The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 is still far away, but some die hard Dutch fans and press people have started the search already for the artist or band that should bring the Netherlands back in the final again after not making it for 4 consecutive years.

A special profile page has been created on Hyves, the Dutch equivalent of Facebook. The idea of the so called Eurovisie Platform was born in Belgrade, after Hind’s elimination in the semi final.

One of the initiators, Grieteke Meerman states: "We were quite disappointed about the poor result of Hind this year. Actually, it’s been too long since The Netherlands made it to the final! We decided to create the Eurovision Platform in order to help Dutch broadcaster NOS to find the most suitable artist or band for 2009, and of course to help them finding the best song!"

"First of all, we selected 50 artists and bands which were divided into 5 groups of 10 acts. Every week, fans can vote for their favourites. Out of every group, 5 acts will proceed to the final, which will take place on Thursday July 24th. We want to recommend the top 5 to Dutch broadcaster NOS, because this top 5 will be a serious indicator as it represents the most desirable participants of the Dutch fans."

After the elections of the artists, the Platform will continue to contact the best Dutch composers and songwriters to write songs for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. Grieteke explains: "Actually we hope that NOS can contract an artist or band on a short term, which will make it easier for the songwriters. It’s easier to write a song if you know who you’re writing for."

In recent years the elected artists got all the freedom to choose their song for Eurovision, which caused a lot of criticism in the Netherlands. In 2007, Edsilia picked a song written by her husband and in 2008 Hind picked a five year old song,written by herself. The Platform believes that NOS should keep a closer eye on the song selection as well. "We believe that many of the talented Dutch songwriters didn’t even take the effort anymore to compose a song, because they knew it was useless on beforehand. We hope NOS will change this detail of their selection formula. It’s the only way to receive more songs and to be sure that the most suitable song will be chosen for The Eurovision Song Contest."

The following artists and bands have made it to the Eurovision Platform final already: Anouk, Alain Clark, Wouter Hamel, Chipz!, Wende Snijders, Glennis Grace, Trijntje Oosterhuis, Big Black and Beautiful, Zuco 103, Krezip, Bearforce 1, Ilse de Lange, Gerard Joling, Ellen Eeftink and Nathalie Makoma. This list will be completed with 10 more names.

More information can be found here(In Dutch only).