Nationaal Songfestival


Nationaal Songfestival is the name of a Dutch televised music competition. It was organised almost every year between 1956 and 2012 to select the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest. The festival has been on hiatus since 2013. Junior Songfestival, the children's version of the competition, is still active.

History

From 1956 to 1969, the competition was organised by the Nederlandse Televisie Stichting. From 1970 onwards, the event was produced and broadcast by the Nederlandse Omroep Stichting, except in the years 1996, 2003, 2004 and 2005, and 2007. The Televisie Radio Omroep Stichting took over the event in 2009.
In 1961, 1980, 2008 and from 2013 onwards, the Dutch entry to the Eurovision Song Contest was not selected through the Nationaal Songfestival, but was chosen internally by a special committee. The 1963 edition of the Nationaal Songfestival was not televised due to a strike of the Metropole Orchestra.
The festival was usually held in late January or early February. Throughout the years, Nationaal Songfestival has used different formats to determine which artist and/or song would represent the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest. Occasionally, even songs that did not win the competition managed to enter the Dutch hit parade.

Past editions