The countdown to Eurovision has officially started.
The largest music event in Finland, Yle’s Contest for New Music (UMK), kicked off today with the opening of the new season’s song submission phase.
This competition invites all music creators to participate, aiming to discover fresh talent and songs, as well as to select Finland’s next representative for Eurovision.
During this decade, UMK has become a prominent Eurovision national selection, significantly impacting Finnish music, with many artists achieving chart success.
Hopefully “Liekinheitin,” “Takatukka,” “Lululai” and other great UMK songs have inspired Finnish music creators
Tapio hakanen, chair of umk’s professional jury
“Last season’s UMK and Eurovision were a great success both in terms of the songs’ achievements and musical diversity,” Tapio Hakanen, the chair of UMK’s professional jury, noted in a statement. “Hopefully “Liekinheitin,” “Takatukka,” “Lululai” and other great UMK songs have inspired Finnish music creators to make distinctive, creative and diverse songs with which they can now apply for the upcoming season.”
The 16th Contest for New Music (UMK27) will take place on February 20, 2027, at Tampere’s Nokia Arena, with artists announced in January.
The submission window for UMK27 is open from August 17 to August 23, 2026, with details available at yle.fi/umk.
Previous UMK winners:
• 2026, Linda Lampenius x Pete Parkkonen – ”Liekinheitin”
• 2025, Erika Vikman – ”Ich komme”
• 2024, Windows95man – ”No Rules!”
• 2023, Käärijä – ”Cha Cha Cha”
• 2022, The Rasmus – ”Jezebel”
• 2021, Blind Channel – ”Dark Side”
• 2020, Aksel Kankaanranta – ”Looking Back”
• 2019, Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman – ”Look Away”
• 2018, Saara Aalto – ”Monsters”
• 2017, Norma John – ”Blackbird”
• 2016, Sandhja – ”Sing It Away”
• 2015, Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät – ”Aina mun pitää”
• 2014, Softengine – ”Something Better”
• 2013, Krista Siegfrids – ”Marry Me”
• 2012, Pernilla Karlsson – ”När jag blundar”
