The Finnish national broadcaster YLE has opened submissions for the country’s upcoming national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK).

As was confirmed to ESCToday back in May, YLE will once again opt for the national selection UMK in order to select their act for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, the same selection process which has been used since 2012.

As with previous years, competitors must either own Finnish citizenship or must have permanent residence in Finland. Complying with Eurovision rules, performers must be 16 years of age or over, with one song being accepted per artist. The song entry is not eligible to compete in any other national selection for Eurovision and must not exceed 3 minutes. A full list of rules and regulations can be found via YLE.

UMK 2017 submission requirements

• Entries must be submitted online in mp3 format.
• A video including details of the artist should be sent to the broadcaster in MOV or MP4 format.
• Two professional photos of the act should be attached (1 portrait and 1 landscape).
• All social media platforms for the artist should be include.
• A DOC, PDF or RTF file of the song lyrics should also be included.

There are 2 ways in which acts can submit their entries to the broadcaster, with more details published via YLE’s website.

With submissions opening earlier this week on the 1 September, artists have until 12:00 EEST (11:00 CEST) on the 5 September in order to submit their applications.

Back in February this year, Sandhja was selected via UMK 2016 in order to represent Finland at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. With her song Sing it away, Sandhja opened the first semi-final of the competition where she went on to receive a total of 51 points, finishing in 15th position in the semi-final.