The Youth Leadership and Innovation Award for Migration (YLIA) is a global contest empowering young leaders to drive innovative solutions for migration challenges. The inaugural Youth Leadership and Innovation Award for Migration organised as part of youth engagement in the 2021 Global Forum for Migration and Development Summit, awarded cash prizes totaling $33,000 to three winning youth initiatives. These were chosen from nine finalists by a high-level jury during a pitching and awards ceremony during the GFMD summit itself. The programme was designed to both provide visibility as well as tangible support to young innovators. This competition is an innovative way to focus the conversation around migration on concrete and practical solutions and serves as a starting point of future partnerships between youth and relevant GFMD stakeholders. It not only is in synergy with the goal of the GFMD of finding solutions to global pressing issues around migration and development, but also gives youth from all around the world the chance to contribute to this goal with their projects.