As Austria prepares to host its third Eurovision Song Contest, ORF has opened submissions for its national final. The winner will represent Austria on home soil in May.
National final to take place in February
In a post uploaded to its Instagram page, ORF confirmed that submissions were now open for the upcoming edition of the Contest. The broadcaster confirmed that a national final would be used to select the act – the first since 2016.
Interested acts can submit their entry to ORF using the email in the Instagram post. A specific deadline for songs to be entered has not been given by ORF. The national final will take place in February. ORF added that a professional jury will be used as well as the audience to decide the winner. In total, ten acts will be chosen to compete in the selection, with the winner representing the home nation.
Austria’s Eurovision journey
In 1957, Austria made their debut into the Eurovision Song Contest, where Bob Martin represented the landlocked nation with the song “Wohin, kleines Pony?”. At the close of voting, it managed to place 10th overall. Since their debut, Austria has participated 56 times (being in the final 49 times), and – before 2025 – had won the competition on two occasions in 1966 and 2014.
In 2025, Austria selected JJ internally to represent the nation in Basel with “Wasted Love”. Austria successfully qualified for the final, and went on to win the Contest with a total of 436 points. This gave Austria its third win in the Contest, eleven years after their previous victory.
Who do you think will apply to represent Austria next year? Will you be watching the national final? As always, please let us know what you think by getting involved in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Threads, tumblr, and Bluesky for more information about Eurovision 2026!
News Source: ORF
Photo Credit: Corinne Cumming / EBU
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