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Germany: Five young talents to fight for ticket to Kyiv

14 September 2016 at 13:30 CEST
Lena's winning moment in 2010 Photo: Indrek Galetin (EBU)
To select the entry for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, German public broadcaster ARD will go back to the mode that gave the country its best results and its most recent winner: A talent show featuring five young and promising singers, performing songs commissioned from globally successful producers. 

In a show called Eurovision Song Contest - Unser Song 2017, five young talents will be given the chance to represent their country in Europe's Favourite TV show. Singers who are interested in participating can send in their applications via www.unsersong2017.de, starting today.

An expert committee consisting of representatives from German public broadcaster NDR, production company Raab TV, and other music experts will then narrow down the selection to 30 candidates to qualify for the second round of castings. 

Watch the final live on 9 February

The five most promising artists will make it to the national final, to be broadcast live from Cologne on 9th February at 20:15. The three-hour show will feature a jury panel comprising three of Germany's most popular musicians: Tim Bendzko, Florian Silbereisen, and Lena, Germany's most recent Eurovision winner. Eurovision Song Contest - Unser Song 2017 will be presented by Barbara Schöneberger, who has announced both the German voting results in the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest and has hosted the German national finals in recent years.

Songs commissioned from successful producers

In order to find the German song for Kyiv, nationally and internationally successful producers will be asked to for their suggestions. The expert committee will then decide which entries will be performed by the five finalists in the live show.

TV viewers decide

During the show, the jury panel will only comment on the live performances, while the singer and song to represent Germany in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest will be chosen solely by the TV viewers through televoting and the official Eurovision app. You can watch a webcast of the show live on Eurovision.tv.

Lena: "It could be the best decision of your life"

Lena won the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest for Germany with Satellite, and she went on to represent her home country once again in 2011 with Taken By A Stranger. Being one of the jurors in the 2017 national selection, she encourages young talent to follow her footsteps: "I can only advise everyone to send in their applications. It could be the best decision of your life. It could change everything."