Earlier this month it was announced that Australia would return to Eurovision for the fifth consecutive year in 2019. Today, Australian broadcaster SBS confirmed plans for their first ever national selection contest. Australia will select their Eurovision 2019 representative with a grand national selection which will take place at the Gold Coast on 9 February.
SBS are set to partner with production company Blink TV to host a new show ‘Eurovision – Australia Decides’. The show will select both the artist and the song which will represent Australia in Tel Aviv in May 2019.
The live show will be broadcast exclusively on SBS on Saturday 9 February and will be hosted by Eurovision super fans and commentators Myf Warhust and Joel Creasy.
SBS are calling for songwriters across Australia to submit entries to compete in the competition with the deadline of 4 November.
Up until now Australia have selected all their Eurovision representatives through an internal selection process and have teamed up with record label Sony Music to choose their artists. Australia have qualified on all previous four attempts at Eurovision with their most successful being in 2016 when Dami Im finished second. This year was their worst result to date when Jessica Mauboy finished 20th with ‘We Got Love’. Perhaps a reason for a change in tact in choosing their artist and song.
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