Want to Play a Tiny Desk Concert? The 2026 Contest is Now Open

The 2026 Tiny Desk Contest, NPR’s annual search for the next great undiscovered artist, is now officially open for entries! From now until Feb. 9 at 11:59 p.m. ET, unsigned artists can submit on the Tiny Desk Contest website. The winner will play a Tiny Desk concert at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C., be paired with a music industry mentor, headline a 10-city tour and more.

Here’s how to enter:

1. Record a video of you (or you and your band — despite the name, a lot of people can fit behind NPR’s Tiny Desk) performing one original song behind a desk.
2. Upload your video to YouTube.
3. Fill out and submit the entry form at npr.org/tinydeskcontest.

There is a fantastic crew of new and returning judges who are eager to discover new talent and crown this year’s winner. From the NPR side, joining long-time judges and Tiny Desk hosts Bobby Carter and Robin Hilton, is Anamaria Sayre. She’s a co-host of Alt.Latino and has produced Tiny Desk concerts for indie artists like Silvana Estrada and helped launch artists like Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso into stardom.

For artist judges, NPR is thrilled to have the ever-creative rapper and singer Tierra Whack, lyricist extraordinaire singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee and 2025 Tiny Desk favorite Madison McFerrin. (We have to note that Madison also submitted to the Contest herself in 2017.)

There are also some friends from music member stations joining. Hailing from Nashville, NPR welcomes Celia Gregory of WNXP to this year’s panel. You may know Celia as a regular guest on All Songs Considered. And from Austin, KUTX host Alex Marrero is joining too. (Alex has also performed a Tiny Desk concert as Brownout.) Jessica Linker, who is the founder of independent public relations agency Pitch Perfect PR where she has been championing new artists for two decades, is also on board.

The judges are looking for a new artist who’s ready to take it to the next level — to show us something we’ve never seen before, whether that’s a new sound or a singular perspective.

Past Tiny Desk Contest winners have gone on to win Grammy awards (Fantastic Negrito, Tank and the Bangas), write for Broadway (Gaelynn Lea), headline festivals (Ruby Ibarra) and more. But each year there are so many talented artists who don’t win and still find what they’re looking for in the Contest: a creative challenge, a platform (tons of artists are featured on NPR Music’s social media, on air and on tour) or a supportive community of independent artists. We hope the Contest can help you on your musical journey this year, whatever that journey may be.

Questions? Check out the Tiny Desk Contest FAQ.

Happy music making!

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