Details are out regarding Sweden’s national selection for next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, with submissions for Melodifestivalen 2018 officially set to open on the 1 September.

Only weeks since the final of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest took place in the host city of Kyiv and preparations are already underway across numerous participating countries in next year’s competition, with plans for next year’s Swedish selection already kicking off.

Rules and regulations for the 2018 Swedish selection remain largely unchanged, seeing a total of 28 acts competing throughout the competition for the right to represent the nation in the host country of Portugal.

Submissions open 1 September

From Friday 1 September, songwriters and acts will be able to submit their entries for the 2018 Melodifestivalen selection, with bidding entries receiving over 2 weeks in order to submit their entries to the country’s national broadcaster, SVT.

As with recent years, Melodifestivalen 2018 will see a total of 28 acts competing for the right to represent their country at the Eurovision Song Contest; 14 entries will be shortlisted following an open call for submissions via the broadcaster, whilst the remaining 14 entries will be selected via a special invite from SVT.

Among the 28 participants will see 1 entrant selected via P4 Nästa 2017 who will receive a guaranteed place in Melodifestivalen 2018.

Submissions will officially close on Monday 18 September at 17:59 CEST, from which a special selection process will take place in order to determine the 28 participants. A full set of rules and regulations can be found via SVT’s official website.

As is tradition, the 28 competing participants together with the song titles and composers are set to be revealed later this year in the October/November period.

Winning 2017 Melodifestivalen performance by Sweden’s Robin Bengtsson.

Cities for Melodifestivalen 2018

Last month, one of the first host cities for the 2018 Swedish selection was announced and confirmed as Karlstad, a city which last hosted one of the Melodifestivalen shows back in 2013, having also hosted previous shows in both 2004 and 2006.

In total, 6 Swedish cities are selected to host one of the annual Melodifestivalen shows, with the capital city of Stockholm usually being selected to host the final of the selection.

Further details regarding Melodifestivalen host cities are expected to be announced in the coming months.