TVE, the Spanish national broadcaster, has revealed the names of the members of the 2019 Spanish national selection committee who will be responsible to whittle down the 1,000 plus submitted entries to twenty songs. Two separate committees will be in charge to evaluate and shortlist the  entries by 30 November.

Whilst OT 2018 approaches its last leg, Spain is in full steam preparing for its 2019 Eurovision national final. The 2019 Spanish Eurovision act and entry will be selected via the talent show for the second cosecutive year.

The 2019 Spanish Eurovision Song Submission consisted of two different mechanisms:

• Public call for song submission
• TVE/Gestmusic invitation to established composers to submit a song

The Spanish national broadcaster has received over 1,000 entries in its quest to search for the potential 2019 Spanish Eurovision entries via the two mechanisms. Now two separate committees will evaluate and shorlist the submitted entries.

Each committee will select 10 songs, thus 20 entries will make it it to the next stage of the national selection.

The first committee consists of five members representing OGAE Spain, RTVE Digital, AEV Spain and the Spanish music industry.  Whilst the second committee consists of five members representing TVE, RTVE Digital and the Operacion Triunfo teachers.

Committee 1 ( Songs submitted via public submission)

• Jose Juan Santana ( OGAE Spain president)
• Irene Mahia ( RTVE Digital)
• Zahara (singer/composer)
• Jose Luis Almo (AEV Spain)
• Alberto Jimenez (singer)

Committee 2 ( Songs submitted via TVE/Gestmusic special invitation)

• Ana Maria Bordas (Spanish Head of Delegation)
• Antonio Losada (Spanish Head of Delegation)
• Noemi Galera ( Headmistress of OT 2018 academy)
• Manu Guix (Musical Director OT 2018)
• Irene Mahia (RTVE Digital)

20 Songs in the competition

The 20 selected entries ( 10 via public submission/10 via invitation) will be assigned to the OT 2018 participants, who will then record their respective songs with the help of the OT teachers committee and the respective composers. Initially the OT 2018 hopefuls will work on their pontential Eurovision entries along with their composers/producers for a week and will record a 1 minute version of their songs (to be published for online voting).

Hereafter TVE will publish the 20 entries on its official website after the Grand Final of OT 2018 and open online voting enabling the visitors to vote for their favourite entries. The online voting will run for 2 weeks.

The three most voted songs from the online voting will proceed to the 2019 Spanish national final. Whilst a special five member committe representing TVE, TVE Digital and the Operacion Triunfo 2018 teachers committee will select a further 7 entries from the remaining 17 songs.

Hence TVE plans to have a national final with circa 10 entries battling for the golden ticket to Israel. The exact date of the Spanish national final is yet to be confirmed, one thing we know for sure is that Spain will be selecting their Eurovision representative and song for Tel Aviv next January.

National final in January

TVE is planning to hold the 2019 Spanish national final in January. During the live televised show all the participants will perform their respective potential Eurovision entries. The final deliberation will lie entirely in the hands of the Spanish audience who will determine the 2019 Spanish hopeful and entry via televoting/SMS/online voting.

If there is a tie between 2 candidates/ songs the Spanish audience will be invited again to vote for their favourite entry/candidate.

Operación Triunfo and Eurovision

2019 will see Spain select its Eurovision act and entry for the 5th time via Operacion Triunfo, having used this mechanism in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2018.

OT 2018 will determine the 2019 Spanish Eurovision representative, all 16 OT participants will be eligible to defend the Spanish colours in Tel Aviv.

One of 16 OT 2018 will follow Alfred & Amaia‘s footsteps and fly the Spanish flag at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv.