The Slovene participating broadcaster, Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTVSLO), held the national final Evrovizijska Melodija 1997 in order to select its entry for the contest.

13 entries competed in the national final where "Zbudi se" performed by Tanja Ribič was selected as the winner entirely by a public televote.

The broadcaster has traditionally selected its entry through a national final entitled Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA), which has been produced with variable formats.

[4] The invited composers were: Matjaž Vlašič, Aleš Klinar, Saša Lošić, Danilo Kocjančič, Veno Dolenc, Primož Peterca, Sašo Fajon and Slavko Avsenik Jr.[5] A total of thirteen songs were created and selected for the competition and among the competing artists was Darja Švajger who represented Slovenia in 1995.

[8] According to Eurovision rules, the twenty-four countries which had obtained the highest average number of points over the last four contests competed in the final on 3 May 1997.