A few days ago, the Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) published the submission period for the Lithuanian national selection. LRT-spokesman Audrius Giržadas  commented in an interview the strategy of the broadcaster for a big result in Lisbon.

First and foremost, no major changes have been made since last year. The LRT producer did not specify how many songs or performers will be selected for the Eurovizija, the Lithuanian TV-show to select the entry for the Eurovision. The Baltic country hopes to be back in the Grand final next year.

Looking for the right one

Audrius Giržadas admitted that he has already received numbers of submissions from Swedish agencies, and that he encourages any singer and songwriter in Lithuania to give it a shot. According to the rules from LRT, songwriters from all over the world can submit their titles. The performer(s), though, must be Lithuanian citizen(s).

The purpose of the competition is – of course – to select the best song that will represent Lithuania in Lisbon. As usual, the song must be maximum three minutes long and must not have been released before the 1 September 2017. All the entries meeting the quality standards will advance in the selection.

First the song, then the performer(s)

Besides other standard Eurovision requirements, performers can enter the selection with or without their own song. It appears that the LRT will find the best song and then look for the most suitable performer(s).

The dates of the national selection Eurovizija will be published once the selection is completed. Like the last edition, the winning song will be decided from both the TV-viewers and the commission of experts.

This past winter, 49 entries competed in the national selection. After eleven TV-shows, Fusedmarc with their song Rain of revolution took the victory. The duo was awarded twelve points from the televote as well as from the Lithuanian and the international juries.

In Kiev, Fusedmarc placed seventeenth out of 18 entries in the second semi-final, missing out the access to the Grand final after two qualifications in a row.

Lithuania is the only Baltic country yet to win the Eurovision Song Contest after the victories of Estonia in 2001 and of Latvia in 2002.

The complete selection rules can be found here.