Eurosong '06 was the Belgian national final for choosing a candidate that performed the Belgian entry at the semi final of Eurovision Song Contest 2006 on May 18 in Athens, Greece.
This year, the selection process involved the staging of seven TV broadcast shows; the final on February 19, plus four quarter finals and two semi finals held during January and early February 2006. The shows were aired on Flemish broadcaster VRT. Each qualifying heat contained seven songs and the top three from each heat proceeded to one of the two semi finals. After the quarter finals, the jury chose two wildcards - one for each of the semi finals - bringing the total amount of songs in each semi final to seven. The top three of each semi final proceeded to the final and the jury selected one wildcard to bring the total in the final to seven. The list of performers in the qualifiers included two former Eurovision representatives for Belgium, Vanessa Chinitor (1999) and Barbara Dex (1993). It was also rumored that Xandee, who participated for Belgium in 2004, had withdrawn from the competition 12 hours before the contestants were revealed. The big local stars Belle Perez, Kate Ryan and "Idols" winner and World Idol's third place laureate, Peter Evrard, were considered to be the favourites, and it was Ryan who emerged victorious. She sang the song "Je t'adore" at the Eurovision semifinals, but she did not make it into the final stage of the contest.
The songs were judged by a professional jury (consisting of Yasmine, Marcel Vanthilt, André Vermeulen and twice Eurovision winner Johnny Logan), Radio 2, Radio Donna, Press Jury and televoters. Three European juries were implemented in the final.
Read more about Eurosong '06: Final