Today the BBC, host broadcaster for the UK, officially opened submissions for their 2017 entry to the Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv. The BBC will be returning to the format they used for the 2016 selection, namely the Eurovision: You Decide television show where a handful of selected artists will compete for the public vote to represent the UK.

Entries will be shortlisted for the selection show in the following manner:
– Public entries submitted online will be viewed and voted for by a selection of UK OGAE fan club members
– Entries from leading professional songwriters will be considered with the help of Hugh Goldsmith, Record Industry Executive and Music Consultant for the BBC.

According to Hugh, he will be “looking for songs which have the capacity to make a true impact on the 200 million people that watch Eurovision live in May 2017. Good is not enough…Great is required! The winning song will need to combine emotive lyrics and memorable melodies with a brilliant production. Writers should not be constrained by genre – Best in class is what we want”

Guy Freeman, Editor of BBC Special Events and formats, who has been responsible to the UK entry since 2014 said “This is the moment for anyone who passionately believes they’ve written an outstanding song that could win over the hearts and minds of millions of European TV viewers and professional juries, to go for it and submit an entry”

There is no word yet on what the selection show format will be but it is assumed to be similar to the 2016 show where the winner was determined solely by UK televoters. The winner of the 2016 You Decide show was Joe & Jake with their song “We’re in this together” which despite being one of the best UK entries in many years, still failed to grab the attention of Europe and ended in 24th place thanks to the soft Brit-pop sound being unable to stand out amongst the visually powerful entries in the contest.

If you are interested in submitting an entry for the UK to send to Eurovision, you need to register your interest by emailing the title of your song, the name of the artist(s) and the name of the composer(s) to BBCEurovisionSubmissions@bbc.co.uk and you will be sent instructions of how to upload you video to them within 72 hours of sending the details.

Further details will be posted when they are released.