The jury bases its appreciation on the following criteria: • The music and other artistic material (text, choreography, etc) must be of high quality within its chosen genre. • The musicians/singers must be of a high calibre. • Music must be the primary focus of the production. • The communication between the musicians and the audience (if relevant to the production) should be qualified and inspiring. • The relevance/necessity of the program: "Is this opening new musical horizons for the kids?" / "Is this innovative?", "Is there additional educational value?", etc. • The international appeal of the production. i.e does/could this production work in multiple countries? For the Best Opera Category presented by RESEO (The European Network for Opera and Dance Education): • The staging should be of high quality and in relation to the music. • The category is open to new opera works for young audiences of all ages, based upon new librettos (adaptations of existing stories are accepted) or new compositions. For the Best Participatory Project with Young Audiences, the jury will look at the following criteria: • Necessity/Relevance: of the project both artistically and socially. • Intention: What is the project trying to achieve and how well does it do so? • Engagement: How has the audience been engaged? • Artistic Expression: The overall artistic output in relation to the creative process.

All nominees regardless of the category they fall into (Opera, Small Ensemble, Large Ensemble, School Concert, Participatory Project) compete for the Public Choice. A public vote determines the winner of the category.

All nominees will be officially announced on the 29th of August 2026 and displayed online vie the YAMawards website and social media. The public will then be able to vote for all nominated productions online (three votes per person on three different productions) and the nominee with the most votes on 29 September 2026 at 17:00 CET will receive the Public Choice.

The YAMawards Ceremony is open to everyone who registered to the YAMsession, an annual international event for creative professionals working in the field of young audiences development. For more information, please visit yamsession.org.(http://yamsession.org)

You can read the full Terms & Conditions for the 2026 Young Audiences Music Awards (YAMawards) here.(https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TB4MQ0oxcve62O73qW732SlNsoddqFYz/view?usp=sharing) For more info and questions, you can contact: info@yama-award.com (mailto:info@yama-award.com)/ mail@jmi.net (mailto:mail@jmi.net)/ +32 2 513 97 74.

We require: • A full length video of the production. • Entries will not be limited in duration, however, we will only present 2-minute promo videos of the finalists online for the public vote. • Entries are to be submitted to the competition as an online link (Youtube/Vimeo). • For productions not in English, subtitles or a detailed summary are requested. Check and read carefully the online application form (https://mubazar.com/opportunity/yamawards-2026-call-for-applications)for all required information. Entries are to be received no later than 17:00 CET on the closing date, 8th of May 2026, accompanied by all requested materials. YAM/JMI accepts no responsibility for late entries, as well as entries with missing or corrupt video files.

There are no restrictions on when the productions should have taken place, except for the Best Opera award in which the production must have premiered after May 2016 to be eligible.

Yes, you should print and sign the nomination agreement and then attach a scan of this document to the online application.(https://mubazar.com/opportunity/yamawards-2026-call-for-applications) You can download the 2026 Nomination Agreement here.(https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Xlmp-CYqKMzh6sm_lcuxAhPHZzDt-nXf/view?usp=sharing)