Germany: Back to basics in German national final

by Jessica Weaver 1,957 views

The German national broadcaster, ARD, has today confirmed that the country will go back to basics in their upcoming national final, reverting back to a similar selection process which brought the country their best results to date.

Confirming their participation in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest to ESCToday back in May, it has today been confirmed that the German national broadcaster will once again opt for a national final in order to select the country’s representative for the competition.

Over the past number of years, Germany has opted to select their representatives for the Eurovision Song Contest via the Unser Song für… selection procedure, bringing the country mixed results over recent years, including 2 consecutive last places.

Changes to national final

Due to recent results, ARD has decided to go back to basics in order to select Germany’s 2017 Eurovision representative; a total of 5 up and coming artists will compete for the right to fly the flag in the host city of Kiev next year, performing songs composed by globally successful national and international producers.

Entitled Unser Song 2017, submissions are now open for artists who are looking to compete in the national final. Applications can be submitted via the official contest website unsersong2017.de.

Once submissions close, an expert committee will then shortlist a total of 30 candidates who will then compete in a second round of castings, where a total of 5 finalists will be selected to compete in the national final in Cologne on the 9 February 2017 from 20:15 CET, hosted by Barbara Schöneberger.

A 3-member jury panel will be present in the final who will comment on the performances by each of the finalists, consisting of members Tim Bendzko, Florian Silbereisen and Lena. Whilst the jury panel will comment on the performances, the representative will be decided 100% via a public vote.

Lena, who represented Germany in both 2010 and 2011 and brought Germany their second Eurovision victory, encourages artists to submit their applications for the selection:

I can only advise everyone to send in their applications. It could be the best decision of your life. It could change everything.

Watch Lena’s winning Eurovision performance from 2010 once again!