ČT announces Czech national final details with results on January 29th

As previously announced, ČT will unveil the six competing entries for its relaunched national final on Monday, January 8th. Now, the Czech broadcaster has revealed exactly how their innovative national final will work. Most importantly, the winning entry will be revealed on January 29th!

Six music videos to premiere on January 8th

With the commencement of the national final imminent, ČT has confirmed exactly how the format will be structured. The final, branded EUROVISION SONG CZ, will commence on January 8th. On this date, the music videos of the six finalists will be unveiled during a press conference.

Voting open internationally

Then, as soon as the entries are revealed to the public, voting via the official Eurovision app will begin. Both Czech fans and international fans can vote, although only votes cast by Czech fans will count towards the final result. Votes are free and limited to one vote per person. Voting will close after a two week time period, on January 22nd.
During the same time frame, ČT’s international jury panel will also cast their votes. The results of the jury vote will be revealed on January 22nd, with 8 points being given to their collective favourite entry. 6 points will be awarded to their second favourite. Finally, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points will be awarded to their 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th favourite entries respectively.

A 50/50 scoring system

The Czech public votes will then be converted into the same scoring system, creating a 50/50% split between the public and international jury. These overall results will then be announced on January 29th where will we discover which song will represent the Czech Republic in Lisbon! In case of a tie, the public vote will take precedence.

High interest in the Czech Republic

More than four hundred songs were submitted to EUROVISION SONG CZ, 36 of which from Czech authors. It is expected that the final six artists will include Annabelle, Dasha, Doctor Victor, Honza Žampa, Jakub Ondra and Mikolas Josef. The latter two are expected to present the songs Reasons to Love You and Lie to Me respectively.

Czech Republic in Eurovision

The Czech Republic has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest six times since making its début in 2007. After receiving nul points in 2009 and a lack of interest from the Czech public, the Czech broadcaster ČT decided to withdraw. ČT announced their return to the contest in 2015. Determined to qualify for the grand final, in 2016 Gabriela Gunčíková represented the country with I Stand. She managed to place 25th in the final, making it the only time the country made it past the semi-finals.

Further reading: Throwback Thursday; Czech this out!

Are you excited for the Czech national final to get underway? Who do you think is in pole position to take the ticket to Lisbon? Let us know in the comments below!