After eight years, Dora is back and it will once again serve as the Contest where Croatia’s Eurovision act is being selected. The submission window closes today, and the interest in entering this competition in Croatia is huge, with lots of local stars having sent their songs in.

Local media report that many well-established singers have entered their songs for this year’s Dora. In between others, it is reported that these acts want to represent Croatia this year in Tel Aviv:

• Lidija Bačić – she took part in Dora twice, back in 2001 and 2002 as a member of the band “Perle”. Since the start of her solo career in 2008, she received over 20 awards in Croatia and abroad and released four albums.
• Indira Levak – (aka Indira Forza) she was the lead singer of the massively popular band Colonia for over 20 years, and is known for her powerful vocals and performances full of energy. She left Colonia and started her solo career in 2017. She released her latest single “Nisam spavala” only two weeks ago.
• Neda Parmać – member of the girl-band Feminnem, the band who represented Bosnia&Herzegovina in Eurovision 2005 and Croatia in 2010. She entered a song together with the band Gelato Sisters.
• Damir Kedžo – he took part in HRT’s Eurovision selection in 2011 but he got eliminated in the first heat. Later he took part, and won the “Slavianski Bazaar” festival in Belarus as well as the “New Wave” festival in Russia. Recently, he won the third edition of Croatia’s version of “Your Face Sounds Familiar”.
• Antonija Šola – she finished in second place in Dora 2008 after a tie-break with Kraljevi Ulice, with “Gdje je srce, tu je dom“. She stated that she loves that Dora has returned, and that she would love to return either as a singer or as a composer, with a suitable song.
• Ivica Propadalo – member of the well-known rock group Teška Industrija, popular all over the Balkans for over 40 years. Funnily enough, he is also the creator of the winning trophy of Dora.
• Četiri tenora – they are Đani Stipaničev, Marko Škugor, Vladimir Garić and Marko Pecotić, and ever since they started performing together in 2016, they successfully sell-out concerts not just in Croatia but in the rest of the Balkans as well. They won the “Dalmatinska Šansona” festival in Croatia in 2017 with “Sve je tvoje“.
• Mila Elegović – Croatian actress, who recently released a couple of singles which were all well received.

Apart from them, various other acts confirmed their interest in Dora 2019 – the winner of the second season of Croatia’s “Pop Idol” – Kim Verson, as well as Marko Zekanović, while Jacques Houdek who represented Croatia two years ago in Kiev confirmed that he also submitted an entry, which is performed by a young talented, not yet established artist.

Dora 2019 will take place on the 16th of February in Opatija, and tickets for the show are already on sale (click). The 16 participants will be announced in the coming weeks, and the winner will be chosen by a mix of televoting and jury votes.