33rd Annual Troubadour Contest
33rd Annual Troubadour Contest
33rd Annual Troubadour Contest
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 third-party recording or publishing deal. Finalists are awarded cash and prizes, as well as critical acclaim, well-deserved recognition, and a chance to perform on the Festival’s main stage!
Congratulations to the 2026 Telluride Troubadour winner Taylor Sims of Longmont, CO!
2026 Troubadour Finalists
After carefully listening to 315 submissions from around the world, our panel of judges has selected the following finalists and honorable mentions for the 2026 Telluride Troubadour Contest.
Troubadour Winners
Congratulations to the 2026 Telluride Troubadour winner Taylor Sims and all of this year’s top finalists who performed in the finals in Telluride on Friday, June 19:
- Taylor Sims (Longmont, CO)
- Sarah Morris (Shoreview, MN)
- Will Breman (Santa Barbara, CA)
- Nathan K. (Nashville, TN)
- Sara Beth Go (Nashville, TN)
And the other top finalists who performed live in Telluride:
- Ben Suchy (Bismarck, ND)
- Joel Van Horne (Denver, CO)
- Kat Lane (Boulder, CO)
- Michelle Raybourn (Nashville, TN)
- Stephanie Sammons (Dallas, TX)
Alternates (invited to Telluride if any of the finalists are unable to attend)
- 1st Alternate: David Tiller (Lyons, CO) - “Good Apple”
- 2nd Alternate: Allison Strong (Union City, NJ) - “Human Years”
Honorable Mentions
Congratulations to these 11 songwriters awarded an honorable mention by our judges (listed in alphabetical order):
- Cindy Kalmenson (Ojai, CA) - “Midlife Chrysler”
- Heather Lloyd (Owings Mills, MD) - “It Could’ve Been Worse”
- J.M. Clifford (Brooklyn, NY) - “When You Dream”
- Mark Shiiba (Swarthmore, PA) - “Gone with the Wind”
- Mike Ward (Detroit, MI) - “Somebody’s Home”
- Paul Russell (Lafayette, CO) - “Queen of The Concrete Jungle”
- Philip Bowen (Montgomery, WV) - “Sticks on Me”
- Remi Goode (Nashville, TN) - “Don’t Drive Me Home”
- Stefan Weiner (Brooklyn, NY) - “Grandma’s House”
- Travis Ehrenstrom (Bend, OR) - “Arrival”
- Zoe Berman (Simsbury, CT) - “Microscope”
A sincere thank-you to everyone who submitted songs for the 2026 contest. Our judges were consistently impressed and inspired by the craft, creativity and passion conveyed by every songwriter. We’re looking forward to hearing more from all of you in the future!
Important Dates
June 18-21, 2026: Troubadour Contest Finals (Live Performances) - Telluride, CO
- Thursday, June 18 @ 11:15am: Preliminary Round (All 10 Finalists) - Elks Park Stage
- Friday, June 19 @ 2:30pm: Final Round (Top 5 Finalists) - Elks Stage
- Saturday, June 20 @ 5:15pm: Troubadour winner performs a 2 song set on the Festival Main Stage in front of 10,000 joyous Festivarians from all over the world. Award is presented on stage immediately prior to performance.
2026 Prizes
Top 10 Finalists
The top 10 Finalists will compete in 2 contest rounds on the Elks Park Stage in Telluride. These 10 Finalists will all receive:
- 4-day pass (w/ Town Park camping) to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival
- Performance slot at the Elks Park Workshop Stage in addition to contest performances
- Performance slot in Heritage Plaza in Mountain Village
- Live radio interview and performance with KOTO radio in Telluride
Thanks to our contest sponsors
Santa Cruz Guitar Company
Presenting the 1st Place Troubadour Guitar
For five decades, Santa Cruz guitars have been the choice of legendary musicians who demand exceptional tone, playability, and craftsmanship.
Taylor Guitars
Presenting GS Mini guitars to 2nd-5th place Troubadours
Renowned for blending modern, innovative manufacturing techniques with a master craftsman’s attention to detail, Taylor acoustic guitars are widely considered among the best-sounding and easiest to play in the world.
Finalist Prizes
Taylor GS Mini Guitar + $500
Taylor GS Mini Guitar + $400
Taylor GS Mini Guitar + $300
Taylor GS Mini Guitar + $250
$150
Rules & Guidelines
Live Contest Rounds in Telluride
The top 10 songwriters will be selected to attend the Troubadour Contest Finals held live in Telluride, CO during the Telluride Bluegrass Festival
- Contest Finals Format
- Preliminary Round - Elks Park - All 10 Finalists perform any 2 original songs, top 5 selected to advance to Final Round
- Final Round - Elks Park - The top 5 finalists perform 2 different original Songs, winner selected
- Winner - Main Stage Performance @ 5:15pm on Saturday
- Rules for Live Performances
- No backup musicians allowed. This is a solo competition.
- No co-writes. Songs must be entirely written by the performing songwriter.
- Finalists may not repeat songs from preliminaries in the finals. (But they may perform any of their original songs.)
- Recommended time limit: 5 minutes per song. Points will be deducted for significantly exceeding this limit.
- Acoustic instruments with pickups are permitted. The only permitted effect is an EQ device. No looping or other effects.
- Instruments allowed are those that can be carried out to the mics with the performer. A keyboard will be provided if necessary.
Song Submissions
Songwriters submitted MP3 recordings from December 11, 2025 thru March 25, 2026. MP3 song submission recordings 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 (1-100 pts)
- 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, and natural 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.
- Sorry, contestants will not receive feedback from Judges.
Scoring
To select the winners amongst the ten finalists, a panel of judges drawn from different facets of the music industry – songwriters, performers, DJs, producers – independently evaluate the performers’ songs based on our scoring criteria:
- 50% Song Composition (Lyrics, theme, emotional impact, hook, originality, melody, appeal, phrasing, cadence, form, and structure.)
- 25% Vocal Performance (Pitch, resonance, range, and natural inflection.)
- 25% Stage Presence (Expression, instrumental skill, impact, pace, dynamics, balance, rhythm, and color.)
Sorry, we are not able to share the judge’s scoring sheets with contestants.
How to Enter
Song submissions are now closed for the 2026 Telluride Troubadour Songwriting contest. We’ll begin accepting entries for the 2027 contest in December.
Past Winners
The Telluride Troubadour Competition has been held in conjunction with the Telluride Bluegrass Festival since 1991.
1991 - Larry Goo
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
2024 - Martin Gilmore
2025 - Carin Mari
Questions? We can help! Please reach out to us at [email protected].