The national final took place on 13 March 2014 and featured eight competing acts, one of which was selected through a Club Concert wildcard round.

As a member of the "Big Five", Germany automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

In 2013, the German entry "Glorious" performed by Cascada placed twenty-first out of twenty-six competing songs scoring 18 points.

[2] Since 2010, NDR had set up national finals in collaboration with private broadcaster ProSieben to choose either the song and performer or both to compete at Eurovision for Germany, while in 2013, the broadcaster had set up a national final with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Germany.

The competition took place on 13 March 2014 at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, hosted by Barbara Schöneberger with Janin Reinhardt reporting from the green room.

[10][11] The ten participating artists performed during a Club Concert show that took place on 27 February 2014 at the Edelfettwerk in Hamburg, hosted by Barbara Schöneberger with Janin Reinhardt reporting from the green room and was broadcast on NDR Fernsehen and EinsPlus as well as online via eurovision.de and eurovision.tv.

The winner, Elaiza, was selected solely by public televoting, including options for landline and SMS voting, and proceeded to the national final.

[16][17] According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final.

[26] Following the second semi-final, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other.

The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency.

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.

In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.