Re: ÉIRE - Ireland 2010
As reported by esctoday.com on Monday last, Irish broadcaster RTÉ today launched its call for songs for the Eurovision Song Contest to be staged in Oslo 2010.
This year the selection process is called Eurosong 2010. The process is based on last year's selection format with a few modifications. It will be a Late Late Show special on a date to be confirmed in early March, where five songs will compete to decide Ireland's Eurovision entry.
RTÉ has decided to re-appoint the same five members to the judging panel as last year, chaired by Linda Martin. All five reflect different expertise both in the music industry and the Eurovision Song Contest itself. The other four members are: Julian Benson, choreographer; Mark Crossingham, MD Universal Music Ireland; Larry Gogan, broadcaster and Diarmuid Furlong, ESC expert and fan.
RTÉ have also decided, in response to the panel's observations, to give them more flexibility in relation to the selection of songs and the pairing of songs with performers. They believe that for an improved performance by Ireland in this highly competitive event, serious and detailed deliberation is required by the judging panel on all the possible options.
RTÉ is inviting entries that include the song, the proposed performer(s) and any proposed performance/staging details, for consideration by the judging panel. The judging panel and RTÉ will have final decision on the performer of any song selected by the judging panel for Eurosong 2010 final and the judging panel will be entitled to engage in discussions with any songwriter or performer or combination of these in respect of any entry, with a view to selecting the strongest possible combination of song and performer for the Eurosong selection and the Eurovision Song Contest itself. This includes the possibility of matching a song entry with a performer selected by the judging panel who is different to the performer that performs on the recording submitted with the song entry and also the possibility of matching a performer of a song entry with another song entry.
Ireland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 will be selected from the five finalists by a combination of regional jury and public televote to be held on the night of Eurosong 2010, the winning entry to be the one that gets the highest number of combined votes on the night.
The closing date for entries will be at noon on Monday, the 01st of February, 2010. Entries should be submitted to Eurosong 2010, RTÉ Entertainment, Donnybrook, Dublin 4.