Raised Eurovision interest caused Belgian semi-final

From Sunday's semi-final in Belgium, the following contestants advanced to the national final:

• Chloé - Just One Chance
• Alexandre Deschamps - Elle Merveille
• Syla K. - Simple Love
• Thayss N' Bau - Somewhere With You
• The Blazing - Our Way
• J Cool - Dans Ma Chanson
• .fen - Yes I Know
• Nelza - Be My Friend
• Steve Linden - C'est La Musique
• Clac et Les Portes - Claquer Les Portes
• Sarina - Rien En Apparence
• Kaptain Oats - Reset
• Gautier Reyz - Addiction
• Witloof Bay - With Love Baby

Caused by a raised interest

Today's semi-final was caused by the unexpectedly great interest  for the Eurovision Song Contest in Belgium. In the autumn of 2010, a web-based competition was held by AKA Music,  a company that promotes artists and puts them in contact with  producers. The competition stated that any act who managed to raise 20,000 euros would qualify to take part in the next phase of the national  selection. In the end, no less than 30 acts qualified to this stage, and as such it was decided that this pre-selection round would take part. It was broadcast as a three-hour show on the radio station VivaCité, with live performances from all 30 contestants.

The 14 final contestants were decided by a 50/50 split between televoting along with Internet voting and a professional jury. All 30 entries can be viewed and listened to at the AKA Music Eurovision portal.

Final show in two weeks

This year, it is the turn of the Walloon and Francophone broadcaster  RTBF to decide the Belgian entry for the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest. The 14 entries chosen in this pre-round will take part in a televised final called Qui? A vous de choisir!,  organised by RTBF on the 12th of February. Here, 50/50 tele- and juryvoting will decide who  will represent Belgium at this year's edition of he Eurovision Song Contest, to be held in Düsseldorf, Germany on the 10th, 12th and  14th May.

Belgium enjoyed considerable success in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo. Tom Dice performed Me And My Guitar and finished sixth in the Final with 143  points. He won the first Semi-Final, held four nights before.