News - Belarus: Welcome to the Eurofest project! | Eurovision Song Contest News - 2009 Moscow, Russia 

The Belorussian broadcaster has announced the rules applying to the next year's preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest. A four-phase project starts on 5th October with an open call for participations for Eurofest 2009.

Headed by Aleksandr Tihanovich, a superstar of Belarusian pop-music, producer and People's artist of Belarus the fourth edition of Eurofest will be a four-phase project open to all performers, permanent residents of the country. Songwriters, on the other hand can be foreigners as well. Song submission starts on 5th October until 20 November.

The selection will be held in four phases. Initially, a professional jury will select fifteen songs which will proceed to the semi final to be aired by First Channel. During the semi, a mixture of jury and televote will select 2 or 3 songs which will proceed to the final. The Eurofest winner will be selected in the third phase, ie the final, by an expert jury. But the show will not end there. The fourth phase will be a series of shows following the country's representative's preparations on the way to Moscow.

Belteleradiocompany, the organisers of the Belorussian preselection, look upon Eurofest as more than a show to choose the country's representative in the contest. They also consider it to be an opportunity for local talent to enjoy the limelight and be exposed to the Belorussian as well as international public: "During last years, National Project EuroFest became not only a competition. It is a reliable start for young and talented singers, because during their participation in the project they have a great chance to appear in front of the huge audience of spectators all over Belarus and other countries. In 2008 we happily announce, that we begin to accept requests. We are gladly waiting for collaboration with our future contestants. Welcome to the "EuroFest" project! Let's open the doors to Eurovision 2009 together!" - says executive producer of the project, well-known Belarusian singer Anastasiya Tihanovich.

Last year, the Belorussian bradcaster did not stop the Eurovision celebrations with the end of Eurofest, which saw Ruslan Alehno to Belgade. Many more shows followed, such as Belarus - 12 points and Stars of Eurovision, which saw many Eurostars like Dana International (Israel), Lordi (Finland), Marija Serifovic (Serbia), Sertab (Turkey), Boaz (Israel), Ani Lorak (Ukraine), Dima Bilan (Russia), Sirusho (Armenia), Mor ve Otesi (Turkey), Dima Koldun (Belarus), Ruslan Alehno (Belarus) and many others.