Lithuania will continue to ride its wave of momentum and good vibes.
Following The Roop’s 8th place finish in Rotterdam with ‘Discoteque’, the nation is gearing up for what it hopes will be another fruitful Eurovision season. Today, broadcaster LRT confirmed the return of Pabandom iš Naujo! as the country’s national selection format and announced that submissions are now open.
This will be the 3rd Lithuanian national final in a row to use the Pabandom iš Naujo! format. Much like the last edition, the contest will be divided into three rounds: three qualifying heats, two semi-finals, and a final. One big change, however, is the number of entries that will be selected to compete. Up to 36 songs will be chosen by the broadcaster, a dramatic increase from the 22 songs that competed in the 2021 edition.
But that’s not the only change. To help create an even playing field and promote the quality of the entries, LRT will be splitting €54,000 between all of the competing acts. This money can be used to amp up the production quality of the songs’ official recordings and/or to design competitive staging concepts.
Roughly translated, Gytis Oganauskas, current Deputy General Manage of LRT, said, “we hope that due to the financial contribution of LRT, we will have many equal and high-quality performances in the selection, regardless of whether they are performers attracting full arenas of listeners or talented creators who have not yet had a chance to be heard.”
No word yet on whether the 2022 edition will have an in-person audience. Pabandom iš Naujo! was held without a live audience in 2021 due to Covid-19 restrictions.
For a full list of rules and regulations, click here. Submissions will be open until November 25th, with the performance shows tentatively scheduled to begin in January.
Which participants from Lithuania’s previous national finals would #YOU like to see return this year? Sound off in the comments below, in our forum, or on social media @ESCUnited.
Source: LRT.lt
