The 2016 Winter Youth Olympics (officially known as the II Winter Youth Olympic Games) is a major international sports and cultural festival for youths that is scheduled to take place in Lillehammer, Norway from February 26 to March 6, 2016.

Lillehammer was the only city to bid on the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games. They were officially awarded the games on December 7, 2011. Lillehammer previously hosted the 1994 Winter Olympic Games.

On December 7, 2011, the International Olympic Committee selected Lillehammer as the host city of the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics.

Lillehammer was the only city to bid for the games. The Norwegian Olympic Committee talked with Norwegian and regional authorities to investigated a bid and ultimately submitted a bid to the IOC. Upon the deadline for bidding, they were the only city to bid. Lillehammer hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics. They bid for the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics, but failed to become a candidate. Lake Placid, Lucerne, Zaragoza and Sofia all expressed interest in bidding but ultimately failed to submit any bids.

Lillehammer (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈlɪləˈhɑmər]  (listen)) is a town and municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. As of May 2011, the population of the town of Lillehammer was 26,639 . The city centre is a late 19th century concentration of wooden houses, which enjoys a picturesque location overlooking the northern part of lake Mjøsa and the river Lågen, surrounded by mountains. Lillehammer hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics and will host the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics.

The municipality is named for the old timur (Old Norse: Hamarr, "rocky hill") farm, since the first church was built there. To distinguish it from the nearby town and bishopric of Hamar, it began to be called "little Hamar": Lilþlæ Hamar and Litlihamarr and finally Lillehammer.

It is also mentioned in the Old Norse sagas as Litlikaupangr ("Little Trading Place").

The coat-of-arms was granted in 1898. The arms show a birkebeiner, carrying a spear and a shield, who is skiing down a mountainside. It symbolizes the historical importance of when the Birkebeiners carried the to-be-King Haakon from Lillehammer to Rena on skis.