Enter now for Eurovision 2010

The closing date for entries is noon on Monday 1 February 2010.

After much reviewing, RTÉ has decided to re-appoint the same five members chaired by Eurovision winner Linda Martin and including MD, Universal Music Ireland, Mark Crossingham, showbiz agent/choreographer Julian Benson, RTÉ broadcaster and Eurovision Commentator, Larry Gogan, and Diarmuid Furlong head of the Official Eurovision Fan Club of Ireland.

Last year’s Eurovision in Moscow was deemed to be one of the most successful ever, attracting a total of 124 Million viewers – a 17% increase on 2008. In 2010, the same system of a 50/50 combination of jury and televote to choose a winner will still apply to the Grand Final, and now also to the Semi-Final qualifying stage. Had this rule been in place last year, Ireland would have qualified for the Final.

In regards to this added rule, Julian Vignoles, ESC Steering Committee member and RTÉ Eurovision Co-ordinator said, "We sincerely hope that this development, along with the success enjoyed by last year’s winner, will encourage more songwriters and performers to come forward this year”.

The selection process will have a few modifications that give the panel more flexibility in the selection of the performers. The panel will exercise their judgement in relation to the pairing of songs with performers and may invite acts to perform for them before a final decision is made.

Linda Martin said, “Having been on the selection panel for the last number of years, we have previously come across good songs to which the performer is not ideally suited, or some great performers let down by a song that doesn’t showcase their ability to the full. We all know that the competition is extremely tough and what this new rule allows us to do, is to put forward the best possible package of song and singer to perform for the Irish public on the Late Late Show and ultimately to represent Ireland on the Eurovision stage”.

Five songs will be put forward by the selection panel to compete in a Late Late Show Eurosong 2010 special in early March.

'Fairytale', last year’s ESC winning song from Norway's Alexander Rybak, became a major hit in Europe and went straight in at number 1 on most European iTunes charts. This year’s ESC in Oslo will once again have two Semi-Finals and a Final. Ireland’s entry will compete in one of the Semi-Finals on either May 25 or 27 to qualify for the Grand Final, which will take place on Saturday 29 May.

For further details on Eurosong 2010 including full competition rules see www.rte.ie/eurovision.
For details on ESC 2010 see www.eurovision.tv