Westside Cowboy win Glastonbury's Emerging Talent Competition 2025

Westside Cowboy has been named as the winners of Glastonbury's Emerging Talent Competition 2025.

The Manchester-based ‘Britainacana’ band emerged victorious on Saturday night (26 April) during the conclusion of the competition's live final at Pilton Working Men’s Club.

With this victory the band has won a slot on one of the festival’s Woodsies Stage in June, as well as a £5,000 Talent Development prize from PRS Foundation.

The two runners-up were Ghana-born, Gloucester-raised neo-soul / hip hop act Nat Oaks and Welsh language singer-songwriter Mali Hâf. Both will receive a £2,500 Talent Development prize from PRS Foundation, while BBC 6 Music’s Huw Stephens confirmed that both runners-up would also get a slot at this year’s festival.

The winner and runners-up were selected by a judging panel who included Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis, Glastonbury stage bookers and music business professionals.

The winner of the 2024 Emerging Talent Competition was Jamaican-Irish rapper JayaHadADream, who has since seen her work feature across national TV, radio and media, as well as performing at other major festivals including Reading & Leeds and Boomtown.

Speaking to M last year, Jaya reflected: ‘I was already building my confidence, but the Glastonbury win really made me feel unstoppable. If you reach for something, you actually can get it.

'I’m from a working-class background where we had free school meals, so to even go to a festival like Glastonbury was amazing because it’s been on my bucket list for so long. It was all funded as well, so I didn’t need to worry about the finances because the PRS Foundation grant really helped, enabling me to pay my band which is really important. I got to perform a song which features some bars about quitting my day job and making it to Glastonbury, which was a nice full-circle moment.’

(Picture credit: Westside Cowboy with Huw Stephens © Rick Mav)