It’s considered the biggest and best of all national finals, and now Swedish broadcaster SVT has released the details for entering Melodifestivalen 2017. It’s the first step in the journey that will see one act win the coveted Great Songbird trophy and go on to represent Sweden at Eurovision 2017 in Ukraine.

The format is much the same as Melfest has used in recent years. The entry period will again run from 1 to 16 September, with the selected artists discovering their fate sometime in October or November.

The competition will again have 28 entries. Fourteen will come from the general entries and 14 will be established artists who receive a special invitation from SVT. One of the invited 14 will be a selected finalist (not necessarily the winner) of the Svensktoppen Nästa 2016 competition, due to be held on 28 August in Linköping.

All Swedish citizens and residents are able to enter, while entrants from outside Sweden can only enter if they do so in conjunction with a Swedish songwriter.

As with previous years, SVT are aiming to have 30% of the songs performed in Swedish, and 50% of the songs written by at least one female songwriter.

And as always, the clause is there reminding entrants that songs cannot have previously been made publicly available — something SVT will be especially mindful of after the shock disqualification of Anna Book’s song “Himmel för två” when it was discovered to have been entered in Moldova’s national final two years prior.

Interested songwriters will have two months to get their song ready before the entry period opens on 1 September. Sweden still has their eyes on a seventh Eurovision win, so now it’s up to the singers and songwriters of Sweden to bring their A game!

Who would you like to see in Melodifestivalen 2017? Which Melfest stars should make a comeback? And who should make their debut? Share your thoughts below!