RÚV, the Icelandic television broadcaster, has selected 16 songwriters for the privilege to pen the song that will represent the Northern European country at the upcoming edition of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Although 174 submissions were received at the headquarters of the national public-service broadcasting organization of Iceland, only sixteen songwriters were selected to fight for the lucky Eurovision ticket. Amongst them, several former participants such as Hallgrímur Óskarsson,the composer of the 2003 Icelandic entry or Jógvan Hansen (runner-up in this year's national selection) can be seen.

Here is the complete list of the sixteen authors :

• Albert Guðmann Jónsson
• Arnar Ástráðsson
• Hallgrímur Óskarsson
• Haraldur Reynisson
• Ingvi Þór Kormáksson
• Jakob Jóhannsson
• Jógvan Hansen / Vignir Snær Vigfússon
• Jóhannes Kári Kristinsson
• María Björk Sverrisdóttir
• Matthías Stefánsson
• Orri Harðarson / Tómas Hermannsson
• Pétur Örn Guðmundsson
• Ragnar Hermannsson / Sigurjón Brink

Moreover, RÚV also announced that the official date of Söngvakeppnin 2011 is set for February 12.

Iceland debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1986 when the vocal trio ICYfinished 16th. Since then, the island country has entered Europe's favourite TV show 23 times. Their best result is the 2nd place achieved by Selma Björnsdóttir in 1999 and more recently by Yohanna in 2009.