Good evening and welcome to a new edition of the Austrian National Selection!
This edition the format is changing, with the biggest selection so far in terms of number of songs. Eighteen entries were selected to take part in the contest, they were split in 2 semi-finals that will be posted here. Five songs from each semi-final will then qualify for a final consisting of 10 songs, which will change from the traditionally 6 entry format.
So, for the 2 semi-finals, the Hods' of other delegations are invited to vote. Considering the big number of entries and the small amount of time, there will only be needed 5 votes to have a valid result. That doesn't mean that there can't be more votes, however a minimum of 5 voters will be needed to validate the results and a maximum of 10 voters will be accepted. In case that somebody are sending the votes after the 10th juror have already done it, his points won't be taken into account.
And now to explain the rules: every voter will be asked to choose 4 of the 9 entries from the 2 semi-finals. Everyone can choose to vote for which semi-finals he wants, or for both of them, however if one voter chose to vote just in 1 semi-final, it doesn't mean that his vote won't be taken into account. The procedure is simple, just choose, in no particular order, 4 songs you want to qualify.  After all the votes were casted, the first 3 entries from each semi-final that received most votes will qualify for the final. Additionaly, 2 internal jurors (Hod and the traditional internal juror) will choose, both of them, 1 one entry to commplete the field of 5 songs that are going through from each semi-final. The Hod will have the 2nd option, that meaning he will save the last song that qualifies. In case of equality between a 3rd and 4th place, after the International Juror's table, the internal juror will decide which of the songs is qualifying, with his option to save the other one or to choose a totally different entry. In case of more songs with equal points, he will decide which one is qualifying or not. The vote will be open until Thursday evening, 18th of March or until 10 votes are received for both semi-finals, then the final will shortly be posted.
I know that it is a big amount of songs and most of you might need some patience to listen to all of them, however I hope we will get a big amount of votes and have a goos pectacle, and most importantly, people will enjoy the entries chosen to possibly represent Austria in ESCT 40.
The links for the semi-finals will shortly be posted in this thread.