BNT, the Bulgarian national broadcaster, has published the rules and regulations for the 2026 Bulgarian national selection and set the dates of the competition.
Bulgaria will be returning to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2026 after a three year hiatus. BNT will be organizing a national selection in order to select the 2026 Bulgarian Eurovision act and entry which will consist of three televised shows scheduled to be held in January and February.
- 24/01/2025- First Show
- 31/01/2025- Second Show
- 28/02/2025- Grand Final
BNT has invited 15 artists to partake in the 2026 Bulgarian national selection.
The national selection process:
- First Show– During the first show all 15 acts will perform a song from their repertoire, hereafter after a combined jury/ public voting deliberation the to top 7 acts will proceed to the second show.
- Second Show– During the second show the 7 qualified will perform a song from their repertoire, hereafter after a combined jury/public voting deliberation the act with the highest score will proceed to the Grand Final and will win the golden ticket to Eurovision 2026.
- Grand Final– During the third and final show the winner will perform a total of three songs (specially created for the Eurovision Song Contest), hereafter the jury and public will deliberate the 2026 Bulgarian entry after a combined voting.
The 2026 Bulgarian Eurovision entry and act will be determined via a combined professional jury- tv audience vote.
Bulgaria in Eurovision
Bulgaria joined the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005 and is yet to win the event. The country achieved its best results in the competition in 2017 with Kristian Kostov. Bulgaria has participated 14 times in the competition and has only made it to the Grand Final 5 times.
In 2022 Intelligent Music Project represented Bulgaria at the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin with their entry ‘Intention‘.
