Jakob Thomas at the 54th Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, KS (9/19/26 – photo © Jeromie Stephens
The festivities have been concluded at the 2026 Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, KS, including their prestigious National Flat Pick Guitar Championship and other important contests.
We’ll have a more detailed report from Nick Hancock later this week, with more images, but wanted to get a winners list up, and share some of the beautiful photos Jeremie Stephens has shared from the park. In an interesting twist of fate, Winfield is Jeremie’s hometown, so he was able to visit with his dad as well as take in the festival this year.
And the 2026 winners are:
2026 National Flat Pick Guitar Championship
- Dillon Hodges – The Shoals, AL (Preston Thompson Custom D-MA guitar as prize)
- Anthony Howell – Kosciusko, MS
- Nick Norris – Nashville, TN
2026 Old Time Fiddle Championship
- Edith Sigler – St. Louis, MO
- Bonnie Norris – Nashville, TN
- Mary Parker – Mountain View, AR
2026 National Mandolin Championship
- Anthony Howell – Kosciusko, MI (Bulas Mandolin as prize)
- Ezekiel Green – Walnut Ridge, AR
- Myles Thompson – Hendersonville, TX
2026 National Bluegrass Banjo Championship
- Joey Gipson – Manchester, TN
- Alex Davis – Machester, TN
- Brian Anderson – Rancho Cordova, CA
2026 National Hammer Dulcimer Championship
- Daniel Jordan – Austin, TX
- Ilace Mears – Saddlebrooke, MO
- Deb Jones – Black River Falls, WI
2026 International Finger Style Guitar Championship
- Henry Ferland – New Paltz, NY (Taylor Builder’s Edition 814ce guitar as prize)
- Brandon Green – Walnut Ridge, AR
- Nick Norris – Nashville, TN
2026 International Autoharp Championship
- Loriann Clayton-Bethard – Kansas City, MO (Whippoorwill Acoustics 15-Bar Diatonic Autoharp as prize)
- Fredona Currie – Heber Springs, AR
- Michael Poole – Chapel Hill, NC
2026 National Mountain Dulcimer Championship
- Adam Cantor – Houston, TX (McSpadden TearDrop Baritone Mountain Dulcimer as prize)
- Lydia Houston – Bokchito, OK
- Elijah Wright – Kennard, Texas
Here’s a large gallery of photographs from Jeremie Stephens.
