Eurovision 2020: Lithuania and Switzerland confirm participation; Bosnia&Herzegovina one more year away

Eurovision 2020: Lithuania and Switzerland confirm participation; Bosnia&Herzegovina one more year away

According to ESCToday  the Lithuanian national broadcaster, LRT, has confirmed that the country will be present in the next Eurovision Song Contest in The Netherlands.

Therefore Lithuania joins the list of countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, San Marino, Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium, Australia , Netherlands) that have one way or another confirmed their participation in the next edition of the contest. However LRT hasn’t  given any details on the national selection format which will determine the country’s Eurovision 2020 entry.  More information on the Lithuanian Eurovision participation will follow in the near future.

THE EUROVISION STORY SO FAR

Lithuania has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest  19 times since its debut in 1994, when Ovidijus Vyšniauskas finished last, receiving nul points. Lithuania withdrew from the contest, not returning until 1999. LT United’s sixth place in 2006 with the song “We Are the Winners” is Lithuania’s best result in the contest. The country reached the top ten for a second time in 2016, when Donny Montell finished ninth with “I’ve Been Waiting for This Night”.

This year the country was represented by Jurij Vevlenko with his entry Run with Lions, who failed to qualify to the Grand Final in Israel left in the 11th position 1 point away from the 10th qualifying spot.

 

Switzerland confirms participation 

The Swiss national broadcaster, SRF, has confirmed  that the country will be taking part in the 65th edition of the  Eurovision Song Contest next year in the Netherlands. You don’t change a successful recipe they say and  Switzerland seems to be following that way of thinking as for another year will be sticking to an internal national selection for Eurovision 2020. As last year all four Swiss national broadcasters SRF, RTS, RSI and RTR will be involved in the national selection process.

Swiss 2020 national selection process kicks off

SRF has opened the submission window  making a call to interested artists and musicians to apply for  the 2020 Swiss national selection from 02-16 September. The format is pretty much like the one last year, as the  Swiss entry will be determined by a 100 member audience panel and an international jury consisted of 20 jurors. The Swiss broadcaster has published the conditions and  regulations of  next year’s selection.

THE EUROVISION STORY SO FAR

Switzerland made its debut in the first  Eurovision Song Contest back in 1956 and won the same year with Lys Assia. It was not until 1988 when the country was crowned winner for the 2nd time with Celine Dion leaving in second place behind the United Kingdom only by a narrow margin of 1 point.

In this year’s contest the country Luca Hanni represented the country with his entry She got me achieving with his energetic performance at Expo Tel Aviv a 4th placing in the Gtrand final, the best result for Switzerland since 1993 when the nation had finished 3rd in Millstreet, Ireland with  Moi tout simplement.

Bosnia&Herzegovina: Another year absent

ESCToday has reported that BHRT, the Bosnian national broadcaster, has informed them that Bosnia & Herzegovina will not return to the Eurovision next year either. Therefore Bosnia & Herzegovina joins Andorra and Slovakia in the list of countries who won’t be present in the next Eurovision song contest.According to the media outlet’s information , BHRT, continues to be under EBU sanctions due to its hefty financial debt with the European entity while the same time the broadcaster faces several problems which forbid any participation .

This will be the 4th successive edition the country will not be present.

The Eurovision Story so far 

Bosnia-Herzegovina participated for the first time in the Contest in 1993. Its best position is the 3rd in 2006, with Hari Mata Hari and Lejla. In 2013 the country withdrew from the contest to come back in 2016 just for a year and then decided to withdraw again. 

In 2016,the country was represented by Dalal & Deen feat. Ana Rucner & Jala and their song “Ljubav Je”  without succeeding to qualify to the grand Final,finishing at the 11th place with 104 points.

Sources: ESCToday, SRF 

Angelo D.

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