Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Selecția Națională 2016 was the national final organised by TVR in order to select Romania's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. The competition consisted of two shows: a semi-final featuring twelve songs and a final featuring six songs to be held on 4 and 6 March 2016, respectively. Both shows took place at the Sala Sporturilor in Baia Mare and were hosted by Cornel Ilie and Ioana Voicu with Ioana Anuța–Jo hosting segments from the green room.[4][5] The producer of the competition was Iuliana Marciuc, who was also appointed as the head of the Romanian delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest, while the director of the shows was Dan Manoliu.[3] The two shows were televised on TVR1, TVR HD, TVRi as well as online via the broadcaster's streaming service TVR+ and YouTube.[6] The two shows were also broadcast in Moldova via the channel TVR Moldova.[7] The official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv provided an online stream for the final of the competition.[8]

TVR opened a submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries between 18 January 2016 and 7 February 2016.[3] An expert committee reviewed the received submissions between 8 and 10 February 2016. The broadcaster received 94 submissions after the submission deadline passed.[6] Each juror on the committee rated each song between 1 (lowest) and 10 (highest) based on criteria such as the melodic harmony and structure of the song, the orchestral arrangement, originality and stylistic diversity of the composition and sound and voice quality.[9] After the combination of the jury votes, the top twelve entries that scored the highest were selected for the national final. The competing entries were announced during a press conference on 11 February 2016 held in the Media Room at the National Theatre in Bucharest and hosted by Iuliana Marciuc with the mayor of Baia Mare, Cătălin Cherecheș, in attendance.[6] The press conference was televised on TVR2.[3][10] Among the competing artists was Mihai Trăistariu, who previously represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006. TVR hosted a presentation evening at the Berăria H venue in Bucharest on 19 February where the running order for the semi-final was determined and the competing artists performed their songs live for the public.[6]

On 17 February 2016, "Brand New Day", written by Martyn Baylay and Phil Bates and to have been performed by Hayley Evetts, was withdrawn from the competition and replaced with the song "Tu ești povestea" performed by Gașca de acasă.[11] An additional back-up entry was selected in the event that another participant withdrew; the entry was "The Reason", written by Nora Deneș and performed by Nora Deneș and The Fridays.[12]

The semi-final took place on 4 March 2016. Twelve songs competed and six qualified to the final. A jury panel first selected four songs to advance: "Moment of Silence" performed by Ovidiu Anton, "Let It Shine" performed by Dream Walkers, "Behind the Shadows" performed by Florena and "Paradisio" performed by Mihai.[13] The remaining eight entries then faced a public televote which determined an additional two qualifiers: "I'm Coming Home" performed by Vanotek feat. The Code & Georgian and "The Voice" performed by Doru Todoruț featuring Irina Baianț.[13] The members of the jury panel that voted during the semi-final were: Alexandra Cepraga (music director), Horia Moculescu (composer, producer), Randi (singer, producer), Zoli Toth (musician, represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 as part of Sistem) and Cezar Ouatu (countertenor, represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013).[14] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval acts featured performances from the show hosts Cornel Ilie with his band Vunk, Ioana Voicu and Ioana Anuța–Jo.[15]

The final took place on 6 March 2016. Six songs competed and the winner, "Moment of Silence" performed by Ovidiu Anton, was selected exclusively by public televoting.[16] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval acts featured performances by 2010 and 2014 Romanian Eurovision entrant Paula Seling, 2016 Moldovan Eurovision entrant Lidia Isac performing her Eurovision song "Falling Stars", as well as performances by the members of the jury panel from the semi-final; among their performances, Zoli TOTH Project presented a performance titled "Cocoon", Horia Moculescu, Randi and Uddi performed the song "Vagabondul vieții mele" and Cezar Ouatu performed the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 winning song "Rise Like a Phoenix".[7][15]

Ovidiu Anton made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Moment of Silence" as the Romanian Eurovision entry. On 9 April, Ovidiu Anton performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Hera Björk.[17] Between 11 and 13 April, Ovidiu Anton took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel and performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue.[18] On 17 April, Ovidiu Anton performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French and Paddy O'Connell.[19]