In a ceremony that took place in Bucharest last night, Romania’s Eurovision 2017 song “Yodel It!” won Song of the Year at the the Radar de Media awards. Beating veteran artists like Andra and Lora, Ilinca Bacila and Alex Florea proved their enduring popularity by winning the award, which is determined by online voters.

You can watch Ilinca accept the Song of the Year award at the 52:56 mark below.

Ilinca thanked voters for the award on behalf of herself and Alex, who could not be present. She also thanked everyone for being there for every step of their Eurovision journey and especially national broadcaster TVR for helping”Yodel It!” become a success.

Romania’s Head of Delegation Iuliana Marciuc, who joined Ilinca on stage, congratulated the duo and announced that the calendar for Selectia Nationala 2018 had just been launched. She also said that the preselection would be broadcast online at the end of December and renewed the call for submissions.

Ilinca added that representing her country at Eurovision was an unforgettable experience and encouraged all singers to register their song submissions for Selectia Nationala.

Online voters chose “Yodel It!” as Song of the Year between 28 June and 22 October. Ilinca and Alex beat out veteran artists like Andra (third place) and Lora (in second). Ilinca and Alex’s song won the award with 24% of the votes.

With “Yodel It!”, Romania got their best Eurovision result in seven years in Kyiv: 7th place in the Grand Final. Next year, broadcaster TVR intends to top this result, launching an ambitious calendar for its national selection. Selectia Nationala 2018 will span five semi-finals and a final in six cities. Celebrating 100 years since the country’s Great Union, under the headline “Eurovision Unites Romania”, TVR aims to make it a nationwide event in the search of a possible winner in Lisbon.

What do you think about the success of “Yodel It!”? And who should follow in Ilinca and Alex’s footsteps? Let us know in the comments!

Photo: Stefan Ovidiu (Radar de Media)