Guidelines for participation

Who can participate?   

The Spring Idea Competition is open to all young people aged 15–19 living in Finland. Participating young people must be aged 15–19 by 31 May 2024 at the latest. The Spring Idea Contest is open to teams of 3–5 people. Team members can be from different cities, schools and backgrounds. Teams can participate in the competition as part of studies or in free time.  

How to participate?   

Teams develop an idea that can change the world for the better in some way and that they want to promote. Ideas can be big or small. You can also enter the Spring Idea Competition with an initial idea. For inspiration and questions to help you brainstorm, visit the Inspire page.  Teams should submit their ideas to the Spring Idea Contest by 23:59 on the last day of the application period using the application form on the website.    

What are the criteria for the competition?  

Ideas will be judged by the Spring jury on the basis of the following selection criteria:  

• Identification of the problem  
• Relevance of the idea  
• Insightfulness of the idea 
• The potential for wider application of the idea  
• Team composition and motivation.  

What happens after the idea is submitted?   

The Spring-jury will select 12 teams to go forward. The jury may use external experts to support its decision making.  The shortlisted teams will be invited to an idea incubation weekend in Helsinki on 12–14 April 2024, where they will receive support to further develop their idea. At the end of the weekend, six teams will be selected by the jury to participate in the finals. A video will be filmed of each of the finalist teams presenting their ideas.    

The final will take place on 7 May 2024 in Helsinki and will be streamed. The live broadcast of the final will be open to all young people aged 15–19 in Finland and anyone else interested in the topic. The three best ideas will be selected as winners. The winners will be selected by a combined result of the public vote and the Spring-jury evaluation.

What will the Spring winners receive as prizes?   

Spring winners will be rewarded with summer jobs. During the summer job, the teams will take the idea further and make it a reality. The summer job lasts four weeks and pays €1,500 per person.    

The summer job includes a study trip to Copenhagen in Denmark to learn from inspiring international examples. The practical arrangements for the summer job and the trip will be agreed with the winning teams.

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Participation in the Spring idea competition is free of charge.

The teams that sign up for the competition are expected to commit to the schedules of Spring.