New formula for Sanremo Giovani, only one winner who will compete with the big names

The Sanremo Giovani 2026 Regulations will be online from Friday 7 August, the path that will accompany the public in discovering the new voices of Italian music and which introduces a different mechanism compared to previous editions.

The project, led by the artistic director Stefano De Martino and by the Prime Time Rai Entertainment Management, confirms itself as a privileged laboratory for the discovery and valorisation of emerging talents, but with a novelty destined to make the path even more competitive and prestigious: at the end of the selection a single winner will be announced which will directly enter the category of Champions of the Sanremo Festival 2027.

From auditions to 30 talents

The first phase involves listening to all the songs entered by the Music Commission. From the applications received, 60 artists will be selected and called to participate in live auditions.

At the end of the hearings they will emerge 15 artists from Sanremo Giovani, who will be added to the 15 artists from the Sanremo Area, for a total of 30 young people talents.

The live phase, the promotion on Rai 1 and the final

The journey will then continue with a new phase of live selections, which will take place in Sanremo over two weekends, in the presence of artistic director Stefano De Martino. From these hearings the 6 finalists will emerge, equally divided between the two routes: three coming from Sanremo Giovani and three coming from Area Sanremo.

Before the decisive challenge, the six artists will have the opportunity to make themselves known to the general public through a special editorial promotion activity: they will in fact perform during as many episodes of an important Prime Time television event on Rai 1, bringing their music to the Rai flagship network in a context of extraordinary visibility.

The journey will culminate on December 18th, in prime time on Rai 1 from the Sanremo Casino, with the live final of Sanremo Giovani 2026. The six finalists will compete in front of the Music Commission, until the selection of only one winner which will achieve the most prestigious goal: direct access to category of Champions of the Sanremo Festival 2027, fully entering among the protagonists of the main Italian musical event.

With this new formula, Sanremo Giovani further strengthens its role as a bridge between emerging talents and the great stage of the Festival, offering young artists an even more structured, visible and meritocratic path. The full regulations of the event will be available on the official website www.sanremo.rai.it. The registration platform will be active from Monday 17 August.