Greece is continuing its preparations for Eurovision 2023. Ahead of the Contest in May, Greek broadcaster ERT announced an Audience Committee that will help determine who will represent the country in Liverpool.
Audience Committee to have majority in selection
As Greece continues its internal selection process, the public are now being invited to take part. Currently, 30 songs are still in the running to represent Greece at the Contest in Liverpool. However, the final decision will come down to a joint decision by the internal jury and the Audience Committee.
The internal jury is made up of seven people chosen specifically by ERT. This Artistic Committee is responsible for the whittling down of entries from 106 to 30. However, in the final stage involving the Audience Committee, the public’s vote will count for 50.6% of the final decision. The remaining 49.4% will come from the internal jury.
As a result, people from a wide range of backgrounds and age groups have been called upon to form the Audience Committee. This strategy by ERT is to ensure the most well-rounded entry to appeal to as many demographics as possible. However, younger generations will be favoured more than older age brackets.
The submissions window for interested people will run for 48 hours, beginning on Thursday (December 8th) and running until Saturday (December 10th) at 10:00 EET. In total, 70 participants will be randomly selected by a lottery to maintain the broadcaster’s impartiality. However, 25 participants will be aged between 18 and 24, 20 aged between 25 and 34, 15 aged between 35 and 44 and 10 aged 45 and over.
Greece’s Eurovision journey
In 1974, Greece made its debut to the Eurovision Song Contest with “Krasi, thalassa ke t’agori mou” (Κρασί, θάλασσα και τ’αγόρι μου) which placed 11th. Since then they have participated on 42 occasions (40 of which made the Grand Final), and have one once in 2005.
Greece’s most recent Eurovision participation saw them being represented by Amanda Tenfjord with the song “Die Together”, which saw Greece qualify for the Grand Final, where they placed 8th, after receiving 215 points from the jury and televoters.
What do you make of the news from Greece? Could the Audience Committee bring more success for Greece this year? Who would you like to see represent the country in 2023? As always, let us know what you think by commenting below. Also, be sure to follow “That Eurovision Site” on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok as we look ahead to Eurovision 2023!
News Source: ERT
Photo Credit: EBU
