The Czech Republic has not only confirmed its participation for next year’s Eurovision, it has also announced an open call for entries similar to the one of 2017. Back in Kyiv, Jan Potměšil, a producer for the Czech Television, had confirmed that he expected his country to be a Eurovision regular in future.
After failing to qualify for the final in Kyiv with Martina Bárta and her song My Turn, the Czech Republic is making some changes in its selection process. The biggest change from last year is the additional rule that the lead singer has to have Czech citizenship. The other Eurovision rules stay without changes – the song can’t be longer than 3 minutes and released or performed before 1st September 2017. The participants have to be at least 16 years old and the maximum number of people on stage will be six. The deadline for submissions is set for 17th November 2017 and composers from all over the world are invited to send their songs to this email address: esc2018music@ceskatelevize.cz. The format of the national selection is not known yet, but it is expected to be revealed in the following weeks. The official Czech Eurovision website of the broadcaster mentions a ‘national selection’ however there could be an internal selection or some kind of public national final.
Jan Potměšil, the Executive Producer of the Eurovision Project in the Czech Television also mentioned that some Czech artists have already promised their participation in the Eurovision 2018 project. They are Dasha, Thom Artway, Mikolas Josef, Markéta Konvičková, Pavel Callta, Elis Mráz, Yanna, Mariana Prachařová, Annabelle and bands Doctor Victor, Eddie Stoilow and others. The last three Czech participants also encourage others to take part in the selection. Marta Jandová emphasized the professionalism and the organization of such an event and both her and Václav Noid Bárta appreciate the high number of foreign fans interested in them and their music. Gabriela Gunčíková, still the only Czech Eurovision finalist to date, stated that competing in contests between nations is much healthier than being a part of international conflicts. Martina Bárta added that the Eurovision season was the most beautiful three months in her life, that she gained a lot of new friends and that she is still in touch with her Eurovision colleagues.
Jan Potměšil also revealed that the Czech broadcaster plans to participate again in many of the pre-parties all over Europe, at least in six of them. There is already a rising interest from Czech artists and it means that they are beginning to accept Eurovision positively. The chosen artist will have a lot of attention from the broadcaster with the aim to be prepared for the task to represent the Czech Republic in Lisbon. There was also one change in the Czech delegation recently with the Head of Press, Martin Brož, leaving and being replaced by Kryštof Šámal, former assistant of HoD Jan Bors. His position will filled by a new person to the team.
The confirmation of the Czech participation is revealed together with one special gift for all fans. Martina Bárta and JOWST from Norway worked together on a remix of her Eurovision entry My Turn. The idea started already before Eurovision when they became very good friends during the pre-Eurovision events and it was released as a celebration of this happy announcement. You can listen to the new remix below.
