“We are so proud and happy with our victory in the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna. Now we are getting ready and making effort for another top placing, this time om home ground. As always, we are looking for songs in various languages, genres and styles. The big variety is a part of Melodifestivalen”, says Christer Björkman, the head producer of Melodifestivalen 2016.

The song submission for the Swedish national selection will open on 1 September at 9:00 and will close on September 16 at 8:59 (local times). Interested songwriters, who stand with the rules of Melodifestivalen 2016, can submit their song to the competition. As last year, there are three different ways to participate in the contest:

1. Ordinarie tävling (Regular contest) – Submission for songwriters with previously published work. A total of 14 songs from this route will qualify to the televised contest.
2. Allmänhetens tävling (Public contest) – The route for new songwriters without any previous work published. The top 5 will get a place among the total Top 100, at least one song will qualify to the televised contest.
3. Invitation by SVT – The Swedish broadcaster will invite 13 entries to compete and might include songs from the two competitions. For the fourth year in row, the winner of Svensktoppen Nästa, a talent competition organised by Swedish Radio P4, will be included among these 13.

Like last year, a total of 28 songs will compete in Melodifestivalen 2016. The winner won’t have to travel too far as he or she will represent the host country of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.

Stay tuned to ESCToday.com for more updates regarding Sweden in Eurovision Song Contest 2016!