Finland’s national broadcaster, Yle, has opened the submissions window for UMK 2026. The winner of the selection will go on to represent Finland at Eurovision 2026 in Austria.
Rules tweaked ahead of UMK 2026
In a press release, Yle officially opened the submissions window for the upcoming edition of UMK. Interested artists have from Monday (August 18th) until Sunday (August 25th) to submit their entries.
In a small change to previous years, entries that were rejected from UMK 2026 will be able to submit these songs to other selections. Otherwise, many of the same rules remain the same compared to previous editions. All acts should include at least one songwriter or lead singer who holds Finnish citizenship.
Speaking on the opening of submissions, UMK 2026 jury head Tapio Hakanen said:
UMK’s impact on creating Finnish music phenomena has grown year by year. Last season’s successes included Erika Vikman’s Ich Komme with over 30 million streams, Nelli Matula’s Hitaammin hautaan – the biggest radio song of the year – and Goldielocks’ breakthrough with the English-language song Made Of.
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.
To apply, follow the link here; all artists will hear back from Yle by October at the latest. The final of UMK 2026 will be held on February 28th.
Finland’s Eurovision journey
Finland debuted in the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing 10th with Laila Kunnunen’s “Valoa ikkunassa.” Since then they have competed 56 times, and appeared in the final 48 times. Finland has finished in the top 10 an impressive 14 times. They have won the contest once in 2006, with Lordi’s performance of “Hard Rock Hallelujah” getting 292 points.
Finland’s most recent entry was “ICH KOMME” by Erika Vikman. Competing in the second semi-final, Erika qualified for the final, and would eventually finish in 11th place with 196 points. Of these, 108 came from the televote, while the jury awarded her 88 points.
Are you excited to see what Finland has in store? Who would you like to see applying for UMK 2026? As always, please let us know what you think by getting involved in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Threads, tumblr, and Bluesky for more information about Eurovision 2026!
News Source: Yle
Photo Credit: Corinne Cumming / EBU
Euan T