Finnish broadcaster YLE has started the search for the Finnish entry for the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev. Following the Swedish example of Melodifestivalen, 4 semi finals organised in different Finnish towns and 1 grand final at the Tampere Hall will take place.

The success of Melodifestivalen in neighbour country Sweden didn't stay unnoticed in Finland. Finnish broadcaster YLE now comes up with a similar format to select the 2005 Finnish Eurovision Song Contest representative.

Four semi finals will take place on Fridays in different Finnish towns: on 14th and 21st January and on 4th and 11th February. In each semi final, 3 songs will proceed to the grand final taking place at Tampere Hall on Saturday 19th February.

During the final, the Finnish song for the Eurovision Song Contest will be selected in two stages: half of the songs will first be eliminated by regional juries, the remaining 6 songs will then be judged by the Finnish audience through SMS and televoting.

Songs for Eurovision laulukilpailu, Suomen karsinta 2005 can be submitted until 1st October 2004. There is no restriction on the nationality of writers and composers, but YLE underlines that the perfomer(s) should have the Finnish nationality.

Besides, YLE will approach composers directly to commission eight of the songs that will compete next year. Each semi final will contain two songs from �specially invited� composers. The names of these composers will be made public 2nd August 2004. The full list of Suomen karsinta 2005 songs will be announced 1st November 2004, the performers will be revealed one month later on 1st December 2004.

YLE is encouraging performers to sing in one of the national languages, Finnish or Swedish, during the semi final. Switching to English in case a song proceeds to the final will still be allowed. YLE however stresses on the point that the language used during the final will be the language used at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Finland did not qualify for the final of this year's Eurovision Song Contest and will thus have to go through the same selections again next year.