Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Germany participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The German entry was selected through the national final Unser Lied für Lissabon, organised by the German broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk. Michael Schulte won the national final with the song "You Let Me Walk Alone".
As a member of the "Big 5", Germany automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Background
Prior to the 2018 Contest, Germany had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest sixty-one times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in. Germany has won the contest on two occasions: in 1982 with the song "Ein bißchen Frieden" performed by Nicole and in 2010 with the song "Satellite" performed by Lena. Germany, to this point, has been noted for having competed in the contest more than any other country; they have competed in every contest since the first edition in 1956 except for the 1996 contest when the nation was eliminated in a pre-contest elimination round. In 2017, the German entry "Perfect Life" performed by Levina placed second-to-last out of twenty-six competing songs with six points.The German national broadcaster, ARD, broadcasts the event within Germany and delegates the selection of the nation's entry to the regional broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk. NDR confirmed that Germany would participate in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest on 16 May 2017. From 2013 to 2016, multi-artist national finals had determined both the songs and performers to compete at Eurovision for Germany. In 2017, the broadcaster reverted to a casting show format for the national final, similar to the format previously used in 2010 and 2012. For their 2018 entry, ARD announced on 8 June 2017 that the broadcaster would organise a national final with a new selection format.
Before Eurovision
''Unser Lied für Lissabon''
Unser Lied für Lissabon was the competition that would select Germany's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The national final took place on 22 February 2018 at the Studio Berlin Adlershof in Berlin with six competing entries. The show was hosted by Linda Zervakis and Elton.Format
The televised final featured six competing artists with a candidate song each. The winner was selected by a combination of public voting, a one-hundred-member Eurovision panel, and an international expert jury panel.The Eurovision panel consists of one hundred members recruited through surveys on social media in order to reflect the taste of the wider European audience, and it participated in the decision-making process from the candidate selection phase to the televised final. The international expert jury panel consisted of nineteen members who previously sat on the national juries of their respective countries at the Eurovision Song Contest.
| Members of the International Jury |
|
Filip Adamo – 
Einar Bardarson – Composer, 
Bruno Berberes – Casting director, producer, composer, coach
Argyro Christodoulidou – Composer, songwriter
Mark De Lisser – Vocal coach 
Rafailas Karpis – Opera singer
Anca Lupes – 
Florent Luyckx – Radio executive
Gore Melian – Singer, songwriter, producer
Grzegorz Urban – Composer, arranger, pianistCompeting entries
Artists were able to submit their bids from 27 October 2017 to 6 November 2017. NDR received over four thousand applications, and 211 were shortlisted to be considered in the selection process. The one-hundred-member Eurovision panel selected seventeen candidates to go through a workshop organised by NDR where they received vocal coaching and choreography training. The Eurovision panel and the international expert jury panel selected six acts that advanced to the televised final from the workshop. Once the six finalists were selected, the acts worked with fifteen national and international songwriters, composers and producers in a three-day songwriting camp in order to create new songs or edit existing songs for the final. In the televised final, each of the six finalists competed with one song.The six acts competing in the final were revealed on 29 December 2017.
| Artist | Song | Songwriter |
| Ivy Quainoo | "House on Fire" | Jörgen Elofsson, Ali Tamposi |
| Michael Schulte | "You Let Me Walk Alone" | Michael Schulte, Thomas Stengaard, Nisse Ingwersen, Nina Müller |
| Natia Todua | "My Own Way" | Loren Nine Geerts, Ricardo Bettiol, Martin Gallop, Jaro Omar |
| Ryk | "You and I" | Rick Jurthe |
| voXXclub | "I mog Di so" | Merty Bert, Mike Busse, Philipp Klemz, Lennard Oestmann, Joe Walter, Martin Simma |
| Xavier Darcy | "Jonah" | Xavier Darcy, Loren Nine Geerts, Axel Ehnström, Thomas Stengaard |
Final
The final took place on 22 February 2018. Six acts competed. The winner was selected by a combination of public voting, a one-hundred-member Eurovision panel, and an international expert jury panel.In addition to the performances by the competing artists, Mike Singer performed "Deja Vu".
At Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 took place at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal and consisted of two semi-finals on 8 and 10 May and the final on 12 May 2018. According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. As a member of the "Big 5", Germany automatically qualifies to compete in the final. In addition to their participation in the final, Germany is also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals.Points awarded to Germany
Points awarded by Germany
Split voting results
The following five members comprised the German jury:- Mary Roos – Chairperson – singer, represented Germany in the 1972 and 1984 contests
- Max Giesinger – singer-songwriter
- Sascha Stadler – artist manager
- Mike Singer – singer-songwriter
- Charlotte Rezbach – singer-songwriter