Serbia first made their Eurovision debut as an independent nation back in 2007, and on their debut, won the contest with the song Molitva. The selection behind the winning song was the national final format of Beovizija, and after a few years of internal selection, the Serbian broadcaster RTS have chosen to return to the winning format.
The song submission period for the 2018 national final was meant to end on the 20th of October, however the broadcaster has decided to extend the submission period for another few weeks, finishing on the 10th of November. This gives the potential representatives more time to create and perfect the ultimate Eurovision song!
Serbian broadcaster RTS is hoping that by extending the submission period, they are able to receive as many diverse entries as possible in order to give the national final a competitive atmosphere. It’s still unsure as to whether the national selection will consist of one or two shows, and we don’t yet know where it will be held, but that information will come in due time! The two hosting possibilities are the RTS studio in Kosutnjak or the traditional host of Beovizija, the Sava Centar.
The finer details about the selection have been released however, including the format of the selection and the regulations for the submissions. Out of the submitted entries, there will be a shortlist of up to 10 acts who will be chosen by a panel of music experts from RTS. In the case that there aren’t enough quality entries, RTS are also able to just select one entry internally.
The finalists will perform in televised show which is likely to happen in February 2018. The winner will be selected though a mixture of both televoting and jury vote. RTS are hoping for entries that are ‘fun and popular,’ so perhaps an upbeat tune will represent Serbia this year?
The other requirement is that song lyrics must be written in one of languages used within Serbia, which includes of course Serbia, as well as Albanian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Hungarian, Romanian, Rusyn and Slovak which are all recognised minority languages. The singers must be Serbian citizens, and RTS wants all potential representatives to have ideas for potential staging.
Stay tuned for more news on Serbia’s selection, but for now watch their 2017 Eurovision entry here!
