Has Germany found it's recipe for success?
Soon after the success of Michael Schulte, who came 4th at Eurovision 2018 in Lisbon with his emotional delivery of "You Let Me Walk Alone", it looked like NDR had found the recipe for success. This is good news for Germany, which struggled to accomplish good result since Lena's victory in 2010, (with the exceptions of Lena in 2011 and Roman Lob in 2012 who both managed top 10 results.)
According to eurovision.de, NDR is using the same format this year to find their hopeful singer for Israel. The application phase for the German preliminary round of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 started one week after the Lisbon final and lasted until July 31st. Almost 1,000 submissions were made, and the process of narrowing the number to 8-10 final acts is under way.
About the selection process
Firstly, all 965 submissions were shortlisted to 198 by a panel of experts. After that, it is up to one hundred members of a Eurovision jury (consisting of the German public) to select their 50 favourite artists. They have been gathering in Cologne since 26th August 2018 to evaluate potential candidates.
The 50 highest rated acts will then be presented to the international jury of 20 experts from 20 countries. The twenty best rated candidates will then be invited to attend the Eurovision workshop in Cologne, where they will work with successful musicians and vocal coaches. At the workshop all participants will produce videos, which will once again be presented to the two juries.
Finally, between eight to ten finalists (last year there were only six finalists) will meet in November in a songwriting camp, most likely in Berlin. The final selection of the songs is planned before Christmas, when all the songs will be produced.
The Final show
The live broadcast of German national final will be taking place "not too early, nor too late before the Head of Delegation Meeting in Israel", according to Thomas Schreiber, the Head of Entertainment for NDR, in an interview with German Eurovision site "Prinz Blog". This means it could be in January, February or March.
At the final show, television audience also gets the chance to vote, to decide who will be the perfect act to represent Germany at Eurovision 2019 in Israel.
What do you think about Germany's national selection process? Will it bring them another top 5 finish? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
