Finland 2025: Song submissions open for 'UMK'

After Finnish broadcaster YLE moved its Eurovision pre-selection into an arena in 2024, it's no surprise that the beloved national final is making a return in 2025. 

And now, YLE has opened the submission window for songs that composers and artists will be hoping can be Finland's next entry to the Eurovision Song Contest.

As in previous years, UMK’s song and artist selections will be handled by a jury of music professionals chaired by YleX’s Head of Music Tapio Hakanen. Songwriters and performers can apply via the submission form available at yle.fi/umk. On the website, applicants can also find the contest rules in Finnish, Swedish and English - clearly, the ethos of 'No Rules' no longer applies.

The application period started on Monday 19 August, and will end on 25 August at 23:00 CET. All applicants will be contacted by October at the latest.  

Tapio Hakanen, Chair of the UMK jury had this to say about Finland's pre-selection: 

"In the previous season, UMK became an arena-size event at Nokia Arena in Tampere, with two sold-out shows and, at the same time, the entire production was taken to a whole new level. It was great to see how UMK artists got to take a big career step towards larger stages, greater popularity and gold and platinum records.

I’m very excited to see what kind of songs and artists the new season will offer. UMK does not have a specific musical format: hopefully, as diverse a group of artists as possible will apply and take this chance to inspire audiences both in Finland and around the world!"

At the past 4 Eurovision Song Contests, Finland has qualified for the Grand Final on each occasion. The Nordic nation finished in 2nd place in 2023 with Cha Cha Cha by Käärijä, and in 6th place in 2021 with Dark Side by Blind Channel. 

At the 68th Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Finland was represented in denim-clad fashion by Windows95man, with an explosive performance of No Rules!. 

You can listen to all 37 songs of Eurovision 2024 via your favourite streaming service or watch the music videos on our YouTube channel.

Don't forget to download our app (for iOS / Android), sign up to the official Eurovision Song Contest newsletter, and subscribe to the official podcast!