The Walnut Valley Festival sponsors eight instrumental contests. Several “big name” artists today (Mark O'Connor, Alison Krauss, Chris Thile, Peter Ostroushko, to name a few) can point to being a “Winfield winner” in their earlier years.

The contests are well-attended since most contestants bring their contingent of fans and there are others who simply want to be able to say, ten years from now, “I remember back when he won Winfield.”