RTBF has announced that the selection would kick off on 1 October via the internet. Original plans to launch the selection in May had been stopped by the EBU. On 20 September 2010, RTBF and Akamusic launched a website, where music artists could upload their songs. All entries had to be written in English or French by Belgian songwriters. Until 31 December 2011, page visitors could give financial support in order to make the professional production of their respective favourite song possible. All songs that gathered at least €20,000 qualified for the second stage of the national selection, where the eventual winner would be chosen by a jury and a televote. All people who donated money to songs other than the winning one were reimbursed. RTBF announced that the national final, 'Eurovision 2011: Qui? A vous de choisir!', would take place in mid-February.
Semi-final
The first phase of the Belgian selections finished on 31 December 2011. Almost 200 artists subscribed with a song on Akamusic. 3,181 producers together invested €697,015. 30 artists reached 100% of the necessary amount of €20,000 for qualification. 3 songs were disqualified before the semi-final: Lorenzo Caminotti's entry "Tant qu'il y aura des femmes" was disqualified on 13 December 2010 because his song was presented before 1 September 2010. Thooom's entry "United Belgium" was disqualified on 29 December 2010 because of the political lyrics and Paul Biss's entry "Manipulation" was disqualified on 31 December 2010. Because the number of qualified artists passed all expectations, RTBF introduced an additional round in which the number of finalists were reduced to 14. The semi-final was held on Sunday afternoon 30 January 2011 and was aired by radio channel VivaCité and in live stream video on the internet site of RTBF. The 30 selected songs were judged by a professional jury, by the listeners and on the internet. In the end, 14 songs qualified for the Belgian national final on television.
Belgium competed in the first half of the second semi-final of the contest, on 12 May. Witloof Bay did not qualify for the final, placing in 11th with 53 points and missing out on qualification by a single point.
Split results
In the Semi-final 2 Belgium came 11th with 53 points: the public awarded Belgium 12th place with 50 points and the jury awarded 8th place with 71 points.
