TVR has launched Selecția Națională, the national selection that the country will use to choose an artist and an entry for Eurovision 2026.
The Romanian broadcaster TVR has announced the launch of Selecția Națională, the contest that will be used to choose a representative for Romania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 in Vienna, Austria. The Final Night has been scheduled for Wednesday, March 4. Below is the timeline of the event, as illustrated by TVR:
- First step: registration to Selecția Națională. Registrations for artists are open from today, January 14, until February 2, on Eurovision Romania’s webpage. Solo artists, bands, authors, composers, and producers of both Romanian or foreign origin can submit a song to the selection. The performing artist must be at least 16 years old of age. There can be a maximum of 6 people on stage. One artist can present up to maximum one entry, but a composer can participate with multiple entries, if they are performed by different artists. The maximum length of the song shall be 3 minutes, it must song must be origina and not have been released, broadcast or sung publicly before September 1, 2025. The lyrics of the entry cannot contain the following messages: politics, religion, discrimination, obscenity, and advertising. The use of Artificial Intelligence is prohibited at any stage of the creation of the entry.
- Second step: pre-selections. They will take place on February 5 and 6.
- Third step: semi-final auditions. They will take place from February 9 to 11. A specialised jury will choose the 10 songs that will compete in the final of Selecția Națională for a ticket to Vienna.
- Fourth step: the Final. It will take place on March 4. The winner will be selected by a jury-only vote, and they will earn the right to represent Romania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. Romania will perform in the first half of the second semi-final, on May 14.
Romania will come back to the Eurovision Song Contest after two years of absence, the last time they participated being in 2023 in Liverpool with Theodor Andrei’s “D.G.T. (Off And On)”, scoring 0 points in its Semi-Final. They are one of the three countries coming back to the contest in 2026, together with Bulgaria and Moldova. Romania actively participated in Eurovision from 1994 until its withdrawal in 2024 due to financial problems
Image source: EBU / Nathan Reinds | Source: Eurovision Romania
Romania first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994. The country tried to participate in 1993 but failed to get through the pre-qualifying round. At the 1994 contest, Dan Bittman finished 21st in the final scoring 14 points, Romania didn’t make it through to another final until 1998. Romania’s best results in the contest are two third-place finishes. In 2005, Luminita Anghel & Sistem finished 3rd scoring 158 points, while Paula Seling & Ovi finished 3rd in 2010 with the song “Playing with Fire”. Romania missed the 2016 contest due to TVR being removed from the EBU due to debts to the organisation. Romania has not participated in Eurovision since 2023, coming back only this year.