Glastonbury Festival announce 2025 Emerging Talent Competition

Glastonbury Festival has announced details of its 2025 Emerging Talent Competition.

Supported by PRS for Music and PRS Foundation, the competition offers upcoming artists the chance to play on one of the festival’s main stages. It's free to enter and open to new UK and Ireland-based acts in any musical genre.

Winners will also receive a £5,000 Talent Development prize from PRS Foundation, while two runners-up will each be awarded a Talent Development prize of £2,500.

Entries can be submitted here from 9am on 27 January until 5pm on 3 February.

Once that deadline passes, a panel of 30 of the UK’s best music writers will help compile a longlist of 90 acts. That 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.

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, added: '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.'

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!'

Glastonbury is committed to diversity and inclusivity and welcomes entries from disabled artists, who will be supported to ensure they are not disadvantaged by the selection process.

The winner of the 2024 Emerging Talent Competition was Jamaican-Irish rapper JayaHadADream, who has since seen her work feature across national TV, radio and media, as well as performing at other major festivals including Reading & Leeds and Boomtown.

Speaking to M last year, Jaya reflected: ‘I was already building my confidence, but the Glastonbury win really made me feel unstoppable. If you reach for something, you actually can get it.

'I’m from a working-class background where we had free school meals, so to even go to a festival like Glastonbury was amazing because it’s been on my bucket list for so long. It was all funded as well, so I didn’t need to worry about the finances because the PRS Foundation grant really helped, enabling me to pay my band which is really important. I got to perform a song which features some bars about quitting my day job and making it to Glastonbury, which was a nice full-circle moment.’

Other recent Emerging Talent Competition winners and finalists include N’famady Kouyaté, English Teacher, Flohio, Izzy Bizu and Declan McKenna.