Latvian broadcaster LTV/LSM has released the rules of the 2026 edition of Supernova, confirming the use of the national selection to send its representative to Eurovision next year in Austria. For the first time since 2019, Supernova will feature two semi-finals in addition to the final, and will take place over three weeks.
Two semi-finals and a Valentine’s day final
LTV/LSM has revealed that the show will take place over three shows: two semi-finals, on January 31 and February 7, with a final planned for February 14. Elsewhere in Europe, Spain’s Benidorm Festival and Denmark’s Melodi Grand Prix will also hold their finals on Valentine’s day.
The exact number of songs in each semi-final has not been determined yet, but five entries will qualify from each show with a combination of jury and public vote. This means ten entries will take part in the final, although an additional, eleventh entry, may be chosen as a wildcard by a joint decision of LTV/LSM and the jury.
The final will also feature the classic mix of jury and televote, with both votes being summarised as rankings and used in the Eurovision-style system of points: the winner of each vote will receive 12 points, the runner-up, 10, etc. The song with the most points will win the competition and the right to represent Latvia in Austria. In case of a tie, as it happened in 2025, the song with the best public score will win.
The last time a similar format was used was in 2019. In 2020, Supernova only used a single show, and since 2022, it had used a two-show format, with a single semi-final.
Submission window open, reveals in November
The submission window opened on August 1, and will close on October 1 at 22:59 CEST (that is 23:59 EET, in Latvia). The titles of the songs and the names of the artists will then be released in November, after a round of selection by a jury.
As usual, Latvia enforces a residency rule, by only allowing Latvian residents to perform the entries. Other members of the songwriting teams, however, such as authors, composers, producers, etc. may reside elsewhere, but only if the value of their financial rights on the submitted song does not exceed 49% of the total rights.
This year, Supernova was won by Tautumeitas, and their folkloric song “Bur man laimi”, after a rare three-way-tie at 18 points with Emilja’s “Heartbeat” and 2022 representatives Citi Zēni with “Ramtai”. Tautumeitas had earned 10 points from the public, and thus the tie was broken in their favour. In Eurovision, they easily qualified from the second semi-final, in second place behind Israel, and reached the 13th position in the final. This was their best placing since 2015, even equalling it in the semi-final stage.
How do you feel about the return to this more classic format? Can Latvia qualify for the third time in a row next year? Who would you like to see in the 2026 edition of Supernova? Tell us more in the comments below or on social media, at @escxtra!
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