Georgia | Georgian Idol to be used as National Final

Georgian national broadcaster GPB has confirmed today that they will be using TV show "Georgian Idol" (ჩვენ ვარსკვლავები ვართ) as their selection process for the country's 2019 Eurovision representative. Production group "Nova Productions" will be producing the show which will start airing in January 2019. According to plans by MegaShow's Giorgi Khaburdzania and Nova's Demna Japaridze, casting will take place across Georgia over the next few months before 10 contestants will compete for the grand prize, which will include representing Georgia next year in Tel Aviv. Past winners of the competition include 2015 Georgian representative Nina Sublatti back in 2013 and one half of Georgia's 2013 duet - Nodiko Tatishvili - who won in 2009.

This year we have already seen that Malta have changed their long-running National Final, Malta Eurovision Song Contest, to decide their representative through the Maltese X Factor. Israel have also just won the contest with Netta, who earlier this year won 'The Rising Star of Israel' - a similar reality TV show selection format. Recent winners including Salvador Sobral, Conchita Wurst and Måns Zelmerlöw have all participated on similar shows earlier in their music careers. The plans for the show have the full support of Tinatin Berdzenishvili, the media and communications director of GPB.

Georgia have used a different selection process every year since 2014 - including two internal selections, two variations of a National Final and an internal artist selection with a national final of their songs to vote between. Despite this, they have struggled in recent years having not qualified for the final since 2016 where Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz finished 20th in the final with their song 'Midnight Gold'.

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