Glastonbury has announced details of its 2025 EMERGING TALENT COMPETITION, which is once again supported by PRS for Music and PRS Foundation.
The competition gives new UK and Ireland-based acts of any musical genre the chance to compete for a slot on one of the main stages at this year’s Festival.
The winners of the free-to-enter competition will also be awarded a £5,000 Talent Development prize from PRS Foundation to help take their songwriting and performing to the next level. Two runners-up will also each be awarded a £2,500 PRS Foundation Talent Development prize.
Acts from any musical genre can enter the 2025 competition FOR ONE WEEK ONLY using the form at glastonburyfestivals.co.uk from 9am Monday 27 January until 5pm Monday February 2025.
To enter, acts needed to supply a YouTube link to one original song, plus a link to a video of themselves performing live.
The Festival is committed to diversity and inclusivity and we welcome entries from disabled artists, who we will support to ensure they are not disadvantaged by the process. Click here to read the Access Information.
Once the entries are in, a panel of 30 of the UK’s best music writers will help compile a longlist of 90 acts. The longlist will then be narrowed down to a shortlist of eight artists by judges including Glastonbury organisers Michael and Emily Eavis, before the live finals in Pilton decide the winning act.
Glastonbury co-organiser Emily Eavis said: “We know how hard it is for new acts to take their first steps towards a career in music – particularly with the challenges facing small venues in this country – so the Emerging Talent Competition is a hugely important part of Glastonbury’s annual calendar. I can’t wait to hear the entries from across all the musical genres. And it’s free to enter, so you’ve nothing to lose!”
Crispin Hunt, President of the PRS Members’ Council, said: “For more than 20 years the Emerging Talent Competition has discovered and nurtured new voices, created a global platform and offered musicians the opportunity to gain exposure in front of large audiences. Playing Glastonbury was one of the most amazing experiences of my career and I’d encourage all music creators to submit a song for a chance to perform at the world’s largest greenfield music and performing arts festival. With our charity arm, PRS Foundation, I’m proud that we continue to support artists and songwriters stepping up and into the live and festival scene.”
Becci Scotcher, Senior Grants & Programmes Manager at PRS Foundation commented: “Each year the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition sees applications from the huge array of talent that are at the beginnings of their music career and from all over the UK. In partnership with our friends at Glastonbury Festival and PRS for Music, this is a fantastic opportunity for the next generation of music creators to not only win the coveted prize of performing at the legendary Glastonbury Festival but to also receive vital PRS Foundation funding support to develop their careers. This partnership has seen the winners and runners up go on to tour all over the UK and overseas, feature on legendary shows such as Later… with Jools Holland, and even win the Mercury Prize. In what will be PRS Foundation’s 25th year, we are very much looking forward to seeing which talented artists apply this year.”
The winner of the 2024 competition was the Jamaican-Irish rapper JayaHadADream, who has since seen her work featured across national TV, radio and media, as well as performing at other major festivals including Reading, Leeds and Boomtown. She said of her experience: ”Winning the Glastonbury competition changed my life in many ways. It opened up so many opportunities. I’ve had a lot of industry and press interest and worked with artists I’ve grown up listening to. It also allowed me to print my vinyl through the funding which was a dream come true.
My fanbase has grown too thanks to this! The actual experience of the Festival was unlike anything I have ever been to. It makes me emotional thinking about it because it was inspiring, hopeful and therapeutic. Everything about the experience was magical! I still can’t believe I performed on a Glastonbury main stage and my name’s on the T-shirt!”
Other recent Emerging Talent Competition finalists include 2023 winner N’famady Kouyaté, 2022 runners up English Teacher, who went on to win the 2024 Mercury Prize; rapper Flohio who won the prestigious Music Moves Europe Talent Award in 2020; R&B singer Izzy Bizu (a 2016 BRITs Critics’ Choice nominee and winner of the 2016 BBC Music Introducing Award); and singer-songwriter Declan McKenna, who won ETC 2015 and subsequently released three successful albums, establishing himself as one of the UK’s brightest stars.
