RTE, the Irish national broadcaster, has opened the submission window for artists and composers wishing to represent Ireland at the forthcoming 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv to submit their entries and applications to the broadcaster.

Last month RTE confirmed to ESCToday Ireland’s participation at the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Israel.  The Irish broadcaster has invited accomplished songwriters and singers with a proven track of success in the music industry to submit a song for Eurovision 2019.

The submission window for artists and composers to send in their respective songs is open as of today and concludes on Friday 23 November 2018.

RTE is all set to bring back the coveted Eurovision trophy back on home soil for the 8th time. The broadcaster is  actively engaging with professionals in the music industry in its quest to search for the best song to represent Ireland at the upcoming Eurovision edition in Israel.

 

Mr. Michael Kealy (RTE’s Executive Producer and Head of Irish Delegation at ESC) says:

We were really proud of the Irish performance in Lisbon this year, months of work went into planning our Eurovision act, bringing together the various audio and visual elements, from song arrangement to choreography to lighting design. The performance of Together by Ryan O’Shaughnessy and dancers Kevin O’Dywer and Alan McGrath with backing vocals from Janet Grogan, Remy Naidoo and Claire Ann Varley received worldwide acclaim when performed on stage and created headlines around the world. Together placed 16th in the final which is the best result since Jedward came in eighth place in Dussledorf with Lipstick in 2011.

For Eurovision 2019 we want to produce a world class act that will do Ireland proud on stage in Tel Aviv and in front of a worldwide audience of nearly 200 million people. The Eurovision Song Contest is incredibly competitive so we need a top class song, with instant appeal and a highly experienced act who is used to performing live in front of large audiences.

Ireland in Eurovision

Ireland joined the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965 and has won Europe’s favourite television show a record 7 times  (1970, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996).

The Emerald Isle holds many a record when it comes to our beloved contest: Ireland is the only country to have won the event 3 times in a row (1992, 1993, 1994), whilst Dublin retains the record of being the only city to have hosted the event twice in a row (1994, 1995).

In fact the 90’s were Ireland’s golden years in Eurovision, the country welcomed the Eurovision bandwagon 4 times in a span of 5 years (1993, 1994, 1995 and 1997) with Dublin hosting the event thrice.

Ireland’s Johnny Logan is also the only artist to have won the competition twice (1980, 1987).

In 2018 Ireland selected Ryan O’Shaughnessy via an internal selection in order to fly the Irish flag at the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon with his entry Toguether. The multi talented young placed 16th in the Grand Final in Portugal.