Finland: “UMK 2020” national final to take place on March 7; Submission period closes on November 8
The Finnish national broadcaster YLE has announced that “UMK 2020”, the country’s national final to through which it selects its Eurovision act will take place on March 7.
The Scadinavian north is not losing time and is going forward with all the procedures in order to seek for the next Finnish Eurovision 2020 rerpresentative. After two years of internal selection this year the Finnish broadcaster has opted for an open national selection. Therefore it has opened the submission window for all acts interested in representing the country in the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam. Ambitious acts should hurry up as the submission period closes shortly, on Friday November 8. You can find all the details for UMK 2020 here while the applicants must send their entries to the YLE to the following email account umk@yle.fi
According to the rules each act can send in up to three entries but only one of them can reach the national final. Composer and producers can submitt mores songs. At least one of the composers or vocalists should be a Finnish citizen or leave permanently in Finland.
All finalists will be revealed on January 21, 2019. The jury that will select the UMK 2020 finalists will be unveiled during the live show . The UMK 2020 final will take place in Tampere on March 7
The Eurovision Story so far
Finland made its debut in the contest back in 191 and has once the contest, in 2006 , when the country was represented by Lordi and their entry Hard Rock Hallelujah. The country’s best result before then was achieved by Marion Rung with the song “Tom Tom Tom” in 1973, which placed sixth.
Finland has finished last in the contest ten times, receiving “nul points” in 1963, 1965 and 1982. Since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004, Finland has failed to reach the final seven times. In 2014, the country had its best result in eight years when Softengine finished 11th. In 2015, Finland finished last in the first semi-final with the shortest-ever Eurovision entry, “Aina mun pitää” performed by Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät.
Last year Saara Aalto represented the country with her entry Monsters but she finished second last in the Grand final. In 2019 Darude & Sebastian Rejman represented the Scandinavic country in Tel Aviv with the song “Look Away”, but failed to reach the final as they finished 17th in the semi final.
