Back in summer, the Finnish broadcaster announced the return of an open selection process to choose the national hopeful for 2020. Today YLE has open submissions and has announced the date of the live final.
All the performers and composers can apply from today until the 8th of November by filling the form available on YLE’s official website. Candidates must follow the rules of the competition, which can be found here.
The finalists, who will be selected by an expert panel, will be contacted on 31st November. YLE will publish the list of qualifiers on 21st January.
The 2020 Finnish representative will be selected from a live show that will take place on 7th March 2020 at TV studio Mediapolis in Tampere. Tickets won’t be available to purchase due to the limited capacity of the studio, but everyone that wishes to attend the show will be able to register on UMK’s official website by the beginning of the year.
YLE will cooperate with YleX Radio to organise UMK 2020 and give a chance to amateur singers:
We want to cooperate to look for the most competitive songs. This will also give amateur singers new opportunities. YleX, which has been awarded a national prize, has already supported new Finnish talents and composers., said Anssi Autio YLE UMK producer, and Hanne Kautto, YleX programme manager.
This decision supports the public choice of an open national selection in which the public and YLE will decide the Eurovision act.