By confirming their participation in the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest 2018 and the conduct of their national selection Söngvakeppnin, Iceland had become a part of our #10DaysofConfirmations project. After that, yesterday saw the national broadaster RÚV release details about the selection process and the submission of songs that is already open.

Song submissions

As RÚV has confirmed, the song submissions will be open until Friday, 20 October at 23:59 at the official website of the broadcaster. After that date, any new songs could not be uploaded. The Icelandic broadcaster encourages artists from all music genres to submit their entries, as they point out the goal of this song contest is to promote diversity. All songs must be submitted and sung in Icelandic in the semi-finals. However, the performers of the 6 songs that will progress to the final will have the right to sing their entries in the language that they will be using at Eurovision.

On the road to Söngvakeppnin 2018

After the deadline of 20 October, the broadcaster will choose 12 of the submitted entries to compete in the two semi-finals of Söngvakeppnin on 10 and 17 February at the Háskólabíó conference hall. The final evening will be held two weeks later, on 3 March at Laugardalshöll Arena with three songs from each semi-final competing, 6 in total.

RÚV has also decided to raise the money prize for the winner from 1 million Icelandic kroner to 3 million. As a matter of course, the winner of the competition will earn the right to represent the nation at the 63rd Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon, Portugal.

Iceland at Eurovision

Iceland firstly took part at Eurovision in 1986, when the broadcaster RÚV connected their satellites to other European nations. Since then, the country has been counting 30 appearances in the contest, with the last time they qualified to the Grand Final being in 2014. Iceland’s best placing in the contest has been a 2nd place, achieved on two occassions; in 1999 and in 2009.

In 2017, the winner of the national final Söngvakeppnin was the Icelandic singer Svala with an electropop entry called Paper. Svala competed in the first semi-final evening of 9 May in Kyiv. However, she didn’t make it to the final, as she ended up 15th with 60 points.

Here’s her performance at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017:

Can 2018 be Iceland’s year at Eurovision?