The Lithuanian broadcaster LRT has announced rule changes for the 2019 edition of its Eurovision national final, Eurovizijos.

Eurovizijos reduced to eight shows

Last month Lithuania confirmed its participation for the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Israel. More details have now been revealed about the selection process for Eurovizijos 2019. Always taking the view that it’s a marathon and not a sprint, it is all change for next year as the national final is being reduced to eight shows.

The announcement was made during Lithuania’s daily topical show “Laba Diena, Lietuva.” Speaking on the show was the Executive Producer of Eurovizijos, Audrius Giržadas. He revealed that the 2019 selection is being reduced to eight shows that will span across January and February. Exact dates are unknown at this time. But we can conclude from this that the entry will be selected at the end of February. This is a further decrease for Eurovizijos after 2018 saw a reduction from ten shows down to nine. Thus ensuring another song chosen early, after their Baltic neighbours Estonia announced this week their own intentions for an early selection.

Furthermore, interested artists should already be preparing and rehearsing their songs for the upcoming edition. This along with the shorter format will enable more time to prepare for the Israel contest. Given the amount of commitment previously required, it is hoped that reducing the number of shows will encourage more artists to apply.



Full details of the rules and regulations for the 2019 process have yet to be finalised. However these will be published by LRT at the end of the month.

Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest

It has been a mixed bag of fortunes for what is the longest and quite possibly weirdest national final of the season. In the semi-final era the national final has seen 9 out of 15 entries obtain qualification to the grand final. But only two of these have reached top 10 placings. Their most successful entry saw LT United finish not in the winning position their song title, We Are The Winners, claimed, but still a very solid 6th place for the Baltic nation.

Representing Lithuania in Lisbon was Ieva Zasimauskaitė with her heartfelt ballad When We’re Old. Her gentle vocals and moving performance which saw her husband join her on stage earned Lithuania a respectable 12th place and its second best points total with 181.

Will you be watching Eurovizijos next year? Who would you like to see represent Lithuania? Let us know in the comments and on social media @ESCXTRA