UA:PBC have announced that they will be holding a Televised National Final for Eurovision 2023. It will be held in December, with submissions open from today until 15 October.
Ukraine will be one of the earliest countries to choose their Eurovision 2023 entry, with their National Final, Vidbir, announced as being held in December 2022, in Kyiv!
The rules for Vidbir are largely remaining the same as this year, however, there are two fundamental changes. Firstly, the previous rule allowing entries in any language has been altered to allow entries in any language apart from Russian. This appears to have been done for obvious reasons. Secondly, in a National Final first, the jury for the show, won’t be selected by UA:PBC, but instead the public will be able to vote on who is in the jury. Exact details haven’t yet been specified, but it’s thought there will be a number of candidates, and the public will choose, from that shortlist, who’ll sit on the Vidbir jury.
I want Europe to hear and see a modern Ukrainian musician, who is part of the global music context. I know that we have such people and, although it is very difficult to create right now, I invite and urge musicians of all styles and genres to urgently pick up their favourite instrument and join the selection. You have almost two months to create your winning song that breathes for Ukraine — a song that will touch and inspire the world.
Dmitry Surov, Vidbir 2023 – Music Producer
Reasons for the earlier-than-usual date for Vidbir are likely to be, if the National Final needs to be rescheduled, there won’t be any issues with the March 2023 submission deadline. This will make Ukraine among the first entries released for the 2023 contest, likely along with countries such as Albania and the Czech Republic.
Submissions are open for two months, from today until 15 October, whereby any Ukrainian act, with up to 6 members, can submit an original song for the competition. The only condition is that, as usual with Eurovision songs, it is not publicly released or performed before 1 September 2022, and that the song is not in Russian.
More details about Vidbir 2023 are likely to be released in the coming months.
