Wales youth launch 105th Peace Message from Barcelona
Wales launched its 105th annual Peace and Goodwill Message from Barcelona on 2026-05-19, putting minority, regional and indigenous languages at the center of the campaign. The message was unveiled at the Spotify Camp Nou, with Cymru footballers joining the launch.
The 2026 message will be translated into 75 languages and is intended to reach over 40 million people globally. That gives the message a reach far beyond Wales, while keeping its focus on communities trying to keep their languages in use.
Spotify Camp Nou launch
Siân Lewis, chief executive of Urdd Gobaith Cymru, said launching the message from the Spotify Camp Nou was “a powerful symbol of international solidarity between minority languages.” She added: “For over a century, the Urdd has empowered the youth of Wales to speak out on the world’s most pressing issues.”
Lewis also said: “We are showing that small linguistic communities can have a massive collective voice, and that when languages thrive, peace has a chance.” The choice of venue tied the launch to Barcelona, while the campaign itself stayed rooted in Wales.
Marged Tudur and Wrexham
The 2026 message was written by poet Marged Tudur, who worked with students from Wrexham’s Ysgol Morgan Llwyd, Coleg Cambria and Wrexham University. Tudur said: “Working with the young people of Wrexham to compose this message was a profound experience.”
She said the students understood that “language is more than just communication; it carries our culture, our history, and our worldview.” She added: “By focusing on minority languages, these young people are declaring that no language is too small to be heard, and that protecting our linguistic diversity is essential for building a more empathetic world.”
Ffion Morgan at Barcelona
Cymru international Ffion Morgan, a campaign ambassador, said she knows “how important it is to be proud of your roots while connecting with the wider world.” She said: “Sharing this message from an iconic global venue like the Spotify Camp Nou shows that young people are ready to lead the conversation.”
Morgan was joined at the launch by Dylan Lawlor, Carrie Jones and Rubin Colwill. She said: “Peace speaks every language, and the young people of Wales are asking the world to listen.”
The Urdd says the peace message has been sent every year since 1922, and it has grown from Morse code into a global digital campaign. This year’s version links that tradition to the survival of minority languages, including Kurdish, at a time when the message is being pushed to an international audience rather than kept inside Wales.
For communities trying to keep a language alive, the practical effect is scale: the message will appear in 75 languages and reach more than 40 million people. That is the story of this launch — a Welsh youth message built to travel farther than ever, from Barcelona to language communities that rarely get this kind of platform.
