2026 National Youth Music Competition Set to Color Gwanggyo Lake Park This Weekend

The '2026 National Youth Music Competition' will be held at 5 p.m. on September 12 at the Outdoor Theater of Gwanggyo Lake Park.

For this competition, 158 teams and 401 youth participants aged 14-24 from across the nation applied for the preliminaries. After undergoing online first and second rounds of screening, seven teams have been selected for the finals: △2 bands, △4 instrumental and vocal acts, and △1 rap artist.

Seven teams will compete in the finals: 'Bada', Hyo-jin Kim, Chae-min Kim, Ji-hyeon Choi, 'Gangnim', 'Sky Notes', and 'Broken Days'. From Suwon, the five-member band 'Sky Notes' from Youngtong-gu will perform their original composition 'To You'.

Finals contestants will compete with original compositions. Following judging, one grand prize winner, one gold award, one silver award, three encouragement awards, and one special award will be selected, with a total prize fund of 15 million won.

After the finals competition, singer Owen will deliver a congratulatory performance followed by the awards ceremony. After the ceremony, singers Shin Ye-young and Lee Ye-jun will perform.

Prior to the event, a pre-competition performance by the first competition's grand prize-winning team will be held from 4:30 p.m. A promotional video for '2026-2027 Suwon Visit Year' will also be screened.

The competition is free to view for all citizens. Admission is on a first-come, first-served basis. If more than 600 spectators attend, admission may be restricted for safety reasons.

A Suwon City official stated, "This will be a stage where youth from across the nation can showcase music they have created themselves and share their talents and passion with citizens," and added, "We hope many citizens will visit Gwanggyo Lake Park and enjoy performances by these young musicians together."