BNT – the national broadcaster of Bulgaria – has confirmed that a national final will take place in January. The broadcaster will partner with a local data service to help select the acts who will be invited to participate in the selection.
Top 40 acts from Bulgaria to be targeted
In a press release on its website, BNT confirmed it would be working together with PROFON, a media monitoring insitution within Bulgaria. PROFON will provide information on the top 40 Bulgarian acts that are being streamed in the country in the past eight months. These acts will then be reached out to by BNT to participate in the national selection. The broadcaster said this would help to avoid any accusations of favouritism.
Anton Andonov, from BNT’s Board of Directors, said of the partnership:
The BNT team has been working hard for several weeks on the rules and criteria for the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, which will celebrate its 70th anniversary in Austria next year.
That is why the agreement with PROFON is extremely important for us, as it provides us with a clear criterion by which to invite the best and most convertible Bulgarian artists for the national selection, and not to rely on personal impressions, subjective selection, etc.
It is currently unclear if the national final will be used to determine solely the singer or the singer and the song. Further details on Bulgaria’s return to the Eurovision Song Contest will be revealed in due course.
Bulgaria’s Eurovision journey
Bulgaria are a country that really want to win the Eurovision Song Contest, especially since their return in 2016. Bulgaria debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2005 with the song ‘Lorraine’ sung by Kaffe, the song came 19th in the semi final scoring 49 points. Bulgaria’s best ever result came in 2017 with ‘Beautiful Mess’ by Kristian Kostov, the song placed 2nd in the Grand Final that year scoring 615 points.
In 2022, Bulgaria was represented by the Intelligent Music Project in Turin, where they sang the song “Intention”, placing 16th in the Semi-Final with 29 points.
What do you think about the partnership betweeen BNT and Profon? Who would you like to see represent Bulgaria in Vienna? 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: BNT
Photo Credit: Sarah Louise Bennett / EBU
Tetiana Viznytsia 
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