TVR, the Romanian national broadcaster, has confirmed that it will hold a national final for Eurovision 2020 on March 1.
There are significant changes to the selection this year. For the first time ever, the Romanian Eurovision entrant will be internally selected by a special jury. The jury will take into account criteria like vocals, artistry, empathy and expressiveness. After the entrant is selected, they will attend a songwriting camp, where some of best Romanian artists and composers will create songs for the selected artist.
From the songwriting camp, five songs will be chosen to compete in the national final. The songs will be selected by designated specialists from various related professional areas (composers, lyricists, musicologists, tv/radio music-show producers, music directors). The designated specialists will take into consideration criteria such as the sound, the originality, the diversity of style and the message of the songs.
During the national final on March 1, the five songs will be performed by the selected artist. The winning song will be decided by a jury vote (50%) and public voting (50%). In case of a tie, the public vote will take preference.
The Romanian delegation for Eurovision 2020 includes Liana Stanciu as Head of Delegation, Elena Stirbescu as Project Manager, Smaranda Vornicu-Shalit as Head of Press and Dan Manoliu as Artistic Director.
Romania finished 13th in Second Semi-Final of Eurovision 2019 represented by Ester Peony. The result is the worst that Romania has had at the competition to date.
Source: TVR
Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest
Romania first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994, the country had tried to participate in 1993 but failed to get through the pre-qualifying round. At the 1994 contest Dan Bittman finished 21st in the final scoring 14 points, Romania didn’t make it through to another final until 1998. Romania’s best results in the contest are two third place finishes. In 2005 Luminita Anghel & Sistem finished 3rd scoring 158 points, while Paula Seling & Ovi finished 3rd in Oslo with the song “Playing with Fire”. Romania missed the 2016 contest due to TVR being removed from the EBU.
