San Marino’s “revolutionary” project was unveiled this afternoon, with the announcement of the country’s first ever Eurovision national selection for the competition, produced in partnership with the company 1 in 360.

What is 1 in 360?

1 in 360 the company behind the upcoming Sammarinese national selection who are on the lookout for the next big star! Based in London, United Kingdom, 1 in 360 is behind the concept that San Marino will use in order to find their representative for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest, collaborating alongside the Sammarinese national broadcaster, SMRTV.

Wherever you’re from, whatever your age, submissions are open to everyone across the globe!

The selection comes in 3 main stages; Submit a song, Build support and Live shows.

Submit a song

The first stage of the competition sees bidding artists submitting either a cover or original song to the official 1 in 360 website. Whether a solo act or a group made up of no more than 6 members, all acts are suitable.

Submissions will open later this week on the 21 October and will close on the 30 November, before the next stage of the competition gets underway.

An alternative submission option sees candidates paying a fee of €4.99 per entry for a guaranteed review of their entry via the judges.

Build support

Once submissions are published via the 1 in 360 website, acts will get the chance to build up support through social media, looking for likes and shares over the coming weeks. Submissions must receive over 100 likes/shares in order to be considered by the jury.

The company behind the selection will chose a total of 10 participants to compete in the first of their 7 shows, each of whom will be revealed in December 2017, with the show set to broadcast both online and via satellite from January 2018. Three of the 10 candidates may be chosen via wildcard.

Excitedly, in a never-before-seen move, parts of the shows will be filmed and broadcast in 360 and virtual reality!

Live shows

From January 2018, each of the 10 acts will battle it out for the chance to represent San Marino at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. Voting through each show will be open to the public, with more details expected in due course. The final will take place in February 2018.

Not only will the winner of the selection get the chance to represent the micro-nation in Lisbon, but the winner will also be offered a record contract with the opportunity of recording an entire album.

This is the first national selection of its kind for the country of San Marino, the country which originally debuted in 2008 and has only ever selected their representatives via internal selection.

Further details regarding the forthcoming selection can be found via the official 1in360 website.

What do you think of San Marino’s exciting new project? Do you think it’s an interesting concept?