ORF, the Austrian national broadcaster, has announced that it will be broadcasting a special Eurovision online competition ‘Der Kleine Song Contest’ next week. The show will run for three nights and will be hosted by the Austria’s ‘Mr. Eurovision’ Andi Knoll.

Den Kleine Song Contest is set to be broadcast on 14, 16 and 18 April on ORF 1 at 20:15 CET. The three shows will pay tribute to the 2020 Eurovision entries and artists. Andi Knoll will present the official music videos of the 41 competing 2020 ESC entries to the Austrian audience throughout the 3 nights.

A special jury consisiting of former Austrian Eurovision representatives will vote for their favourites during the three shows. Each night a winner will be deliberated by the jury, then on the last night the Austrian public will be invited to choose the winner out of the three jury elected winners.

Der Kleine Song Contest schedule

• 14/04/2020– Show 1 (14  countries)
• 16/04/2020– Show 2 (14 countries)
• 18/04/2020– Show 3 ( 13 countries/ Audience voting)

The  Der Kleine Song Contest Jury

• Waterloo (Austria 1976)
  
• Simone (Austria 1990)
• Petra Frey (Austria 1994)
• Manuel Ortega (Austria 2002)
  
• Alf Poier (Austria  2003)
• Eric Papilaya (Austria 2007)
• Nadine Beiler ( Austria 2011)
• Conchita (Austria 2014-Eurovision winner)
  
• ZOE (Austria 2016 )
• Cesár Sampson (Austria 2018)

Andi Knoll says:

After the EBU decided that this year’s Eurovision acts were allowed to compete next year, but only with new songs, it would be a shame if this year’s songs all end up forgotten in the history. So we decided to bring a special contest in order not to cancel the Eurovision Song Contest. It is a unique mix of live and video versions. It will be very varied and finally you can vote for Austria!

Each song will be introduced by a special tv produced postcard featuring the competing acts and highlights from their respective countries’ Eurovision history. The special jury will vote in true Eurovision manner giving 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12 points.

Vincent Bueno for Eurovision 2021

Vincent Bueno was set to represent Austria at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam with his entry ‘Alive’, but the competition has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Vincent will represent Austria at the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest next year.