We are just a few days away from the big Melodi Grand Prix 60th anniversary extravaganza. This year, there won’t be an international jury vote to decide the winner in Norway. However, we will see the televote broken out by five regions of Norway – similar to how we had the semi-finals broken out which toured the country, showcasing talent from all ends of the map. Each region was assigned a spokesperson and there are some very familiar faces!
- Central Norway – Margaret Berger – Eurovision 2013 representative
- Southern Norway – KEiiNO singer Tom Hugo
- Western Norway – Bjørn Johan Muri MGP 2010.
- Eastern Norway – Åge Sten Nilsen of Wig Wam – Eurovision 2005 representatives
- Northern Norway – Agnete Johnsen, Eurovision 2016 representative
Additonally, we also heard from NRK that traditional televoting will be replaced with online voting only. Viewers will vote online at nrk.no/stem, and be asked to confirm the which Norwegian region they live in.
Each viewer will be able to vote 3 times in each of the rounds:
- Round 1 – All 10 acts perform, fans can vote for their favorite. Each voter is given 3 votes.
- Round 2 – Top 4 acts from round 1 will be revealed. Voters will be asked to vote for their favorite of these four, having 3 votes to cast
- Round 3 – Golden duel in which the top 2 acts from Round 2 face off against each other. Each voter will have 3 votes to cast.
As with the tradition, the votes are not cumulative, meaning fans have to keep voting for their favorite to win in each round and cannot rely on the success of the earlier rounds to carry their favorite to Eurovision 2020 in Rotterdam.
Melodi Grand Prix takes place this Saturday, 15 February from the Trondheim Spektrum.