Artists and songwriters were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster until 16 November 2004. 64 songs were submitted at the conclusion of the submission period, and an international and local jury panel evaluated the submitted entries and selected 20 entries to compete in the national final. The international jury panel consisted of Alar Kotkas (Estonian composer), Amberlife (Lithuanian performer), Michael Cederberg (employee of Sveriges Radio P3), Ramona Forsström (Promotion Manager of International Repertoire at EMI Finland) and Edward van de Vendel (Dutch poet and lyricist). The local jury consisted of Jānis Lūsēns (composer), representatives of LTV and representatives of Latvian sound engineers. The twenty competing artists and songs were announced on 2 December 2004. The running order draw for the semi-finals took place on 6 January 2005.