Austrian broadcaster ORF revealed some minutes ago more details about their national final for Eurovisionn 2016 which will be held on February 12th. Among the jury will be Conchita, the Austrian winner of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. 

Ten artists will compete at ”Wer Singt Für Österreich?” at the ORF Center in Vienna, on February 12th. The show will be broadcast live on February 12th at 20:15 CET. The presenters will be Andi Knoll, Austria’s well-known Eurovision commentator, and Alice Tumler, one of the hosts of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. Today the Austrian broadcaster revealed the jury members and the rules of the Austrian national final.

The judges of ”Wer Singt Für Österreich?”

Conchita, Mardie and Julie Frost will be the three of the four members of the jury. A fourth place is reserved for representatives of Austrian media, they will vote separately, but in the end their votes will be given as one.

Most will know Conchita, the last Austrian winner of the contest, back in 2014. Mardie is an actress and singer, while Julie Frost is an American singer and songwritter. She co-wrote the song Satellite, which won the contest for Germany in 2010.

The Austrian journalists who will vote as the 4th judge are: Stefan Weinberger (Crown Newspaper), Astrid Hofer (Austria), Anna Gasteiger (courier), Christiane Carnival (Tiroler Tageszeitung), Martin Fichter-Wöß (APA), Marco Schreuder (ESC bloggers derstandard.at), Roland Bonimair (TV-Media) and Christian Ude (Independent).

Rules of the voting

Each judge will award directly after each performance up to ten points for each performance. Where the judges can also assign multiple same number of points to different candidates. The points are added up for each song. Thus arises after the last race, a ranking of the ten acts from one to ten, which is converted into the final jury points. The top ranking scores ten points and the last one point.

After the last song performed, the voting lines will open and the viewers can call for their favorite act or send an SMS. The song with the most votes receives ten points and that with the lowest scores a point. The points of jury and audience are finally added together and give together the preliminary draw. In a case of a tie that song, which has received more public votes is, preceded ranked.

The first two artists in ranking will perform their song one more time and face immediately after the audience voting again from zero. The jury has here only a commenting function, the final winner will be determined only by televoting.

Line up of Wer singt für Österreich?

The 10 artists that will fight for the right to represent Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm are:

• Bella Wagner – Weapons Down
• Elly – I’ll Be Around (Bounce)
• Farina Miss & Céline Roscheck – Sky Is The Limit
• Lia Weller – RunawayLiZZA – Psycho
• Orry Jackson – Pieces In A Puzzle
• Sankil Jones – One More Sound
• Vincent Bueno – All We Need Is That Love
• ZOË – Loin d’ici
• AzRaH  – The One

Below watch the official trailer of Wer singt für Österreich?

Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest

Austria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 48 times since its debut in 1957. The country has won twice, in 1966, with the song Merci Chérie by Udo Jürgens, and in 2014, with the song Rise Like a Phoenix by Conchita Wurst. Austria currently holds the record for longest gap between wins, with forty-eight years between victories.

Austria finished last at its first attempt in the contest in 1957, before Liane Augustin gave the country its first top five result in 1958 ending fifth. Having finished sixth in 1964 and fourth in 1965, Udo Jürgens won the contest at his third attempt in 1966. This would be Austria’s only top three result of the 20th century. The country’s best result over the next forty-six years (1967–2013) would be a fifth place, which it achieved with Milestones in 1972, Waterloo & Robinson in 1976 and Thomas Forstner in 1989. Austria has finished last in the final a total of eight times: in 1957, 1961, 1962, 1979, 1984, 1988, 1991 and 2015. The country also finished last in the semi-final in 2012.

After a three-year absence, ORF announced on the 28th of July 2010 that Austria would return to the contest in 2011. Austria’s previous best result of the 21st century was sixth, achieved by Alf Poier in 2003, until the 2014 contest in Copenhagen where Austria achieved its second victory in the contest with Conchita Wurst finishing first with 290 points.

In 2015, Austria finished last at 26th place and scored nul points along with Germany; they thus became the first countries since the United Kingdom in 2003 to score nul points at the final. Austria also became the first host country to receive nul points as a result.

Check out our highlights of Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest from 2011 – 2015 – you might see clips you’ve never seen before!