The Czech Republic have confirmed that they will once again use a national final to determine their entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest. ESCZ 2019 will be an online national final, similar to that of 2018.

Online national final

Czech broadcaster ČT first used the online national final in 2018. Mikolas Josef battled it out in an online voting with five other entrants. The six songs were put on YouTube and fans had the chance to vote for any of these six. Those public votes eventually made up 50% of the final result.

The other 50% came from an international jury. That jury consisted solely of former Eurovision participants. Among those, we saw names like Robin Bengtsson and Dami Im. ČT have not yet confirmed whether the international jury will also make a return for 2019.

Submission period almost closed

On Facebook, the Czech broadcaster encouraged songwriters and singers to submit their entries for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The submission window however slams shut in just two days, at the end of October.

Interest is thought to be high in the Czech Republic. The biggest Czech Eurovision website, EuroContest.cz, had several interviews with Czech artists, asking them about their possible Eurovision plans.

The rise in interest is not surprising. Ever since returning to the contest in 2015, the Czechs have made an effort of sending professional efforts to the Eurovision Song Contest. This has so far resulted in two qualifications for the Grand Final. Mikolas Josef scored their best ever result in Lisbon this year. His “Lie To Me” finished in sixth place there.