Switzerland has taken another step on the road to Eurovision 2019.
Broadcaster SRF has revealed 420 songs have been submitted for the Alpine Nation’s internal selection.
Now a 100-person Audience Panel and 20 international jurors will begin the work to find Switzerland’s act for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.
Many thanks for more than 420 songs. The audience panel and the 20 jurors of the international expert jury will now evaluate the entries and artists.#Switzerland #Eurovision #ESC2019 #srfESC #SRF #TelAviv2019 @Eurovisionhttps://t.co/GUlEdtPLPo
— SRF ESC (@srfesc) October 1, 2018
Details around criteria and the process remain slim on the ground, but the votes of the panel and international jury will each count for 50 percent.
The individual Swiss broadcasters were all able to submit wild card entries for consideration and SRF has revealed two have taken advantage of the option. Italian-Swiss broadcaster RSI has run a public wildcard contest, but the news from SRF also reveals that French-Swiss broadcaster RTS has also taken advantage of the opportunity.
SRF, RSI, RTS and Romansh-Swiss broadcaster RTR will announce the winner later. Entrants to the competition will be notified of results before the end of 2018. Songs are not currently available online and the release does not clarify whether the broadcaster will reveal them.
SRF has announced major changes for the way it selects Switzerland’s act for the Eurovision Song Contest. In July it scrapped long-time national final Die Entscheidungsshow and unveiled the new internal selection process.
The process appears closely modelled on Germany’s selection for Eurovision 2018, down to the same data partner
Simon-Kucher & Partners being drafted in to algorithmically select an audience panel with the broadest possible music taste for the competition.
SRF will hope changes can turnaround a downturn in Switzerland’s fortunes at Eurovision in recent years. Swiss acts have spent the past four years in the semi-finals and have only made it to the Grand Final twice since the two semi-final format was introduced in 2008.
The past two years have seen Swiss acts come agonisingly close to qualification however. ZiBBZ finished 13th in Semi-Final 1 this year and last year Timebelle came within 4 points of qualification in Ukraine.
I hope Stefanie Heinzmann is among them.
It honestly sounds like a step in the right direction. It feels like they’re taking this all very seriously and if they take the time to consider their options and get outsider perspectives they could do very well indeed. It definitely worked for Germany.
Speaking of national selections: while Switzerland’s is out, Croatia’s is in! Dora will be returning to select the Croatian entry this year (so sayeth another fan site that I can’t name or else my comment gets held back, look it up).
Nothing will beat ZiBBz. JUSTICE FOR STONES <3
4/20