Charles RunnellsFort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News
July 28, 2026, 5:02 a.m. ET
- Sarah Hardwig, a blind singer from Southwest Florida, received a standing ovation and four “yeses” from the judges on “America’s Got Talent.”
- Hardwig was diagnosed at five months old with Leber’s Congenital Amaurosis, a condition that left her almost completely blind.
- The 23-year-old Naples native moved to Nashville in 2021 to pursue her music career after graduating from Belmont University.
- Fans will find out if Hardwig advances to the live rounds during the “Live Acts Revealed” episode on July 28.
Will Southwest Florida’s Sarah Hardwig make it to the live rounds on“America’s Got Talent”?
She and the NBC show’s fans could find out Tuesday, July 28, during the “Live Acts Revealed” episode. That’s when “AGT’s” four judges finalize most of the top 44 acts performing on the show’s upcoming live episodes. Those start Aug. 18.
Tuesday’s episode will also announce who moves on to the new Judges Callbacks rounds, which start Aug. 4. Performers who didn’t make the initial cut get a second chance to earn a slot in the live episodes.
Sarah Hardwig’s inspiring story and powerful voice won the blind musician a standing ovation during her July 21 audition on “America’s Got Talent” and gushing praise from the show’s judges. The 23-year-old got “yeses” from all four judges.
Judge Howie Mandel said he loved Hardwig’s message and energy.
“That was beautiful and heartwarming and you are the epitome of resilience to show up here and to sing your heart out and to move three or four thousand strangers in this room — and hopefully millions of people at home…” he said. “This show is about inspiration, and you’re inspiring.”
The Naples native — who moved to Nashville in 2021 to pursue her music career — has become a breakout star on the show, including a write-up in national entertainment news site Billboard.
A lifetime of making music in Naples and Nashville
Sarah Hardwig might be hitting the national stage for the first time, but she was already a familiar face in Southwest Florida. Until she moved to Nashville, she’d been singing in Naples and Fort Myers since she was a little girl.
Hardwig says she’s known music would be her “thing” since she was 5 years old, when she sang the children’s song “One Small Voice” for her kindergarten graduation. But her love of music is even older than that.
“I knew music was my calling when I was around three or four years old,” she told The Naples Daily News/The News-Press. “My mom and dad would always tell me that I would always stand in front of the TV and listen to music playing from the TV.”
She went on to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at baseball games with the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels, Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox. She also performed at Lee County’s annual Island Hopper Songwriter Fest and as part of children’s vocal ensembles for Opera Naples and The Naples Philharmonic.
She graduated from Nashville’s Belmont University in 2025 with a degree in songwriting. Now she’s working on her music career, recording music and performing at popular Nashville venues like The Bluebird Cafe, the Tin Roof and the Listening Room Cafe.
“I play songwriter rounds,” she said. “I write songs and all that stuff. I’m trying to make music my career.”
Sarah Hardwig’s blindness
At 5 months old, Hardwig was diagnosed with Leber’s Congenital Amaurosis, a condition that left her visually impaired.
“I guess there were a couple months before I was diagnosed where it was presumed that I could see stuff because I used to grab at things,” she said. “And I used to track my mom. I used to kind of track her movement with my eyes. And it started when my mom noticed that I was not tracking her anymore.”
Now she’s almost completely blind.
“I cannot see any shapes, shadows, colors, large print,” she said. “I cannot see any of that. The only thing I have is light perception, and that is it.”
Hardwig says she’d never let her disability hold her back, though.
She won the Tennessee Songwriters Showcase in 2023 and later that year won the Daniel’s Music Foundation’s Danny Award for musicians with disabilities. Then she made her debut at The Grand Ole Opry in 2024.
The country singer-songwriter plans to release several new singles this August, she said. Those will eventually be gathered in an EP.
How to watch ‘America’s Got Talent’
“America’s Got Talent” airs at 8 p.m. Tuesdays on NBC. It streams the following day on Peacock.
The show moves to two episodes a week starting Aug. 18 with live episodes, according to NBC’s website.
This season’s judges are Simon Cowell, Sofia Vergara, Howie Mandel and Mel B.
For more about the show, visit nbc.com/americas-got-talent.
Charles Runnells covers arts and entertainment for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. To reach him, call 239-335-0368 or email crunnells@usatodayco.com. Follow or message him on Facebook (@charles.runnells.7), Instagram (@crunnells1) and X (@CharlesRunnells).
