It’s the 1 September, bringing the official Eurovision season to a start! Excitement builds as submissions across a number of participating countries have opened today, amongst them being the first ever Eurovision host nation, Switzerland.

This morning from 8:00 CEST, the Swiss national broadcasters officially opened submissions for the country’s forthcoming national selection process for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest.

Via the Swiss-German broadcaster’s official website, SRF, applicants are now able to submit their entries to the national broadcasters, each of which to be taken into consideration for the forthcoming selection.

Open to all nations

Last year saw a revamp to the Swiss Eurovision selection process, with new rules indicating that at least one member of the act or production team behind the submitted entries must but of Swiss origin or citizenship. However, 2018 has seen another slight change to that rule.

Whilst artists and composers of Swiss descent or citizenship will be given priority during the jury selection round of the process, submissions can be entered from anyone around the world, including both composers as well as singers.

Acts have until the 22 September at 8:00 CEST to submit their entries to the broadcaster.

The full set of rules and regulations can be found via SRF’s official site.

Jury to shortlist finalists

As has been the case in recent years, a jury comprised of 20 members will assess each of the submitted entries before selecting a currently unspecified number of finalists to compete in the Swiss live show on the 4 February 2018.

The 20 jury members will consist of a variety of representatives within the music and media world, with a handful of Eurovision fans and television viewers also set to be selected to have their say in the jury selection process.

Once assessed, the chosen finalists will be contacted by SRG SSR in order to confirm their participation in the forthcoming selection for the country.

Jury to have 50% say in final

In another shake-up to the 2018 Swiss national final, this year will see the jury panel have a 50% say in the final vote, with the remaining 50% being determined via the televote.

Previously during the live final stage of the selection, the winners and Eurovision representatives have been solely decided via a televote. How will this change the final outcome for Switzerland in 2018?

Last year’s Swiss representatives, Timebelle, were selected via 100% televote

It’s been almost 30 years since Switzerland’s last victory at the competition. Will 2018 in Lisbon finally be their year?