[2] TVR had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Romania, a procedure which the broadcaster opted for once again to select their 2010 entry.

[3] Upon confirming their participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 on 3 November 2009,[4] Romanian Television (TVR) organized Selecția Națională 2010, a competition to select their entrant.

[6][7][8][9] TVR eventually unveiled the jury's scores, which revealed that—although a maximum of 15 finalists had been originally scheduled—16 were ultimately announced due to several ties.

[6] Previously, the broadcaster had collaborated with around 40 high-profile Romanian composers to create a list of "the best voices of the country"; songwriters aiming to compete in Selecția Națională were strongly recommended to consider one of the 54 shortlisted artists when submitting their songs.

[6][10] The jury analysing the entries had the right to recommend that a new singer be brought up for a submission; in this case, the composer was offered the possibility to rerecord their song with another artist using TVR's recording studio.

Furthermore, a new rule introduced in December 2009 stated that it was not permitted for the submissions to have been performed or sent to radio and television stations prior to the date TVR announced the contest's finalists.

Antena 3 writer Dana Cobuz speculated that this led to the disqualification of several entries intended for the national selection, including "My Love on You" by Anda Adam.

[11][12] The final of Selecția Națională was held on 6 March at the Bucharest Metropolitan Circus, and was hosted by Horia Brenciu and Valentina Pelinel alongside green room presenter Gianina Corodan.

[9][13] During his appearance on a TVR talkshow prior to the Selecția Națională final, Adevărul's director of communications Alexandru Catalan stated that he "hope[d] Luminița Anghel [would] achieve a better placement [at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010] in Oslo in May than she did [in 2005]"; this led observers to believe that the national selection competition was rigged.

[16] In March 2010, speculations surfaced that Simen M. Eriksrud—who is not of Romanian origin or citizenship—was one of the composers of the winning entry "Playing with Fire" by Paula Seling and Ovi, which was not permitted per Selecția Națională rules.

In March and April, Paula Seling and Ovi took part in promotional activities in Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Moldova and Portugal where they made radio and television appearances.

[19] Due to the 2010 eruptions of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland which led to the closure of Norwegian airspace, promotional activities in Bulgaria and Macedonia were done by Paula Seling alone.

[27][28] The four backing vocalists that joined Paula Seling and Ovi on stage were Alexandra Crăescu, Andrada Suliman, Bianca Purcărea and Oana Pușcatu.

This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.