Yesterday marked one week until the Contest entry period closes. But don’t worry! There’s still time to submit the winning entry. You have until 11:59 p.m. ET (that’s 8:59 p.m. PT, 9:59 p.m. MT and 10:59 pm CT) this Monday, Feb. 9, to send in your best original song (featuring a desk!) by clicking this link right here.

Since we last wrote, we finished up our very first Tiny Desk Contest takeover, a celebration of this Contest community and all the incredible musicians we’ve met over the years. The final two artists joining the ranks of Sally Baby’s Silver Dollars as Contest alums who have now played the Desk are alt-R&B favorites FORAGER and the playful indie-folk cellist Ollella.

Ollella and FORAGER

Both FORAGER and Ollella have been regular features on Top Shelf and have become a consistent highlight for judges Bobby Carter and Robin Hilton. Bobby has described FORAGER as a blueprint for what he looks for in a standout entry and Robin often gets moved to tears by Ollella's work.

We asked these artists a few questions about what this community means to them, and what advice they would give musicians who were interested in entering themselves.

“Even if you don’t win,” says FORAGER drummer Colum Enrique, “it feels good to have an important goal we’re preparing for — you learn a lot in that process.”

Guitarist Jack Broza adds: “[Entering the Contest] put us in a community of other musicians and we’ve shared bills all across the country with them.”

When talking about the effort it takes to submit to the Contest year after year, lead singer Shyamala Ramakrishna says, “All of the work that you put in leads up to the one day where you feel like you’ve made it — even as a small indie band — it’s worth it.”

Ellie Barber from Ollella says that every year she brought in new collaborators “the Contest has helped Ollella grow into a collaborative ecosystem — having the Contest really facilitated that.” She continues: “Every year it became part of my creative flow — it felt like a creative container.”

The 2026 Tiny Desk Contest is presented by Capital One and supported by Rivian.

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With just one more week to enter this year’s Contest, we asked some of the NPR judges — who eat, sleep, breath and produce Tiny Desk concerts — what they look for in a winning entry:

“Don’t focus on winning, focus on being yourself, being true to your voice and what you love about making music in the first place. That’ll come through and matter more than anything else.” —Robin Hilton
“Don't overthink it. The song that you go back to most when you're sad or confused or happy or heartbroken — the song that brings you back to you, that's going to be the most exciting thing for us to hear. And have fun with it, the fun always adds a layer of magic for us.” —Anamaria Sayre
“Whatever makes you special — your voice, your presentation, your personality. I want to feel that emotion.” —Bobby Carter

Many of you have been hard at work crafting your entries. It's been such a joy to watch them flow in — like these soothing and creative submissions by Eleri Ward, Elaheh Roya and Waring. We can’t wait to see what this final week will bring!

From the Desk,
NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest team

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