Spanish broadcasters RTVE have revealed information on how to apply for Benidorm Fest which will be used to determine the Spanish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Italy.
The submission phase for the competition opened today and will close on October 29th. Once the submission phase is complete, a total of 12 artists will be selected to compete at Benidorm Fest.
Broadcasters RTVE have paired with Benidorm City Council in organising the upcoming festival.
Those wishing to apply must be at least 16 years old as of May 1st 2022 and have either Spanish nationality or permanent residence in Spain. In the event of groups applying, the Spanish nationality must apply to at least 50% of the group.
Authors and composers of entries may submit a maximum of one entry in which they are the main author, they may submit an additional two entries maximum if they are co-authors.
All performers interested may only submit one entry for consideration but may be credited for other entries as authors and composers provided they follow the above rules.
In terms of the entries themselves, to comply with the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest they must be original songs and cannot exceed 3 minutes in length. The songs should be predominantly in Spanish of co-official languages of Spain, with a limit of 35% of each entry being permitted to be sung in foreign languages.
Full information on how to apply for Benidorm Fest can be found through RTVE.
This year’s method of selecting Spain’s song for the contest comes after two years of internal selections. Blas Cantó was selected for the country internally in 2020, when the contest was cancelled he was once more internally chosen for 2021. Blas finished in 24th place in Rotterdam with his entry “Voy a quedarme”.
Source: RTVE / Image Source: EBU
Spain debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961 and has competed annually since. Spain has won the contest on two occasions the first being in 1968 and the second time in 1969. 1969 is the only year where more than one song has won the contest. The 1969 contest saw a four-way tie between Spain, France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Since 2000 Spain has only managed to finish in the top 10 on five occasions, the last time being in 2014 with Ruth Lorenzo. However, the country has finished 20th or below on ten occasions, the worst placement being 26th in 2017.
