Belgium’s national final for Eurovision 2023, Eurosong, will not accept open submissions for this year’s competition. After Peter van de Veire announced the return of Eurosong last month, songfestival.be reported on September 21st that there would be no open submissions.
No open submissions due to time constraints
Gerrit Kerremans, music coordinator for Flemish broadcaster VRT, said to songfestifal.be that “because the decision was made late to organize a preselection, we will not be allowing open submissions”. Van de Veire had stated to Belgian media previously that open submissions would be allowed, but VRT has been “inundated” in recent weeks with submissions and so has made the decision not to consider them.
Instead, VRT has already reached out to managers and record labels to find possible candidates for Eurosong. Songfestival.be has compiled a list of Flemish singers who they would like to see in the preselection or have expressed interest.
Belgium’s Eurovision Journey
Belgium was one of the debutant countries at the beginning of the Eurovision Song Contest back in 1956. Back in 1956, countries could submit two songs, and for Belgium that year, ‘Messieurs les noyes de la Seine’ by Fud Leclerc and ‘Le plus beau jour de ma vie’ by Mony Marc represented the nation. To this day we do not know the final results of Eurovision 1956.
Belgium have taken part in every Eurovision Song Contest since 1956; however they have only ever won once; in 1986 with Sandra Kim singing the song ‘J’amie la vie’, scoring 176 points. In 2022, Belgium was represented by Jérémie Makiese with the song “Miss You”. Makiese came 19th scoring 64 points in the Grand Final.
What do you think about Eurosong returning? Who would you like to see represent Belgium? Let us know in the comments below! Be sure to follow “That Eurovision Site” on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tik-Tok for the latest Eurovision news!
Source: Songfestival.be
Image Source: EBU/Andres Putting
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