LINKS
PARTICIPANTS We now appear to have a final list of participants for 2010, with 39 countries competing in Oslo.
ALBANIA As is traditional, Albania was first participant to select their Eurovision entry, and unlike other countries, RTSH decided to expand its selection. The Festivali i Këngës took place with 36 songs competing. The winner, chosen by a jury was Juliana Pasha and Nuk Mundem Pa Ty”(I Can’t Live Without You). The song will be sung in English in Oslo as “It’s All About You”.
ARMENIA ARMTV will be in Oslo, despite their disappointment at the EBU’s decision not to enforce stronger sanctions on Azerbaijan following police interference in that country’s 2009 televote. Ten acts competed in the national final held on February 14th and the winner was selected by a jury and televote. Eva Rivas and “Apricot Stone” was chosen and all the songs can be heard on AMTV’s website.
AZERBAIJAN Since debuting in 2008, Azerbaijan has had two Top 10 results. Six artists competed in a semi-final held on February 2nd, with three progressing to the final, to be staged in Baku on March 1st. Safura will represent Azerbaijan with drip drop!
BELARUS Confusion has marked the Belarusian selection. A series of semi-finals and a final were staged in November and December, but it has now been decided to have a new internal selection. 3+2 will go to Oslo hoping to get a rank better than 5, Butterflies.
BELGIUM has failed to qualify for the final in the last four years and in 2010 Flemish broadcaster VRT, chooses the entry. With the decline in budgets and local interest, VRT opted for an internal selection and on November 25th, announced that 20 year old former Belgian X-Factor finalist Tom Dice would go to Oslo. The song is title “me and my guitar”.
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA has been in every Eurovision final since 2001 and BHRT has again used an internal selection to choose its entry. On January 11th it was confirmed that 26 year old Vukasin Brajic, the runner-up in the talent show “Operacije Trijumf “(Operation Triumph) would perform “Munja i Grom” (Thunder & Lightning) in Oslo.
BULGARIA For the first time, Bulgarian broadcaster BNT has opted for an internal selection to choose its performer. In October it was announced that local star Miroslav Kostadinov, better known as Miro would perform the Bulgarian entry in Oslo. On February 28th, The song “Angel si ti” has been chosen to represent the country in Oslo.
CROATIA Undeterred by not finishing in the Top 10 since 2001, HRT has once again opted for the same selection process as recent years. A national final will be held on March 6th. Among the semi-finalists are Feminnem who finally won with the song Leko je sve 
CYPRUS has not reached the Eurovision final since 2005. CyBC again opted for a national final to choose its song for Oslo. Ten entriess competed for the votes of the public and a jury on February 7th and the clear winner of both votes was the song “Life Looks Better In Spring” sung by John Lilygreen & The Islanders.
DENMARK DR received 562 entries and ten made it to the final staged in Aalborg on February 6th. Six finalists were chosen by a jury and the other four will be established artists, invited by DR. Over three rounds of voting, the song chosen for Oslo was “In A Moment Like This” performed by the duo Chanée and N’Evergreen. The show can still be seen on DR’s websiite.
ESTONIA After finally qualifying for the Eurovision in 2009, it appeared that Estonia may miss out on the 2010 due to financial limitations. However ETV received money from the Foundation for Estonian Enterprise and ten songs competed and the winner was/is Malocolm and Manpower4 with the song “Siren”
FINLAND has reached the final for the last four years. Three weekly semi-finals began on January 8th with three songs qualifying and. were joined a “lucky loser” chosen by a jury. The Finnish final was held on January 30th in Tampere and the winner chosen over two rounds of televoting. The group Kuunkuiskaajat and “Työlki Eellää” (You Can Work For A Living”.
FRANCE had its first Top 10 result since 2002 in Moscow and France 3 again used an internal selection to choose the singer for Oslo, After weeks of speculation, the entry will be performed by the virtually unknown 21 year old Congolese born singer Jessy Matador. The song will also be used to promote French television’s coverage of football’s World Cup.
FYROM MRT is expanding its selection, having narrowly missed out on the last two Eurovision finals. a total of 28 songs will compete in two semi-final and the top eight will qualify for the final. The semis will take place on February 18th and 19th and the final of Skopje 2010 will take place on February 20th.The voting in the final will be a mixture of televoting and a jury.
GEORGIA returns to Eurovision after being forced to withdraw their controversial 2009 entry, for breaking the rules. On January 16th it was announced that 23 year old singer, songwriter and actress Sofia Nizharadze would go to Oslo. Sofia performed six potential Eurovision entries and “shine” was chosen for Oslo. 
GERMANY has opted for a larger selection for 2010. The German entry will be chosen in Cologne on March 12th and before the final there will be heats, a quarter-final and a semi-final, starting on February 3rd. Stefan Raab will select the 20 acts that will compete, before two eventually reach the final. Lena Mayer Landrut with satellite will go to Oslo!
GREECE has reached every Eurovision Song Contest final since 2001. Greek broadcaster ERT has confirmed its intention to be in Oslo, with 10 acts that became 7 after some disqualifications. Giorgos Alkaios was chosen and friends with the song Opa.
ICELAND having equalled their best Eurovision result in 2009, RUV was one of the first broadcasters to confirm they would be in Oslo. 150 songs were submitted and the entry was chosen in a selection process involving three semi-finals and a final, staged in Reyjkavik. On February 6th the Icelandic public chose “Je Ne Said Quoi” by Hera Bjork for Oslo. 
IRELAND is looking to reverse recent poor results, after rumours that budget constraints may force withdrawal, RTÉ announced its plans on December 10th and the format is similar to 2009, but only five songs will compete in “Eurosong 2010″. On March 5th the song “It’s for you” chosen to represent Ireland performed by Niamh Kavanagh.
ISRAEL will be represented in Oslo by former talent show runner-up Harel Skaat. Skaat was announced as the 2010 Isreali performer on December 29th and the IBA has also confirmed that there will be a selection show, where a combination of juries and a public televote will select the song from a choice of four songs. The selection takes place on March 14th, making it one the last selections of 2010.
LATVIA only confirmed participation on December 15th after extending a Eurovision sponsorship agreement. 70 entries were submitted and this year, there will be no semi-finals, instead ten songs compete in a final and the song “What for” won performed by Aisha. 
LITHUANIA LRT has now confirmed that Lithuania will have an entry in Oslo and they have extended their selection to include three semi-finals, which began on February 13th. Three song will qualify from each semi and will be joined by three “wild cards” in the final, On the 4th of March Lithuania has chosen InCulto with the song “Eastern European funk“.
MALTA PBS received 123 songs and 36 semi-finalists were shown in six shows starting on December 9th. 20 songs will progress to the final, which will be staged in Ta’ Qali on February 20th with the winner chosen by a televote and a jury. The finalists were announced on January 16th and no former Eurovision entrants have made the cut.
MOLDOVA Moldovan broadcaster TRM has confirmed it will be in Oslo and will once again use a national final to select its Eurovision entry, with a mixture of a televote and a jury choosing the song for Oslo. 30 song competed in the Moldovan final and Olia Tira and Sunstroke won with the song “Runaway”.
NETHERLANDS Tros used a casting show to select its performer to sing a song by well known songwriter, Pierre Kartner (aka “Father Abraham”). The selection was staged in Utrecht on February 7th and six acts performed the entry “Ik Ben Verliefd (Sha-la-lie)”. After a tie in in the voting, Kartner chose 17 Sieneke to go to Oslo.
NORWAY will host the contest for the third time, having won the 2009 contest. Four semi-finals, began on January 8th and eight songs made it to the final, staged in Oslo on February 6th. Over two rounds of voting, regional juries and the public chose “My Heart Is Yours” sung by Didrik Solli-Tangen. NRK’s website has information and videos from all the shows. 
POLAND Rumours that Polish broadcaster TVP would not be in Oslo proved to be unfounded and Poland will once again used a national final to select its entry. Ten songs competed for the votes of the public, taking more than twice as many vote as the runner-up, was the bi-lingual song “Legenda” (Legend) performed by Marcin Mrozinski.
PORTUGAL has qualified for the final in the last two years. Thirty songs competed in an online qualifier in January, with 24 progressing to two semi-finals to be staged on March 2nd and 4th. Twelve songs competed in the final in Lisbon on March 6th,and Filipa azevedo won with the song Ha dias assim. 
ROMANIA Romania is changing its selection process and the semi-finals are gone, with only a final remaining. It will take place on March 6th and a televote and jury will choose the winner. Ovi and Paula Seling have been chosen with the song “playing with fire”.
RUSSIA After hosting one of the most successful Eurovision Song Contests, Russian broadcaster Channel 1 has to job of keeping interest in the event at its current high level. A multi-artist national final will choose 2010 entry was held on March 7th, and has chosen Peter Nalitch with the song “Lost and forgotten”. 
SERBIA RTS is another broadcaster who have scaled down their selection, due to financial limitations. Well known Serbian songwriter and musician Goran Bregovic, who provided the interval action for the Eurovision final in 2008 will write a selection of three songs for different performers and the winner is Milan Stankovic with Ovo je Balkan.
SLOVAKIA returned to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009, having missed out on the previous ten years. 60 songs competed in the biggest selection of the year. Kristina won the final with the song “horehronie” . 
SLOVENIA RTVSLO will be sending an entry in the Slovene language to Oslo and the song will be chosen over two nights. 14 songs competed with seven progressing to join seven automatic finalists on the second evening. For the first time, the public alone chosen the Eurovision entry. Kalamari and Roka Zlindre with the song “Narodnozabavni”.
SPAIN TVE has changed the format for 2010 and has a new title “Tu País Te Necesita” (Your Country Needs You). Four weeks of internet voting began on January 13th and the top ten songs will competed in the final and Daniel Diges won with the song “Algo pequenito“
SWEDEN Sweden has been in every Eurovision final since 1977 and SVT added a twist to their 2010 selection with a online vote choosing one entry. Four weekly semi-finals began on February 6th, with two songs progressing to the final and two to a “second chance” show. Ten songs competed and the winner was Anna Bergendahl with This is my life. 
SWITZERLAND Despite the fact that the Swiss have seen their last three songs fail to make the final, the 2010 entry has once again be chosen internally. Michael von der Heide will sing “Il Pleut De L’or” (Golden Rain), chosen from 60 submissions to SR.
TURKEY has been in every Eurovision final since 1995 and in recent years TRT opted for an internal selection. The 2010 Turkish representative will be the rock/rap band Manga, who recently won the “Best European Act” at the MTV Awards. Then song title is “we could be the same”. 
UKRAINE has been in the Eurovision final, since débuting in 2003. On December 29th, 28 year old Vasiliy Lazarovich was announced as the Ukrainian singer. Lazarovich, a virtual newcomer will fund the cost of the entry and potential songs are being accepted. Alyosha will sing sweet people in Oslo!
UNITED KINGDOM The BBC’s decision to use famous songwriters Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Diane Warren paid off in 2009, when the U.K. finished in the Top 5. This year Peter Waterman, a member of the Stock-Aitken-Waterman team that wrote and produced a string of hits in the 1980s will write the song. The winning act in Josh with sounds good to me!
