Regio Songfestival

The Regio Songfestival is a Dutch song competition inspired by the Eurovision Song Contest, held among regional public broadcasters. In the competition, each participating broadcaster submits an original song to be performed in a live television show. From the competing entries, a winner is determined through a combination of televoting and votes cast by regional juries. As the conceptual successor to Het Nederlandse Songfestival, which was cancelled after a single edition in 1995, it was first held in 2023 and renewed for a second edition in 2024.

History
Under its original name Het Nederlandse Songfestival, the concept for the competition was developed by the Regionale Omroep Overleg en Samenwerking (ROOS) – the umbrella organisation of Dutch regional public broadcasters – and Stichting Conamus. It was decided to stage the inaugural edition on Ascension Day in 1995 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Omroep Limburg (founded in 1945 as Regionale Omroep Zuid), marking half a century of regional public broadcasting in the Netherlands. In addition, the event would fill the void left by the Nationaal Songfestival, which would not be held that year due to the Netherlands' exclusion from the Eurovision Song Contest 1995.

Although the contest was not intended as a substitute for the Eurovision Song Contest itself, there were plans for the format to potentially replace the Nationaal Songfestival as the Dutch national selection process in future years. Its main objective, however, was to provide a platform for regional artists to present themselves to a broader audience. Despite its ambitions to become an annual event, the contest was not held again in 1996. Instead, the regional broadcasters were invited by the Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) to contribute to the organisation of the Nationaal Songfestival 1996.

In May 2023, twenty-eight years after the 1995 edition, the thirteen regional public broadcasters announced the launch of a reworked version of the competition under the name Regio Songfestival. Its first edition was held on 4 November 2023, with a second edition scheduled to be held in 2024.

Format
Original songs representing different regions of the Netherlands are performed in a live programme, broadcast simultaneously by all participating broadcasters. A "region" as a participant is represented by its regional public broadcaster. The programme is staged by one of the participant regions and is broadcast from an auditorium in the selected host city. As of 2023, the winner is determined by a combination of televoting and votes from regional juries. Participating regions cannot receive points from their own regional jury. The participating broadcaster of the winning entry is given the honour of organising the following year's event.

1995 edition
Het Nederlandse Songfestival '95 was held on Thursday 25 May 1995, beginning at 21:00 CEST, and lasted two hours. The programme was broadcast solely on radio. It featured thirteen entries – one from each province, with the exception of South Holland which was represented by two broadcasters: one serving the province's northern subregions (The Hague and surroundings; presented as "West"), and one serving the southern subregions (Rotterdam and surroundings; presented as "Rijnmond").

The contest was staged in the Grote Zaal ('Great Hall') of Muziekcentrum Vredenburg – a music venue in the city of Utrecht – in front of an audience of around 1,000 people, who were shown a slide show during the performances. The performing artists were accompanied by a backing track. The show was hosted by Dutch singer and cabaret performer Karin Bloemen.

Rules
Only songs in Dutch were eligible to enter the competition. After the submission window opened in November 1994, a call for entries was published in the December issue of Buma/Stemra Magazine. More than 600 compositions were received, from which an expert jury led by Conamus director John de Mol (born 1931) selected ten finalist entries. In addition, three composers were personally commissioned to write an entry for the competition.

Each of the thirteen entries was assigned to a regional broadcaster, which selected its own representative to perform the song. Each broadcaster also appointed one jury member, who would distribute points to their favourite performances among the other regions' entries, while also taking into account the opinions of two listeners from their region. The entry that received the most points would win the competition. In the event of a tie, the entry that received the most top scores (10 points) from the juries would be declared the winner.

Contest overview
The winner was Groningen represented by the song "Bij alles wat ik doe", composed by Kees Smit and performed by Wia Buze. Buze had won the jury vote by a small margin ahead of runner-up Joke Bruijs, who represented the Rijnmond region. As the winning composer, Smit won 10,000 NLG (≈ €4,500) in prize money, while Buze was awarded promotional airplay on the participating broadcasters' radio stations and a trip to London.

Reception
The show was met with a negative critical reception, due to the alleged low quality of the performances. The competition was ultimately not renewed for a second edition in 1996. Instead, the regional broadcasters were invited by the Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) to contribute to the organisation of the Nationaal Songfestival 1996.

Two contestants of the Dutch Song Contest, Roland Verstappen (North Brabant) and Gina de Wit (Friesland), were selected to compete in the Nationaal Songfestival 1996. The songwriters of the Zeelandic entry "De woorden, die schieten tekort" – Michel Pos and Annemiek Woudt – also entered the festival with the song "Neem me mee", performed by Lucretia van der Vloot. Following her win in the Dutch Song Contest, Wia Buze, whose repertoire had consisted primarily of songs in Gronings dialect, released a studio album entirely in Dutch.

2023 edition
The first edition of the Regio Songfestival was held on 4 November 2023, beginning at 20:30 CET, and lasted approximately two hours. It was organised by the Netherlands' thirteen regional public broadcasters, with the (financial) support of Buma Cultuur, AVROTROS and the Karl Friedrich Hein. Unlike the 1995 edition, the show was broadcast on television by all participating broadcasters. In addition, the show was broadcast by AVROTROS on the national television channel NPO 1 Extra.

Venue and presenters
RTV Utrecht, the regional public broadcaster of Utrecht, was asked to host the first edition of the Regio Songfestival due to the province's central location within the Netherlands. It was subsequently announced that the event would be staged at the Stadsschouwburg Utrecht, a theatre in the city of Utrecht. The venue has a capacity of 1,000 spectators.

On 2 October 2023, it was revealed that the show would be hosted by Greek-Dutch singer Stefania Liberakakis, alongside RTV Utrecht reporters Riks Ozinga and Bernadette Keizer. RTV Utrecht announced that Liberakakis and Ozinga would be the show's main presenters, while Keizer would serve as green room host.

Competing entries
For the first time, each participating broadcaster had sole discretion over the process it could employ to select its entry for the contest. Entrants were not allowed to have had a Top 40 hit prior to participation, and had to sing in a regional language or dialect or in Dutch. Regional contests that served as a broadcaster's selection process include Liet (festival) (Omrop Fryslân) and the Drèents Liedtiesfestival (RTV Drenthe).

The performing artists were accompanied by a backing track. The winner was determined by a combination of thirteen regional juries (67%) and a public televote (33%).

Contest overview
The running order for the live show was published on 27 October 2023. The ABBA tribute band We Want ABBA!, featuring singers Mandy Huydts and Sandy Kandau, performed as the interval act.

Spokespersons
The 10, 11 and 12-point scores from the juries were announced by a spokesperson from each region in the following order:


 * 1)  – Iris Kroes
 * 2)  – Willie Oosterhuis
 * 3)  – Linda Geerdink
 * 4)  – Elsa van Hermon
 * 5)  – René Steenbergen
 * 6)  – Henk Hover
 * 7)  Rijnmond – Esther Hart
 * 8)  – Pearl Jozefzoon
 * 9)  – Tom van den Oetelaar
 * 10)  – Wia Buze
 * 11)  – Marco Verhagen
 * 12)  – Maarten Faber
 * 13)  West – Dennis Weening and Celine Huijsmans

2024 edition
The second edition of Regio Songfestival is set to take place on 9 November 2024 at 20:30 CET at the Theater aan het Vrijthof in Maastricht. It will be organised by Limburg's L1 after Emmy Ackermans's win in the 2023 edition. On 4 July 2024, it was revealed that the show will be hosted by presenter and singer Lex Uiting, alongside L1 reporters Yaël Camille Weijenberg en Riël Linssen.

Competing entries
The rules regarding the selection of the entries remain largely unchanged for the 2024 edition. Artists are not allowed to have had a Top 40 entry prior to their participation and they have the option to sing in Dutch or in one of the regional languages of the Netherlands. They will be accompanied by a backing track in the contest. Just like the previous year, two-thirds of the results will be decided by the votes from a regional jury, and one-third will be decided by a public televote. Each jury will not be allowed to cast points for their own region.