Eurovision: Australia Decides to select entry on February 9th

After teasing a change of plans for the contest, SBS has announced that Eurovision: Australia Decides will be hosted in order to select their entry for their upcoming 2019 contest. 

Gold Coast wins the bid

According to The Courier-Mail, the Gold Coast succeeded in getting the rights to host Australuia’s first ever national selection. The successful bid from the Queensland Government and Gold Coast City Council managed to win over the likes of Sydney and Melbourne. Remarkably, this is another major event hosted by the Gold Coast, after hosting their first TV Week Logies as well as the Commonwealth Games.

“We’re just continuing to build on the Gold Coast’s international reputation as a powerhouse of Australia’s film and television industry.”

Annastacia Palaszczuk, Premier and Trade Minister

Eurovision: Australia Decides

After selecting their first 4 entries internally, SBS has decided to let the public decide their Eurovision entry for the first time! The country’s 5th entry will be selected through Eurovision: Australia Decides, the first ever national selection for the country.

The selection will be hosted in the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre and will take place on 9 February 2019. The broadcaster, in cooperation with production partner Blink TV, will select the artists for the selection and will proceed to pair them with a shortlist of songs. Additionally, the broadcaster will select a jury panel for the selection.

The selected jurors, as well as a public voting, will select the Australian entry. Just like in Eurovision, a jury show will take place the day prior; the jury will account for 50 percent of the result and the televoting for the rest 50 percent. This will mark the first ever live Eurovision show to be held in Australia.

“We have great plans to make the Gold Coast Eurovision Central in February 2019, so spandex and sequins at the ready – it will be an awesome show.”

Paul Clarke, Blink TV director

Songwriters and composers can submit their original songs on SBS website up until 4 November.

What do you think about the first ever Australian national selection? Are there any artists you would like to see competing? Leave a comment below or tweet us @ESCXTRA!