RTCG, the Montenegrin national broadcaster, has opted for a national final in order to select its Eurovision act and candidate for Lisbon.

Last month, the Montenegrin broadcaster confirmed to ESCToday Montenegro’s participation in Eurovision 2018. The Balkan country has had a tradition of selecting their Eurovision acts and entries internally in the last decade, but 2018 sees a change of direction. Next year, Montevizija/Montevision will return and the Montenegrin audience will get the chance to deliberate their Eurovision act and entry.

National final for 2018

• A total of 5 acts will battle for the golden ticket to Lisbon in a televised national final scheduled to be held by February.
• The submission window for artists and composers to submit their entries to the Montenegrin broadcaster will open on 1 November 2017.
• A special 5 member jury will shortlist the submitted songs to 5, hereafter it will be entirely in the hands of the Montenegrin public to deliberate the 2018 Eurovision candidate for Lisbon via televoting.

Montenegro in Eurovision

Montenegro debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007 as a solo country and is yet to win the competition. The country has only made it twice to the Grand Final (2014 & 2015), whilst its best result to date is a 13th place achieved by Knez in Vienna.

In 2017, Slavko Kalezić was selected via an internal selection by the Montenegrin broadcaster to fly to Kyiv. He represented his homeland with  Space; despite a catchy performance he failed to qualify to the Grand Final.