Glastonbury Festival has officially opened entries for its 2025 Emerging Talent Competition (ETC), offering aspiring UK and Ireland-based musicians an opportunity to perform on one of the festival’s main stages. Submissions are accepted exclusively through the festival’s official website from 9am on Monday, January 27, until 5pm on Monday, February 3, 2025. Entrants must provide a YouTube link to an original song and a video showcasing a live performance.
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The competition, supported by PRS for Music and PRS Foundation, is free to enter and welcomes artists from all musical genres. A panel of 30 esteemed music writers will curate a list of 90 acts from the submissions. This list will be further refined to a shortlist of eight artists by judges, including festival organisers Michael and Emily Eavis. The finalists will then compete in live performances in Pilton to determine the overall winner.
The victorious act will secure a performance slot at this year’s Glastonbury Festival and receive a £5,000 Talent Development prize from PRS Foundation to advance their songwriting and performance skills. Two runners-up will each be awarded £2,500 for their development.
Reflecting on the competition’s significance, Glastonbury co-organiser Emily Eavis stated, “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!”
In 2024, the ETC was won by Cambridge-born, Jamaican-Irish rapper and singer JayaHadADream. Her victory led to a performance on one of Glastonbury’s main stages and a £5,000 Talent Development prize. Since then, she has performed at other major festivals, including Reading, Leeds, and Boomtown, and her work has been featured across national TV, radio, and media.
Declan McKenna also won the ETC in 2015 at the age of 16. Following his win, McKenna released his debut single ‘Brazil’, a protest song critiquing FIFA and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Initially released in 2015, the track experienced a resurgence in popularity in 2022, largely due to its virality on TikTok. This renewed interest propelled the song onto the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at number 56 in June 2022 and remained on the chart for 18 weeks.
For more information and to enter the competition, visit Glastonbury Festival’s official website.
