Liverpool 2023

Austria’s Eurovision 2023 entry to be selected internally

Austria will choose their entry for Eurovision 2023 internally. The act will be revealed by early 2023.

Some of the first information has come out about the next Austrian entry, with news site Kleine Zeitung reporting on the steps ORF, the Austrian broadcaster has taken thus far. As they have done in recent years, since 2017, the country will be selecting its entry via an internal selection process.

15 acts involved

Last weekend, ORF invited 15 artists to internal live castings. These acts were scouted by a team including Eberhard Forster, the leader of the Austrian scouting delegation, and Lukas Hillebrand. The choice will be down to an internal jury, made up of both Austrian and international music experts, as well as taking some input from Eurovision fan clubs from several countries. The jury is expected to total around 25 people.

From the favourites, ORF program director Stefanie Groiss-Horowitz and entertainment director Alexander Hofer and his editors will choose the Austrian act by early 2023.

Compared to the situation at about this time last year, more acts remain in the process, and the consultation of international juries and fanclubs is a new change.

Austria at Eurovision recently

Austria must surely be hoping for a change in its Eurovision fortunes from their eventual selected act for 2023. The country has failed to qualify in its previous 3 appearances, with Paenda, Vincent Bueno and LUM!X and Pia Maria all failing to make it past the semi-finals in 2019, 2021 and 2022 respectively.

Austria certainly can and do score Eurovision hits though, few can forget their triumphant victory in 2014 with Conchita Wurst’s ‘Rise Like A Phoenix’, and their most recent final appearance in 2018 scored them a bronze medal with Cesar Sampson’s ‘Nobody But You’.

‘Halo’ by LUM!X and Pia Maria was the most recent Austrian entry. An uptempo dance number, it failed to advance from 2022’s first semi-final, finishing 15th with 42 points.

Is there an artist you’d like to see represent Austria? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter@escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to follow us on Spotify and YouTube to see our reactions to the news in the run up to the 2022 national final season!

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