The Normania Eurovision Songwriting Camp is being held for the first time this October, with hopes of encouraging Romania’s return to Eurovision.
The Woods have announced a new Eurovision Songwriting Camp that is set to be held in Romania. The Normania Songwriting Camp will be held over 5 days at Casa Vlasia, Snagov, with songwriters, producers, lyricists and artists from Romania, Europe and beyond to take part in the event. The organisers state that participants will co-write and produce songs aimed at selections for Eurovision 2026, “with a special focus on Romania”.
The Romanian broadcaster TVR has been invited to attend the camp, but the broadcaster has not yet confirmed its attendance. The event is being organised by Ovi Jacobsen, who represented Romania at Eurovision 2010 and 2014, Daniel Antonescu of N-Tone and Carl-Henrik Wahl and Jonas H Jensen from The Woods.
Romania last participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023, with Theodor Andrei’s “D.G.T. (Off And On)”, the song scored 0 points in its Semi-Final. Romania actively participated in Eurovision from 1994 until its withdrawal in 2024 due to financial problems.
Dan Turturică, Director of Romania’s public broadcaster, TVR stated earlier this year that the deteriorating relationship between TVR and Romania’s music industry is part of the reason that Romania is no longer competing. He added that the broadcaster does not have the power to select the songs in order to send the best ones to Eurovision, and the production houses do not support TVR’s focus on quality.
Image source: EBU / Nathan Reinds | Source: The Woods
Romania first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994. The country tried to participate in 1993 but failed to get through the pre-qualifying round. At the 1994 contest, Dan Bittman finished 21st in the final scoring 14 points, Romania didn’t make it through to another final until 1998. Romania’s best results in the contest are two third-place finishes. In 2005, Luminita Anghel & Sistem finished 3rd scoring 158 points, while Paula Seling & Ovi finished 3rd in 2010 with the song “Playing with Fire”. Romania missed the 2016 contest due to TVR being removed from the EBU due to debts to the organisation. Romania has not participated in Eurovision since 2023.
