The National Television (TVR) announced on Thursday evening the ten finalists of the National Selection who will compete for a place in the Vienna final of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC).
Between 9 and 11 February, the 68 artists who entered in the semi-final of the National Selection took to the stage and performed their songs live in front of the jury.
"All jury members scored at the end of each day, but they submitted their points only at the end of the three days. When they made comparisons with all the artists who were in the semi-finals, they revealed their scores and then a ranking was drawn up," producer of the National Eurovision Selection Iuliana Marciuc said, according to the TVR website.
In the 8:00 pm Telejurnal, the jury-selected acts who will be watched in the Grand Final on 4 March, live on TVR, were presented. They are the following: Alejandro Zandes & Emil Rengle ("Bailando Solo"), Alexandra Capitanescu ("Choke Me"), Edward Maya x LavBbe x Costi ("Everybody Needs Somebody"), Emy Alupei ("Tili Bom"), HVNDS ("HVNDS - DOR"), Monica Odagiu ("Fereastra Pentru Un Orb" - "A window for a blind person"), Olivia Addams ("Croco"), Robert Lukian ("Fire to the Lies"), Vanu ("Therapy Enemy") and Yguana ("Happy Birthday").
The 11th song to enter the final will be chosen by the fans.
Fans' feedback and the quality of the semi-final songs convinced the organisers to involve the public in the judging process. Thus, the songs ranked 11th-15th, according to the scores given by the Specialist Jury during the semi-final auditions, enter a separate qualification procedure for the final, called the "Wild Card from the public."
As of Thursday, after the jury results were announced in the 8:00 pm Telejurnal, and until 15 February at 7:00 pm, the public will be able to watch the five eligible songs on TVR's official YouTube channel - youtube.com/@TVRcanaluloficial, in a dedicated playlist. These are Alexa & Aria Moon - "iELE", Antonio Pican - "Humans", Bogdan Medvedi - "Broken Heart", Impact - "Bengalo" and Wrs - "All The Way."
The song with most views on the YouTube channel from this list of five will enter the final alongside the other ten, chosen by the specialist jury.
The Grand Final lineup will be completed on Sunday evening at 8:00 pm, when the song receiving a public wild card for the final act of the National Selection will be announced.
After this stage, the Eurovision Romania team will publish a new playlist on TVR's official YouTube channel - youtube.com/@TVRcanaluloficial, including all 11 songs qualified for the National Selection final for ESC 2026. The playlist will remain publicly available until 4 March at 12:00.
For the final act of the National Selection on 4 March, the Romanian Television will produce a live TV show, broadcast on air and online, exclusively on TVR.
For the first time, the online broadcast of the National Selection final will feature interpretation in Romanian Sign Language (LSR). The team is made up of Marieta Negru and Andreea Darie, two hearing-impaired performers with experience in music performance, alongside Lena Dermengiu, a TVR journalist and certified Romanian Sign Language interpreter with extensive experience in the area.
Romania will enter the international contest on 14 May in the second semi-final.
Under the slogan "United by Music", the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 will take place in Vienna, with the semi-finals on 12 and 14 May and the final on 16 May.
In the 2026 edition of the music competition, 34 countries registered alongside Romania: Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
The previous edition of the music competition was won by Austria's representative, JJ, with the song called "Wasted Love."
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