RTVE, the Spanish national broadcaster and organisers of the annual music festival Benidorm Fest have opened the song submission window for Benidorm Fest 2026.
🇪🇸 Benidorm Fest 2026 song submissions open
Next year, the Spanish music festival and national selection will return. Submissions are now open for Benidorm Fest 2026. The closing date for artists and composers to submit proposals is 23:59 CEST on September 24. After this time, between 16 to 20 entries will advance to the live shows. A further 6 entries will be held on a reserve list.
Fifth edition of Benidorm Fest to undergo changes
A number of adaptions to the format are in place to ensure the growth of the festival. Among the tweaks are changes to the voting method and the overall production of the three live shows.
One change to the festival is the introduction of a creative team and Creative Director role. The Creative Director of Benidorm Fest will supervise the creative team and oversee the overall vision of the show and staging of the songs. It is hoped that it will create a more organic and technical flow to the entire production. Much like other similar festivals such as Italy’s Sanremo and Albania’s Festivali i Këngës.
Updates to the voting procedure will see the return of the demoscopic jury. Each of the three live shows will have 50% jury voting and 50% public voting. Within the public voting there will be an equal 50/50 split between public televoting and free app voting (50%) and demoscopic jury (50%). A demoscopic jury is a cross section of the Spanish population collated into a polling panel.
In order to recognise their achievements, the winner of the next edition of Benidorm Fest will receive a cash prize of 150,000 Euros. The songwriters of the winning entry, will take home 50,000 Euros and the performer(s) will receive the remaining 100,000 Euros.
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
Since their debut in 1961, with Conchita Bautista and ‘Estando contigo‘, the Iberian nation has participated in 63 consecutive contests. Only the United Kingdom has a longer unbroken streak. So far Spain has won the Eurovision Song Contest on two occasions. Firstly in 1968 with Massiel and ‘La la la‘ and the following year in the dramatic four-way tie, with Salomé and ‘Vivo cantando‘.
Earlier this year Melody won the fourth edition of Benidorm Fest with the energetic, ‘Esa Diva’. During the Grand Final of the Basel contest, Melody achieved 24th place with 37 points.
Who should represent Spain at Eurovision 2026? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra.bsky.social on Bluesky, @escxtra on Instagram, @escxtra on TikTok and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to follow us on Spotify for the latest music from your favourite Eurovision acts. As well as YouTube to see interviews and reactions to the latest Eurovision news.
