NDR, the German broadcaster, has claimed that no open-call for songs for the country’s 2018 Eurovision selection has been made as of yet, despite external calls for artists having been made.
Earlier today, German Eurovision blog Prinz Blog reported that the Zentralen Auslands und Fachvermittlung (ZAV), an artistic representation agency, have been sending out open-call emails looking for “unique” talents who wish to represent Germany in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
However, following the surfacing of these rumours, NDR have made a statement to clarify that, despite this call for artists from external agencies, they have not officially authorised a call for submissions next year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Iris Bents, press officer for NDR, confirmed that further details regarding Germany’s 2018 Eurovision selection will be released shortly, but that no specific dates have been confirmed as of yet. However, she did confirm that a meeting regarding the selection will be held in Cologne on 25th November and so further details are expected to be released following this.
It was confirmed back in June that Germany’s Eurovision selection format will undergo some changes in 2018. These changes follow a series of poor results for Germany in recent years. During the past five years, Germany have failed to finish above 18th place, and have finished in last place on two occasions (2015 and 2016), and in 2015 the country finished with 0 points for the first time in their history at the contest. This year’s representative Levina, who represented her country with the song “Perfect Life” in Kyiv, finished in 25th place with just 6 points.
Despite these recent poor results, Germany have a long history of selecting their Eurovision entrant through a national selection. Since the year 2000 Germany have only selected one of their acts internally, when the broadcaster selected Alex Swings Oscar Sings to represent the country in Moscow in 2009.
Source: Prinz Blog
[tw-accordion class=””] [tw-accordion-section title=”Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest”] Germany was one of seven countries to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. The country has taken part in every contest since then, apart from in 1996 when they failed to make it through the qualifying round. To date Germany has won the contest twice, the first time being in 1982 when Nicole sang “Ein Bisschen Frieden” in Harrogate, which later became a global hit. Germany didn’t win again until 2010, when Lena sang “Satellite” in Oslo. She received 9 sets of 12 points, scoring 236 points overall.[/tw-accordion-section] [/tw-accordion]
Germany finished in 1964 and 1965 with also 0 points at the Eurovision Song Contest, not only in 2015.