The final meeting of the selection committee for Kazakhstan’s Tәuelsizdik Urpaqtary state grant was held in Astana, where 30 young Kazakhstanis were selected as winners for their outstanding project proposals.
Opening the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture and Information Aida Balayeva emphasized that supporting young people remains one of the key priorities of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s state policy.
She noted that the Tәuelsizdik Urpaqtary grant has become an important mechanism for encouraging talented young citizens by helping them implement innovative, scientific, entrepreneurial, and socially significant initiatives.
According to Balayeva, the growing number of applications each year demonstrates both the high level of youth engagement and increasing confidence in the transparency of the selection process and state support.
The selection committee included leading scientists, cultural figures, media professionals, government representatives, and business leaders, who evaluated projects across six competition categories.
More than 2,200 applications were submitted for the 2026 competition, with 1,745 qualifying for consideration. The largest number of applications came from the Business and Information Technology categories, followed by Science, Culture, Media, and Volunteering.
Each of the 30 winners will receive a government grant of 3 million tenge to implement their projects.
Since the program was launched in 2021, a total of 153 young Kazakhstanis have received grants, making the initiative one of the country’s flagship programs for supporting youth innovation and civic engagement.
The official award ceremony for the 2026 winners will take place in Astana as part of the celebrations marking International Youth Day.