Six singer-songwriters have been named as winners in the 2026 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition for Emerging Songwriters. They were chosen by a panel of judges from among 24 finalists who performed two songs each during the New Folk Concerts on May 23 and 24 as part of the Kerrville Folk Festival, an 18-day event at the Quiet Valley Ranch in the Texas Hill Country near Austin and San Antonio.
Caitlin Cannon (Nashville, TN), Sarah Golden (Houston, TX), Helena Hallberg (Zurich, Switzerland & Nashville, TN), Hudson Mueller (Houston, TX), Stephanie Sammons (Dallas, TX), and Logan Vath (Norfolk, VA) will each perform 20-minute sets during a Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Winners Concert at the festival on Saturday, May 30. The concert will also be livestreamed on the Kerrville Folk Festival’s website (kerrvillefolkfestival.org) and Facebook page, as well as on the Kerrville Folk Festival Foundation’s YouTube channel. The recorded livestreams of the May 23 and 24 New Folk Concerts are on there as well.
This year’s competition drew more than 1,000 entries. The six performing songwriters named as 2026 New Folk Winners were selected by a panel of judges who evaluated their songs based on originality, lyrics, melody, harmonic structure, and other elements of song-craft. In addition to receiving $750 cash awards and two wristbands each for Kerrville’s 2026 “Welcome Home” Fest in the fall, the winners are also invited to participate in a New Folk Winners House Concert Tour prior to next year’s festival. Being named as a Kerrville New Folk Winner is regarded as a very prestigious honor in singer-songwriter circles.
Established in 1972 at the urging of Peter Yarrow, the Kerrville New Folk Concerts have become a highlight of the annual festival that is geared towards singer-songwriters of various musical styles and is the longest continuously running festival of its kind in North America.
This year’s Kerrville Folk Festival began on Thursday, May 21 and extends through Sunday, June 8, with more than 100 artists and acts featured during it. Besides concerts each evening, it features “Ballad Tree” song-sharing sessions, late-night and afternoon song circles and jam sessions at various campsites, concerts and activities for children, organized canoe and kayak trips on the Guadelupe River, Hill Country bike rides, guided nature walks, yoga, beer and wine seminars, a Young Artists Performance Incubator, a professional development program for teachers, as well as a songwriters school and instrumental workshops.
