Back in July, German broadcaster ARD confirmed that “eight to ten” acts would make it to the grand final of the German national final for Eurovision 2019. Now the selection process is well underway, as the fan jury has gathered for the first time to pick the top 50 from 198 candidates.

NDR entertainment director Thomas Schreiber recently spoke with Prinz and shared details of the national selection process. Step one of the selection process is well underway, where the broadcaster will first focus on shortlisting artists.

In the interview, Schreiber revealed that just over 1000 artists have submitted an entry. As well as entries submitted via the open online process, the producers also took suggestions from music industry colleagues as well as scouting for potential acts online.

From there, the production team evaluated 965 acts and reduced them down to 198. Next it’s the turn of the Eurovision Jury to evaluate the acts.

The Eurovision Jury evaluates

The Eurovision Jury is made up of 100 German Eurovision fans. They have been specifically selected to get a cross-section of fans that represent the general tastes of the Eurovision voting public.

The jury met for the first time yesterday in Cologne and began the process of evaluating the 198 acts, with the aim of making a shorter list of 50. Jury members will continue to meet in coming days, with seven events taking place in fou German cities.

Der Startschuss für den #ESC Vorentscheid ist gefallen, in Köln urteilen die ersten Teilnehmer der Eurovions-Jury. In den nächsten Tagen werden wir für Euch dabei sein und berichten.

Posted by Eurovision Song Contest Deutschland on Sunday, August 26, 2018

The 50 songs the Eurovision Jury rates the highest will then be assessed by an international jury, made up of 20 experts from 20 different countries. They will rate the 50 songs and the top 20 acts will then be invited to a Eurovision workshop in Cologne.

Next comes matching the shortlisted artists with songs. More than 150 songs have already been received, but as with last year’s process, songs will be newly written at the songwriting camp in November.

The broadcaster is aiming to have the final competing acts and their songs confirmed by December. Details of the national final show itself have not been confirmed, but it is expected to take place sometime in February 2019. The show’s title is likely to follow the Unser Lied für… format, completed by the chosen host city for Eurovision 2019.

The format for the 2019 national selection closely follows the successful format used in 2018. It led to six acts performing their songs at the national final, where Michael Schulte was the unanimous winner.

He went on to place fourth in Lisbon, which ended Germany’s five-year run of placing near the bottom of the scoreboard.

What do you think? Who would you like to see compete in the German national final? Sound off in the comments section below!

Read more Germany Eurovision news here

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Jo.
Jo.
5 years ago

I hope it’s not the case, but sometimes the fans get the thing totally wrong.
Let’s see how this will fare.

Yuliya
Yuliya
5 years ago

Where we can find the form for to register in songs’ selection ? ( Germany)

Domux
Domux
5 years ago

And they say lithuanias selection is long…

EscAU
EscAU
5 years ago

they’ll have to have something different from everyone else again to do well (led screen vs everyone else), fingers crossed germany always sends good enough songs

ESCFan2009 (male, 22, German)
ESCFan2009 (male, 22, German)
5 years ago

Can’t wait for our preselection and national final! LET’S DO THIS!!!!!!!! 😀

Kris
Kris
5 years ago

Do you know anyone who is in the Eurovision jury?

ESCFan2009 (male, 22, German)
ESCFan2009 (male, 22, German)
5 years ago
Reply to  Kris

Mostly all of the readers from our German Eurovision fanpage have applied for the jury. And some of them are in it, so yes, I know them from online. But I myself was sadley not taken for the jury XD

Roy Moreno
Roy Moreno
5 years ago

Wish we had something like that in Israel :\
I really think I could use as a Eurovision Jury :3