A New Season of the Contest for New Music (UMK) starts now – Song Submissions Open!

During this decade, UMK has become one of the most followed national finals in the Eurovision world. In Finland, UMK has established itself as a springboard for new artists and songs, and many of the participating songs have become major hits both in Finland and abroad. The winner of UMK26 will represent Finland in the next Eurovision Song Contest in Austria in May 2026, performing for hundreds of millions of viewers.

The 15th edition of the Contest for New Music (UMK) will be held at Nokia Arena in Tampere on February 28, 2026. The selected artists and songs will be announced, as is tradition, in January.

The selection of UMK’s songs and artists will again be handled by several juries this year. The main influence lies with a jury of music professionals, chaired by YleX’s Head of Music Tapio Hakanen. In addition to the professional jury, five public juries will contribute to the selection, inviting a diverse range of representatives from various fields. Last year’s jury reform was a success and will continue this year as well.

“UMK’s impact in creating Finnish music phenomena has grown stronger year by year. Last season’s successes included Erika Vikman’s ICH KOMME with some 30 million streams, Nelli Matula’s biggest radio hit of the year Hitaammin hautaan, as well as Goldielocks’ breakthrough and great success with the English-language song Made Of,” says Tapio Hakanen, chair of the professional jury. “UMK has no genre restrictions, and we hope to receive as diverse a selection of songs as possible for our professional and public juries to review!”

Applications for UMK are submitted via a form available at yle.fi/umk. The competition rules are also available on the website in Finnish, Swedish, and English. The application opened today, August 18 at 8:00 and closes on August 24 at 23:59. All applicants will be contacted by the end of October at the latest.

Previous UMK winners:
Erika Vikman, 2025
Windows95man, 2024
Käärijä, 2023
The Rasmus, 2022
Blind Channel, 2021
Aksel Kankaanranta, 2020
Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman, 2019
Saara Aalto, 2018
Norma John, 2017
Sandhja, 2016
Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät, 2015
Softengine, 2014
Krista Siegfrids, 2013
Pernilla Karlsson, 2012

Media contacts:

UMK and Eurovision:
Juhani Lassila
Head of Media
ext-juhani.lassila@yle.fi
+358 40 541 2365

UMK and Eurovision:
Anssi Autio
Executive Producer
anssi.autio@yle.fi
+358 40 749 0047