Serbia has opted for a change in tactics for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest as the country’s national broadcaster, RTS, has today announced a new selection concept in order to choose their forthcoming entry for Lisbon.

Confirming Serbia’s Eurovision participation earlier this month, the country’s national broadcaster, RTS, today released details of a new selection process for the nation at Eurovision 2018, seeing a mix up to the recent selection methods for the nation.

For 2018, RTS has invited hopefuls to anonymously submit their entries for the forthcoming competition, with one highly regarded entry going on to represent Serbia at Eurovision 2018 in Lisbon next May.

Bidding composers can be of any nationality, however artists wishing to represent the nation itself must be Serbian.

National language requirement

Whilst the nation has opted to perform their entries in the English language since their return in 2015, RTS has decided to introduce a language requirement for their 2018 selection process; all submitted entries must be written in one of the official languages of Serbia for the performers.

A full set of rules and regulations can be found via the official RTS website.

Submissions close on 20 October

All applicants wishing to submit an entry for next year’s competition should be submitted by the 20 October under the title ‘Pesmu Evrovizije 2018’ to the following address:

JMU, Radio-televizija Srbije,
Zabavni program,
Muzička redakcija,
Takovska 10,
11000 Beograd

Hereafter, a selection committee composed of music editors at RTS will listen to and assess each of the submissions accordingly. Judging submissions based on their artistic quality, the broadcaster will shortlist up to 10 entries to be put towards an expert jury at a later date.

The expert jury will go on to select Serbia’s entry for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest, with more details expected to be released in the coming months.

Changes for Serbia over the years

Since their debut at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007, the nation has opted for a variety of selection processes over the years; from national to internal selections, the country has seen a wide range of results at the competition, including their debut victory with Marija Šerifović and Molitva.

The country withdrew from the contest in 2014, returning the following year with a national selection process for the Vienna-hosted competition. Their chosen representative, Bojana Stamenov, brought Serbia one of their best results in the contest with Beauty never lies, earning 53 points and ending in 10th place respectably.

Two internal selections by RTS have followed; 2016 saw Sanja Vučić ZAA bringing the nation to the final once again, eventually finishing in 18th position with her entry Goodbye (Shelter).

Tijana Bogićević is Serbia’s most recent representative, competing at the 2017 competition in Kyiv with her song In too deep. Performing first in the second semi-final, Serbia just missed out on a place in the final after receiving a total of 98 points, finishing in 11th position.

With changes being made once again to Serbia’s Eurovision selection process, will we see the nation back in the final next year in Lisbon?