Illustration image: istock.com/photoboyko
The TONO scholarship 2026:
This year, NOK 17,290,000 will be distributed across a total of 788 scholarships. Of these, 414 are TONO scholarships and 374 scholarships for Young Talents.
/ 26/05/2026 / Willy MartinsenThe scholarship schemes are an important tool in TONO's work to stimulate the creation of innovative musical works. All applicants have today received an email with a response to their application.
The scholarship committee has assessed all applications based on the criteria which is described on tono.no, and which was mentioned at the announcement of this year's scholarship on March 10, 2026.
Awarded scholarships will be paid out during week 22, that is, this week.
This year, NOK 14,910,000 will be awarded, divided into 414 TONO scholarships. The money is allocated at these levels:
Of the recipients, 292 are men and 124 are women.
This year, the Young Talents scheme will award NOK 2,380,000, divided into 374 scholarships:
Of the recipients, 265 are men and 109 are women.
See the list of scholarship recipients here
Scholarships from TONO are generally considered taxable income. TONO does not report scholarship amounts paid to the tax authorities. This means that you must do this yourself in your tax return for the 2026 tax year. Anyone who has received a scholarship can use the email they received from TONO as documentation in their tax return.
You can appeal the scholarship committee's decision to TONO's board within three weeks of receiving notification of the decision. It is only possible to appeal the case processing, not the committee's discretion.
The scholarship committee in 2026 consisted of Hilde Marie Holsen (Norwegian Composers' Association), Edvard Valberg (independent), Julian Skar (Norwegian Composers' Association), Håvard Skaset (independent, deputy), Hans Martin Autestad (NOPA), Tatiana Palanca Pereira (NOPA) and Marion Skogseth Bjørsvik (Music Publishers).
The scholarships are financed through cultural funds, in line with TONO's statutes. An annual deduction of up to 8 percent of TONO's settlement amount is made to cultural funds. In practice, the annual deduction to cultural funds amounts to approximately 6 percent of TONO's gross income and 7 percent of the distribution sums.
Of the cultural funds, 1/3 goes to scholarships, of which 7/8 goes to the TONO scholarship and 1/8 to the Music Publishers' scholarships. The remaining 2/3 goes to national music and cultural purposes, and is managed by the group associations NOPA, the Norwegian Composers' Association and the Music Publishers Association. The funds will be used for the best interests of all TONO members. You can read more about the cultural funds here: https://www.tono.no/om-tono/kulturelle-midler/