Song of the Year 2019

What is Song of the Year?

Song of the Year (SOTY) is an end-of-the-year superfinal, which celebrates the best of the best of the Sing Out Song Contest from the previous year. The last time the SOSC celebrated a Song of the Year was in 2014, and we are delighted that it is coming back in 2019.

What are the details of SOTY 2019?

SOTY 2019 will take place in December 2019, in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The venue will be Banski Dvor Cultural Centre. The presenters will be Maya Sar, Aleksandra Radović, Nina Badrić, and Karolina Gočeva. The theme will be "Naj, Najbolja (Нај, Најбоља)," which means "The Very, Very Best."

How will SOTY 2019 work?

SOTY 2019 will take place in two rounds: a nomination round and a final voting round. All past and present SOSC players are invited to participate in SOTY, but participation is entirely optional. You can participate in just the nominations round, just the final voting round, both, or neither.

Nomination round

The nomination round will begin on 22 November 2019, immediately following the conclusion of SOSC 57 in Sweden. All players will be sent a form to nominate their favorite songs from 2019. Here are the rules for nominating songs:

• • You can nominate any song from 2019 (SOSC 52–SOSC 57), except songs that were disqualified.

  • You can nominate as many or as few songs as you wish.

  • You can nominate your own songs.

The nomination round will close at 23:59 UTC on Saturday, 30 November. Based on the nominations, a shortlist of 12–16 songs will be selected to advance to the final voting round. No more than two songs from the same country will advance to the final voting round.

Final voting round

The 12–16 songs selected to advance to the final voting round will be announced on 2 December. All players will then be invited to vote. Here are the rules for voting:

• • You must rank all of the songs from your favorite to least favorite. Your rankings will be converted into Eurovision-style points.

  • You can vote for your own songs.

  • The song with the most points will be declared Song of the Year 2019. Standard SOSC tiebreak rules apply.

The final voting round will close at 23:59 UTC on Friday, 20 December. The voting results will be released on or around 23 December.

What is the prize for winning?

The Song of the Year for 2019 will have a permanent commemoration in our Winners page. In addition, Song of the Year 2020 will be hosted in the country represented by the 2019 Song of the Year.