Bulgaria starts preparing for Belgrade

Bulgarian TV have planned a detailed national selection process to decide their next representative to the Eurovision Song Contest, while at the same time making an effort to keep the public involved. The campaign kicks off on July 1st when the call for entries begins. This year's slogan is "To be a star, to get on the big stage, turn the summer romance into music."

Bulgarian broadcaster BNT have announced this year's national selection process that will decide who gets the ticket for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade. As of October 1, BNT will launch a new weekly show, called EuroBGVision, which will be held at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia. The show aims to present the Bulgarian public with possible candidates from the local music scene and give the public the chance to send their favourites to a semi final.

EuroBGVision will feature each week live performances of songs which will be followed by discussions on general music topics. At the end of each of the three months (October, November and December) a special show will feature all the songs presented previously in the same month and each time the viewers will select three to go to the semi final.

The songs not selected will be given a second chance, together with all new songs that will be submitted until the end of 2007. At the end of January, an expert jury will select nine of those to go to the semi final as well, raising the number to a total of 18.

Finally, BNT will add three wildcards that will go directly to the final.

source:esctoday.com