Today, AVROTROS have revealed to ESCXTRA.com that the Dutch entry for the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam will be selected via an internal selection. It will be the eight consecutive time that The Netherlands will select their entry internally.
AVROTROS: “Selecting… through an internal selection”
With no details previously released about how the Netherlands will select their entry for the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest, ESCXTRA.com reached out to the Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS to discuss their selection method for the contest.
In response to our email, AVROTROS replied stating that:
AVROTROS will be selecting the Dutch entry through an internal selection.
– Famke Kroese, Communications Advisor for AVROTROS
We would like to thank AVROTROS for their swift response.
First internally selected host entry since 1999
The 2020 Dutch entry will actually be the first entry fully selected via an internal selection since Israel’s entry in 1999 when they hosted the contest in Jerusalem. Their internally selected entry was Eden with “Yom Huledet (Happy Birthday)”. All host entries in this century so far have been selected at least partially by a national final.
On three occasions, only the song was selected by a national final and the artists were internally selected – “For Real” (Turkey 2004), “Everything” (Greece 2006) and “Taken By A Stranger” (Germany 2011).
The Netherlands are no strangers to using internal selection to select their recent entries. Their last entry selected via a national final was “You and Me” in 2012. The following year, “Birds” by Anouk was the first Dutch entry to be internally selected since 2008 and the song actually ended The Netherlands’ eight year non-qualification streak. Since then, they have only failed to make the final once in 2015.
The Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Duncan Laurence represented The Netherlands in Tel Aviv in 2019 with his song, “Arcade”. After winning his semi-final with 280 points, Duncan also went on to win the final with 498 points, making him the winner ahead of runners-up Italy.
In the final, The Netherlands received a total of 8 sets of 12 points – two from the Televote (Belgium and Romania) and six from the jury vote (France, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal and Sweden).
Are you happy that The Netherlands will internally select their entry again for Rotterdam? Who do you hope will represent the host nation?
Let us know in the comments below and on social media @ESCXTRA.
