International Blues Challenge 2026
The Nashville Blues And Roots Alliance has opened submissions for the upcoming International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN in January 2026. The world’s largest gathering of blues musicians will take place on Beale Street, with over 20 clubs hosting over 200 bands. This is a great opportunity for blues artists to showcase their talents to new fans and industry professionals as well as a chance to win some great prizes. Here are the prize packages the winners from 2023 received.
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Our band representative, Piper & The Hard Times, won the 2024 competition so we are stoked to send another stellar group of Nashville artists to compete next year!
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How the local challenge works:
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Bands, solo/duos, and youth acts submit themselves for the competition. Deadline for entry is July 1st, 2025.
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You must be a member of the Nashville Blues & Roots Alliance to participate.​
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We will have challenge shows with 4-6 acts each around the middle Tennessee area over the summer.
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For bands and solo/duos: Each show will have 3 judges with vast experience in the blues community who will pick 2 acts from each show to compete in our finals.
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If there are less than 6-7 entries in a category, then we will have just one show and the selected winner is who is submitted to the International Blues Challenge.
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All finalists will perform at our finals show with another set of 3 judges who will determine which act will be submitted for entry into the International Blues Challenge in January 2026.
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For youth delegates: All of our youth delegates will perform at a showcase and afterwards the NBRA board will select which act will be submitted.
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Winners in each category will then be submitted to the Blues Foundation who will then instruct them on participating from that point forward.
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We will hold fund raising activities all year to cover as much of the travel expenses to Memphis for each act as much as possible.
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We will also connect our acts with mentors who have participate and judged at previous IBC events to help them best prepare for the challenge.
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Good luck!
For more information on how the local competitions will be executed and the rules of the final challenge, please view the Blues Foundations guidelines here. We strongly suggest reading these guidelines to understand how the acts are judged and what to expect at the local challenges as well as the final event in Memphis.
