The List
TeenVogue's EU Next Generation Leaders 2026
Nine names to start with, aged 16 to 20, from eight countries. All of them were doing something about the world before anyone thought to hand them an award.
November 3, 2026
No. 1 — Debate & youth advocacy
Tejas Pugalia
17 · Belgium · Captain of the Indian Debate Team
The first speaker in World Schools Debating history to win Best Speaker of the Tournament in consecutive years — Panama City in 2025, Nairobi in 2026 — while still juggling schoolwork and a team of four others who count on him.
Read his storyThe shortlist
- AN
Amara Nwosu
19 · Berlin
Climate litigation
- LP
Luka Petrič
18 · Ljubljana
Peer mental-health lines
- SM
Sofia Marchetti
17 · Palermo
Migrant solidarity
- JL
Jonas Lindqvist
20 · Malmö
Accessible transit
- AB
Aïcha Benali
18 · Brussels
Coding in schools
- MF
Mateo Fernández
19 · Madrid
Rural broadband
- EN
Elżbieta Nowak
17 · Kraków
Banned books
- NH
Noor Hassan
16 · Rotterdam
Refugee tutoring
Photographs for the shortlist are still being filed. The names above are placeholders until the real ones are confirmed.
Know someone who should be on the 2027 list?
Nominations for next year open in January. Send a name, an age, a country and one paragraph on what they actually do.