace-oriented leadership are not only possible, but already taking shape. -
Safiran-e-Sloh – Peace and Empowerment for Afghan Girls (Afghanistan/Pakistan)
After the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan on 15 August 2021, schools and universities for girls were closed, women were denied the right to work, and Afghan girls and women were deprived of their basic rights. Safiran-e-Solh (Youth Peace Ambassadors Group) is a youth-led initiative that supports Afghan refugee girls and women through education, personal development, and advocacy for equal rights.
Video presentation to the PACEY Award Ceremony
The 2026 PACEY Awards are conferred in conjunction with the 2026 Basel Peace Forum (in-person event) and the 2026 Basel Intergenerational Dialogue on Peace, climate action and nuclear disarmament (hybrid event) taking place in Basel, Switzerland, January 22-23, 2026. The PACEY Awards are co-sponsored by Basel Peace Office, Basel Stadt Kanton (President's Department), Basel Reformed Evangelical Church, Youth Fusion and Youth Present.
Application for PACEY Award pre-voting
Pre-voting for choice of winners of the 2026 PACEY Award is available on application by individuals in extenuating circumstances which prevent participation in the PACEY Award Ceremony. In addition to noting the extenuating circumstances, those applying for pre-voting need to read and consider the information about all nine finalists before voting. Apply for pre-voting. (Application for prevoting closes at 4pm CET on January 23).