Skopje Fest (), officially (), is a televised musical event in North Macedonia, and formerly in Yugoslavia. The show, organized by the national broadcaster Macedonian Radio Television (MRT), involves some of North Macedonia's most popular performers, singing original tracks, usually accompanied by the MRT orchestra.
History The festival began in 1968 at the Universal Hall in Skopje and continued until 1980. Popular Macedonian and Yugoslav singers, such as Slave Dimitrov, Zafir Hadžimanov, and Nina Spirova, performed at Skopje Fest during that period. The event was revived in 1994, after Macedonia gained its independence from Yugoslavia.
Since the late 1990s, Skopje Fest has been used as the for the Eurovision Song Contest. The first Macedonian representative at Eurovision, Vlado Janevski, won Skopje Fest 1998 with the song "" and went on to perform at the Eurovision Song Contest 1998.
Until 2002, Skopje Fest was the largest musical event in the country. However, it has since faced financial problems and was not held in 2003. It briefly returned in 2004 and was once again dormant until 2008, when it was used as the national final for Eurovision. In 2011, it was announced that Skopje Fest would continue being held as an independent event, without being involved in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. It was used again as the North Macedonian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, being dropped since then in favor of internal selections.
In October 2026, MRT announced that Skopje Fest would return in 2027.
Winners
Year Song Artist 1968 "" () Violeta Tomovska, Ljupka Dimitrovska, Zafir Hadžimanov, and Dime Tomovski 1969 "" () Bezimeni 1971 "" () Zoran Milosavljević Miki Jevremović 1972 "" () Dragan Mijalkovski "" () Senka Veletanlić 1973 "" () Goce Nikolovski "" () Nina Spirova 1974 "" () Dragan Mijalkovski "" () Maja Odžaklievska 1978 "" () Zafir Hadžimanov 1994 "" () Maja Odžaklievska 1995 "" () Lidija Kočovska 1996 "" () Kaliopi 1997 "" () Pece Ognenov 1998 "" () Vlado Janevski 1999 "" () Sašo Gigov Giš 2000 "" () XXL 2001 "" () Andrijana Janevska 2002 "" () Karolina Gočeva 2007 "" () Karolina Gočeva 2008 "" () Tamara, Vrčak, and Adrian 2009 "" () Next Time 2010 "" () Gjoko Taneski feat. Billy Zver and Pejčin 2011 "" () Vlatko Ilievski 2013 "" () Lambe Alabakovski 2014 "" () Daniel Kajmakoski 2015 "" () Eye Cue
References
External links About the festival