Through 12-minute performances, seven on-campus a cappella groups will compete Saturday for the chance to sing at the men’s and women's Little 500 bike races in April.
The IU Student Foundation revived the event, called IU Sing in 2024 after a 14-year hiatus. The event will include 12-minute slots for each group to perform, however they please.
Aimie DeLeon, assistant director of student lifetime engagement at IUSF, said IU Sing originated in the 1930s and was a two-day event at the IU Auditorium through the YMCA that was mainly for sororities, fraternities and other student groups to participate in. Around the ‘60s or ‘70s, though, the IUSF took ownership of the event. It served more as a performance with a theme with no Little 500 ties than a competition.
The event ended in 2010 due to decreasing participation. But when DeLeon learned of increasing interest due to new a cappella groups, IUSF brought it back in 2024. DeLeon also decided it would select which groups would sing at the Little 500.
“We have all these a cappella groups and for the 2023 Little 500 race, my very first one, I only knew of a few and so I would contact them to sing at the races,” DeLeon said, “and then I was like, 'Wait, but we have all these other groups too.'"
DeLeon said it makes it easier for her because the top placing teams get to go, not just those she happens to know and is able to reach out to.
The top three placing groups get the chance to sing at the bike race. The first-place winners have first pick out of three options: the national anthem, “Back Home Again in Indiana” and “Indiana, Our Indiana.”
These winners are picked by a panel of four judges who all have a background in music. This year, the panelists are Chris Boveroux, choir director at Bloomington North High School, Marietta Simpson, music professor at the Jacobs School of Music and Malcolm Dalglish, local Bloomington musician. The final judge will be Victoria Rowe, the only student judge and a director of Live from Bloomington with the Union Board.
The competition will also include a fan vote to give the audience a chance to participate. Each audience member will get one vote, and they can do this through a QR code in the program.
Although the winner of the fan vote will not get the opportunity to sing at the Little 500 races unless they also get top three, they will be awarded a microphone trophy. The top teams also receive a trophy, which is new to this year's competition.
“I wanted them to have something big that you can see from the back of the theater,” DeLeon said.
Last year’s winners, who received a plaque instead of a trophy, were Humraah, which sang the national anthem at the 2025 Little 500, Another Round, which sang “Back Home Again in Indiana” and The Singing Hoosiers A Cappella, who sang “Indiana, Our Indiana.”
DeLeon said one of the biggest changes she’s making to the competition this year is switching to wireless microphones. She said last year the wires hindered some of the performances, as many of them incorporate choreography to their shows. Another Round, which placed second last year, is one of these groups.
Junior Jonah Broscow of Another Round said at last year's competition, the group tried to do some dance and choreography, which was more difficult than he hopes it will be this year.
This year's performance, Broscow said, will include choreography, but the group also has a surprise original song it will sing, written by Broscow himself.
“It’s our 30th anniversary this spring, and so we’re working on an album this semester,” Broscow said. “We thought it would be fun to write an original song for our album about the IU football team and just being a Hoosier.”
The original song, he said, will be released sometime in late March and has yet to be performed or heard by anyone outside of the group, making IU Sing its debut performance.
Broscow said the competition is a great chance for Another Round to see all the other campus a cappella groups perform and be around them. It is also an opportunity for the group to continue its tradition of singing “Back Home Again in Indiana” at the Little 500, which sophomore Jamie Davis said was really special to the group.
“It’s a really fun event, but there’s definitely a lot of history behind it,” Davis said. “We’re trying to I guess, prove that we deserve to, you know, perform at Little 500 every year.”
Another Round used to always sing “Back Home Again in Indiana” at the Little 500 before IU Sing was brought back, but as more groups formed, they also wanted to get involved. Davis said if they win top three, they will always pick that song if it is available to them because of the tradition.
The competition won't just be to decide who sings at the Little 500 though; ticket sales will go to the IUSF’s philanthropy campaign this year, Students Helping Students.
Senior Kendall Thom, IUSF steering committee president, said IUSF is partnering with basic needs under the IU Student Care and Resource Center to help support students who need assistance meeting housing, food, transportation and other everyday needs.
“I hope people just get a fun entertaining experience out of it, but I also hope that maybe if they don’t know about Students Helping Students or they don’t know about IUSF that they come away from this event knowing who we are and what we do and maybe are inspired to be a part of our campaign this year or attend the Little 500 races,” Thom said.
The a cappella competition will take place at The Buskirk-Chumley Theater and will begin at 6 p.m. General admission tickets will cost $23.87 and are available on the Buskirk-Chumley Theater website. There are also student tickets available for $16.69 and youth tickets available for $13.61.
