The 2018 Austrian Eurovision representative, Cesar Sampson, will be scouting the potential 12 candidates for the forthcoming Austrian national final- Who Sings for Austria. He is on ORF’s Eurovision Scouting Team.
Austria wil be selecting its Eurovision 2026 act and entry via a televised national final- ‘Who Sings for Austria?’ scheduled to be held on Friday 20th February 2026 in Vienna.
Cesar Sampson (Austria 2018) will be helping Eberhard Forcher and Peter Schreiber in their quest to scout the 12 competing acts at the forthcoming national final. Hence he will play a key role in selecting the 12 candidates who will be vying to represent Austria at the upcoming ESC edition in Vienna.
The song submission window for artists to submit their songs to ORF for the 2026 Austrian national final closes on 15th October 2025.
Cesar will be listening to all the submitted entries before evaluating and shortisting them with Eberhard Forcher and Peter Schreiber.
Cesar Sampson was interviewed earlier today on ORF’s Hitradio 03. When Eurovision was last held in Vienna, Sampson, was not involved in the contest as he was not in Vienna, he is looking forward to the forthcoming Eurovision edition on home soil.
Sampson wants to be part of the ESC show in Vienna next year, not as a competing act but as part of the show.
Cesar Sampson says:
I want to be as much a part of this experience as possible. Last time, in 2015, I wasn’t at the Eurovision Song Contest at all. I wasn’t even in Vienna then, and this is my first home game.
Cesar Sampson made his country proud back in 2018 when he represented Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon with his amazing ballad, achieving an honorable 3rd place in the Grand Final.