Australia: SBS reverts to internal selection for Eurovision 2023

by Sanjay (Sergio) Jiandani 859 views

SBS, the Australian national broadcaster, will be reverting to an internal selection in order to select the 2023 Eurovision entry and act.

Australian news portal TV Tonight reports that SBS will be opting for an internal selection for determining the 2023 Aussie Eurovision act and entry.

A spokesperson from SBS told TV Tonight:

We are thrilled to confirm that Australia will once again compete in the 67th Eurovision Song Contest next year, with hosts Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey at the helm. However, after three years of celebrating and working with local music artists through our Eurovision selection show, Eurovision: Australia Decides, we’ve made the difficult decision not to go ahead with the program in 2023.

Over the past few months, we have been exploring ways we could deliver the event to Australian audiences next year however, a variety of factors contributed to us coming to this decision.

We are proud to continue to be the home of the Eurovision Song Contest and we look forward to celebrating 40 years of broadcasting Eurovision to all Australians in the coming year.

The Aussies have selected  their Eurovision entry via a national final thrice: 2019, 2020 and 2022. It is yet unclear how SBS will select its Eurovision entry and act internally: either by direct invitation to an artist or via an open call for artists and songs.

SBS has not officially opened a song submission window for Eurovision 2023 yet. More details are expected to be unveiled in due course.

Australia at Eurovision

Australia debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015 and has competed 7 times in the competition. Dami Im retains the country’s best placing in the competition till date, having placed 2nd at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm.

Source: TV Tonight
Photo credit: SBS