32nd Annual Troubadour Contest
32nd Annual Troubadour Contest
32nd Annual Troubadour Contest
Congratulations to the 2024 Telluride Troubadour Contest winner Martin Gilmore!
Learn how to enter the 2025 Telluride Troubadour contest below.
The Telluride Troubadour Competition is a nationally recognized songwriter competition open to anyone who writes and performs original music and is not currently signed to a major recording or publishing deal.
Contestants are judged on the quality of the song’s composition (50%), vocal quality (25%), and the overall delivery (25%).
Telluride Troubadour Top Ten (10) finalists are selected to receive a 4-day pass to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Telluride, Colorado to compete in a live performance contest for cash and prizes, as well as critical acclaim, well-deserved recognition, and a chance to perform on the festival main stage!
Important Dates
December 11th/12th, 2024 to March 5th, 2025 - Online Song Submission Window
March 28th, 2025 - Top 10 finalists (and alternates) announced to compete in the Troubadour Contest Finals during the Telluride Bluegrass Festival
June 19th-22nd, 2025 - Troubadour Contest Finals (Live Performances) - Telluride, CO
- Thursday June 19th - Elks Stage - Preliminary Round - All (10) Finalists
- Friday June 20th - Elks Stage - Final Round - Top (5) Finalists
- Saturday June 21st - Festival Main Stage - Winner Performance
How To Enter - Song Submission
The Telluride Troubadour song submission window will open December 11th, 2024 and close on March 5th, 2025.
Step 1:
- Purchase your submission via See Tickets HERE (Pre-sale 12/11/24 or GA Sale 12/12/24)
- $20 per song (2 song limit)
Step 2:
- Submit Songs digitally HERE via our online form.
- **NEW** Song submission recording must be a SOLO performance with only your VOICE and your accompanying INSTRUMENT.
- Songs must be uploaded as .mp3 files.
- **NEW** - Lyric sheet (Word or pdf file) must be uploaded with each song.
- Make sure to submit the See Tickets order number that is on your See Tickets receipt.
Rules and Guidelines:
- **NEW** - MP3 Song submission recording must be a SOLO performance with only VOICE and ONE accompanying INSTRUMENT.
- A simple voice recording/memo from a phone is acceptable.
- Please ensure that lyrics can be heard on recording.
- Song Submission Judging Criteria (1-100pts)
- COMPOSITION (1 - 50 pts) - Lyrics, theme, emotional impact, hook, originality, melody, appeal, phrasing, cadence, form, and structure.
- VOCAL QUALITY (1 - 25 pts) - Pitch, resonance, range, natural and inflection.
- DELIVERY QUALITY (1 - 25 pts) - Expression, instrumental skill, impact, pace, dynamics, balance, rhythm, and color.
- Contestants may submit up to (2) original songs.
- No co-writes. Songwriting entries must be entirely written by the entering songwriter.
- We encourage songwriters to submit new / different songs for the Telluride Troubadour and Folks Songwriting Showcase contests.
- Contestants cannot be signed to a third-party record label or publishing deal. This competition is meant for emerging and independent performing songwriters.
- Contestants will not receive feedback from Judges.
TROUBADOUR LIVE PERFORMANCE CONTEST FINALS - TELLURIDE, CO
The top (10) songwriters will be selected to attend the Troubadour Contest Finals held live in Telluride, CO during the Telluride Bluegrass Festival
- Top (10) Finalists will receive the following:
- 4-day pass (w/camping) to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival
- Live radio interview and performance with KOTO radio in Telluride
- Performance slot at the Elks Park Workshop Stage in addition to contest performances
- Contest Format
- Preliminary Round - Elks Park - All 10 Finalists perform (2) original songs, top 5 selected to move to Final Round
- Final Round - Elks Park - Each contestant to perform (2) Original Songs, winner selected
- Winner - Saturday Mainstage Performance
- Rules for Live Performances
- No backup musicians allowed. This is a solo competition.
- Finalists may not repeat songs from preliminaries in the finals.
- Recommended time limit: 5 minutes per song. Points will be deducted for significantly exceeding this limit.
- Acoustic instruments with pickups are permitted as well as EQ devices but no effects.
- Instruments allowed are those that can be carried out to the mics with the performer. A keyboard will be provided if necessary.
2025 Prizes
Top (10) Finalists will compete at the Elks Stage in Telluride, CO during the Telluride Bluegrass Festival :
- 4-day pass (w/camping) to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival
- Live radio interview and performance with KOTO radio in Telluride
- Performance slot at the Elks Park Workshop Stage in addition to contest performances
1st Place Prize
Martin Guitar + Saturday Main Stage Performance + $500
Martin Guitar + Saturday Main Stage Performance + $300 + 2025 SWRFA Conference Registration
Little Martin LX1 Guitar + $300
Little Martin LX1 Guitar + $250
$150
2024 Troubadour Finalists & Results
Top 10 Finalist
We’d like to congratulate the following top 10 finalists for competing in Telluride Troubadour Contest Finals at the 51st Telluride Bluegrass Festival (June 20th-23rd, 2024).
1st - Martin Gilmore (Englewood, CO)
2nd - Eliza Edens (Brooklyn, NY)
3rd - Eugenia Riot (Portland, OR)
4th - Jeff Cramer (Denver, CO)
5th - Madison Hughes (Jacksonville, FL)
Other top 10 Finalists in alphabetical order
- Eva Rose King (Fort Collins, CO) - “After Tale”
- Racyne Parker (Westminster, CO) - “Most Likely to be”
- Mike Stocksdale (Culver City, CA) - “Bad Bad World”
- Andy Sydow (Nashville, TN) - “If I Grew a Violet”
- Eliza Thorp (Petoskey, MI) - “Superhero”
Honorable Mentions
We would also like to congratulate the following songwriters for making it to the third round of listening.
- Angela Autumn (Nashville, TN)
- Andrew Camp (Nashville, TN)
- Brock Davis (Santa Cruz, CA)
- Chance Emerson (Providence, RI / Hong Kong)
- Dale Keys (Boise, ID)
- Brennan Mackey (Denver, CO)
- Taylor Shae (Fort Collins, CO)
- Christopher Worth (Portland, OR)
Past Winners
The Telluride Troubadour Competition has been held in conjunction with the Telluride Bluegrass Festival since 1991.
1991 - Larry Good
1992 - Cosy Sheridan
1993 - Dan Sheridan
1994 - Catie Curtis
1995 - LJ Booth
1996 - Michael Lille
1997 - Jonathan Kingham
1998 - Eugene Ruffolo
1999 - Libby Kirkpatrick
2000 - Mary Coppin
2001 - Kris Delmhorst
2002 - Deb Talan
2003 - Rachel Davis
2004 - Brian Joseph
2005 - Keith Greeninger
2006 - Nels Andrews
2007 - Gregory Alan Isakov
2008 - Nathan Moore
2009 - Mitch Barrett
2010 - Robby Hecht
2011 - Matt Harlan
2012 - Reed Waddle
2013 - Reed Turner
2014 - Michael Kirkpatrick
2015 - Caitlin Canty
2016 - Anna Tivel
2017 - Clint Alphin
2018 - Garrett Owen
2019 - Emily Scott Robinson
2023 - Jackson Emmer
Questions?
Please reach out to us at contests@bluegrass.com.