The submission period has come to an end in Spain, and now the Spanish broadcaster (RTVE) has revealed how many submission were ultimately received. Next up, is the selection process and whether we will see Spain even participate next May.
Benidorm Fest 2026
The ongoing unrest regarding Israel’s participation is expected the be decided soon enough, and that decision will highly decide whether Spain will participate in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest. Despite the currently unknown final decision, the Spanish broadcaster has confirmed, that their national final “Benidorm Fest” will be held regardless.
With that, then there’s no need to worry that the selection process will be halted until a decision is made, regarding Spain’s participation. A total of 870 submissions were received by the time of the deadline, and it’s a slight drop compared to last year, but it’s also stated by the broadcaster, that the submission period was about a month shorter this year. Almost half of all entries, were received within the last 24 hours even.
What follows next, is that a jury will now decide which 16 acts will participate in the upcoming festival, this can even be raised up to 20 entries, if the juries deem the quality of submitted songs to be higher than anticipated. When the songs and artists for the national final will be revealed has not yet been announced, but are expected to be made available before the end of 2025. Further confirmation will follow in the coming weeks.
What is known however, is that the national final will take place in February, with the two semi-finals being held on the 10th & 12th of February 2026 and with the grand final then being held on the 14th of February 2026.
Melody was crowned the winner of Benidorm Fest 2025, hence given the chance to represent Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest with her winning song “Diva“. Spain as a BIG 5 nation is automatically qualified for the grand final, and here Spain managed to finish 24th with a total of 37 points.
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Source(s): RTVE.es (In Spanish)