Since 2019, the Rural Inspiration Awards (RIA) have been celebrating projects that use funding from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) to help rural areas meet the wide range of economic, environmental and social challenges of the 21st century. The RIA competition aims to increase the visibility of EAFRD-funded projects and to promote knowledge transfer and networking among rural development stakeholders and each edition has been followed by a dedicate issue of the EAFRD Projects Brochure. The theme of RIA 2022 was ‘The Future is Youth’, inspired jointly by 2022 being the European Year of Youth, the long-term vision for rural areas, and the Rural Pact, developed by the European Commission. RIA 2022 sought to promote the importance of European youth to build a better future for rural Europe. In this edition, 111 entries were submitted from 24 Member States for four thematic categories: Green Futures, Digital Futures, Resilient Futures, and Socially Inclusive and Innovative Futures. They were all evaluated in terms of direct benefits, networking value, transferability and innovation, in order to select the final shortlisted projects. This issue of the EU CAP Network’s Projects Brochure presents the 24 finalists selected by the expert jury and highlights the winners of each category and of the Popular Vote.