Lithuania is set to be represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026, which will be held in Vienna, Austria. The Lithuanian participating broadcaster, Lietuvos radijas ir televizija (LRT), will organize the national final Eurovizija.LT to select its entry for the contest.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, LRT organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. LRT has used a national final to select all of its Eurovision entries, with the exception of its debut entry in 1994. Between 2020 and 2023, the national final format Pabandom iš naujo! was used to select its entry. In 2024 LRT introduced a new format, titled Eurovizija.LT. LRT confirmed its intention to participate in the 2026 contest in July 2025;[2] a month later, the broadcaster started accepting applications for Eurovizija.LT 2026.[3]
Before Eurovision
Eurovizija.LT2026
Eurovizija.LT2026 is set to be the national final format organized by LRT to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. It will be held between January and 27 February 2026.
Format
The competition will consist of five or six semi-finals and a final, starting in January 2026.[3] A 50/50 combination of jury and public vote will determine the ranking in each phase, with the top two entries from each semi-final qualifying for the final; the third-place entry advances to a wildcard round, where only the audience will determine one additional finalist. In case of a tie in any of the previous stages, the public ranking will take precedence. The scoring system will be the same as used at the Eurovision Song Contest: the top ten entries from both the jury vote and the televote will be assigned scores of 1–8, 10, and 12 points.[4]
Performances for the semi-finals will be pre-recorded, while those in the final will be performed live.
Competing entries
On 18 August 2025, LRT opened a submission platform for interested artists, which will remain open until 11 November 2025. Each applicant may only submit one entry. Performers are required to be citizens of the European Union who have a permanent residence permit in Lithuania, while songwriters could be of any nationality, though citizens of countries "hostile to Lithuania" are not allowed to submit entries.[4] Several dozen participants will be selected by 25 November 2025, with all participants and their song titles announced at a later date. The selected artists will be able to withdraw until 10 December 2025 and will have to submit the final version of the song to the organizers by 23 December 2025.[4]
Semi-finals
The semi-finals of the competition will be filmed on 14, 19, 20, 27 January, 2 and/or 3 February 2026 at the LRT studios in Vilnius and will be aired in January-February 2026. In each semi-final, the top two entries will progress to the final, while the third-place finisher will advance to a separate wildcard round.[4]
3rd-placers wildcard round
After the last semi-final, a online wildcard round will be organized, in which all the contestants who took third place in the semi-finals will participate. The contestant with the most votes will become an additional finalist. Each voter will have one vote.[4]
Final
The live final of the competition will take place on 27 February 2026 at the Twinsbet Arena in Vilnius.[5]
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