Estonia: Dates and format for Eesti Laul 2016
Three shows and 20 songs: Semi-finals on 13 and 20 February 2016. Final on 5 March 2016. The 20 songs will be revealed on 11 December 2015
The Estonian broadcaster ERR has announced the dates and format for Eesti Laul 2016. The winner of Eesti Laul 2016 will represent Estonia at Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm.
Eesti Laul has picked the winner for Eurovision Song Contest seven times before. The 2016-edition is the eighth Eesti Laul.
Eesti Laul 2016
- 13 February 2016: Semi-final 1
- 20 February 2016: Semi-final 2
- 5 March 2016: Final
10 songs will compete in each of the two semi-finals on 13 and 20 February 2016. The best five songs from each semi-final qualifies to the final on 5 March 2016. Which songs to qualify for the final will be decided by a 50/50 combination of a professional jury and public televoting. In the final all the 10 qualifying songs are performed live, and a 50/50 combination of a professional jury and public televoting decides the winner.
The submissions for Eesti Laul 2016 is open until 2 November 2015. An expert jury appointed by ERR will announce the 20 entries on 11 December 2015. All song authors and performers must be citizens or residents of Estonia.
Estonia in Eurovision Song Contest
Estonia debuted in 1994 and has been participating in Eurovision Song Contest 21 times since. The only year that Estonia didn't participate in Eurovision since debuting was in 1995, because of the bad result in 1994 (24th place).
Estonia won Eurovision Song Contest 2001 with the song "Everybody". Since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Estonia only qualified for the grand final 5 times out of 12 participations.
