Austria is going big for 2026, and it’s no surprise, since they will host the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest. What better way to celebrate it, than having the nation finally deciding for the first time in 10 years, who will represent the host nation.
Vienna Calling – Wer singt für Österreich?
We have to go all the way back, to 2016, to find the last time when Austria decided their act through a national final. Since then, all Austrian acts were selected internally. Whether that’s the way for Austria or not, only time will tell, but when Austria returned to the contest in 2011, the Austrians had been using a national final selection between 2011 and until 2013, and then again for 2015 and 2016.
Anyhow, this is will be the way they’ll go, and we even know when to expect an Austrian act to be selected. The date for the final has already been set, and it will take place on the 20th of February 2026.
Some of the rules have been listed, and here we list some of the ones stated, by the Austrian broadcaster (ORF):
- Submitted songs can not have been released prior to September 1st 2025
- Artist must be at least 16 years old
- A maximum of 6 people on stage, for each act
- Artists are only only to represent one country
- The song must be performed with live vocals, with the assistance of half playback
- Submitted entries can not be longer than 3 minutes
- Submitted entries should be original entries, which have been made without the use of AI
Among the highlighted rules, pretty much all of them are standard Eurovision Song Contest rules.
The way the national final will be done, is that the Austrian broadcaster will seek out 12 amazing acts, who then will all perform for the right to represent Austria on home soil. The winner will be decided by both a jury and the televote.
The application window is already open, and will remain open until the October 15th 2025.
Austria did the same thing all the way back in 2015, when they were also hosting the contest back then. The Makemakes were given the honor of representing the home nation in the largest final to date, with the song “I am Yours“. Sadly, the group failed to score any points at all, and finished second last on home soil. That was back when jury and televote points were still combined for each country’s score.
In 2025 however, as we all know, JJ brought glory to Austria once more, when he won the contest with his song “Wasted Love“. Austria won the jury vote, while coming 4th with the televote and with the scores combined, he managed to gather 436 points, to seal his victory.
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Source(s): Ö3.ORF.at (In German)