Up there in the European north, the cold Iceland is gearing up for their Eurovision 2018 national selection. With Eurovision being the absolutely favourite TV-show of the Icelanders, the national broadcaster of the country RÚV has once again decided to host their since 2007 established annual music competition Söngvakeppnin.

The exciting news coming in is that the revelation of this year’s 12 competitors will take place not in the distant future, but next week, on 19 January.

How is it going to work?

Söngvakeppnin 2018 consists of two semi-final rounds which will take place on 10 and 17 February respectively. 6 entries will appear in each round, but only 3 of them will get the chance to perform again in the final and claim the Icelandic Eurovision ticket.

Following the semi-finals, the Grand Final which will determine the event’s winner will be held two weeks later, on 3 March. The Háskólabíó conference hall in Reykjavik will become home to the semi-finals, whilst Laugardalshöll Arena will host the final evening.

Initially, the two semi-finals will see each artists perform his/her entry in the Icelandic language. However, the lucky ones making it to the final, will then have to sing their entry in the language that they intend to use on the Eurovision stage.

The winner of the show will defend the Icelandic colours next May in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon.

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 the electropop entry Paper. Svala competed in the first semi-final evening of 9 May in Kyiv. However, she did not qualify to the final, as she ended up 15th with 60 points.

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

Whom would you like to see taking part this year?