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Dates: Semi-final 1 10 May 2011 - Semi-final 2 12 May 2011 - Final 14 May 2011 Host Venue: Esprit Arena, Düsseldorf, Germany Presenters: Anke Engelke, Judith Rakers, Stefan Raab Directed by Ladislaus Kiraly - Executive supervisor: Jon Ola Sand Executive producer : Ralf Quibeldey, Thomas Schreiber Host broadcaster: Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (ARD), Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) Opening act: Grand final: Stefan Raab performing "Satellite" with Lena Meyer-Landrut Interval acts: Semi-final 1: Cold Steel Drummers - Semi-final 2: Flying Steps performing "Flying Bach" Grand final: Jan Delay performing "Oh Jonny" and "Klar" The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following the country's victory at the 2010 contest with the song "Satellite" by Lena. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasters Arbeitsgemeinschaft Rundfunkanstalten Deutschland (ARD) and Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), the contest was held at the Düsseldorf Arena and consisted of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May, and a final on 14 May 2011. The three live shows were presented by German comedian Anke Engelke, television presenter Judith Rakers as well as former German contestant and songwriter Stefan Raab. Forty-three countries participated in the contest, equalling the record of the 2008 edition. Four countries returned to the contest this year; Austria returned after their last participation in 2007, Hungary returned after their last participation in 2009, San Marino returned after their very first participation in 2008. Italy also returned to the contest after their last participation fourteen years earlier, in 1997. The winner was Azerbaijan with the song "Running Scared", performed by Ell and Nikki and written by Stefan Örn, Sandra Bjurman and Iain James Farquharson. This was Azerbaijan's first victory in the contest, after only 4 years of participation. The second semi-final took place in Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf on 12 May 2011. The ten countries in this semi-final with the highest scoring points, according to a combination of televotes and jury votes from each voting country, qualified for the grand final. France, Germany and Italy voted in this semi-final. R/O Country Artist Song Language Points Place 1 Bosnia and Herzegovina Dino Merlin "Love in Rewind" English[c] 109 5 2 Austria Nadine Beiler "The Secret Is Love" English 69 7 3 Netherlands 3JS "Never Alone" English 13 19 4 Belgium Witloof Bay "With Love Baby" English 53 11 5 Slovakia Twiins "I'm Still Alive" English 48 13 6 Ukraine Mika Newton "Angel" English 81 6 7 Moldova Zdob și Zdub "So Lucky" English 54 10 8 Sweden Eric Saade "Popular" English 155 1 9 Cyprus Christos Mylordos "San aggelos s'agapisa" (Σαν άγγελος σ'αγάπησα) Greek 16 18 10 Bulgaria Poli Genova "Na inat" (На инат) Bulgarian 48 12 11 Macedonia Vlatko Ilievski "Rusinka" (Русинка) Macedonian, English 36 16 12 Israel Dana International "Ding Dong" Hebrew, English 38 15 13 Slovenia Maja Keuc "No One" English 112 3 14 Romania Hotel FM "Change" English 111 4 15 Estonia Getter Jaani "Rockefeller Street" English 60 9 16 Belarus Anastasia Vinnikova "I Love Belarus" English 45 14 17 Latvia Musiqq "Angel in Disguise" English 25 17 18 Denmark A Friend in London "New Tomorrow" English 135 2 19 Ireland Jedward "Lipstick" English 68 8

Dates: Semi-final 1 10 May 2011 - Semi-final 2 12 May 2011 - Final 14 May 2011 Host Venue: Esprit Arena, Düsseldorf, Germany Presenters: Anke Engelke, Judith Rakers, Stefan Raab Directed by Ladislaus Kiraly - Executive supervisor: Jon Ola Sand Executive producer : Ralf Quibeldey, Thomas Schreiber Host broadcaster: Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (ARD), Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) Opening act: Grand final: Stefan Raab performing "Satellite" with Lena Meyer-Landrut Interval acts: Semi-final 1: Cold Steel Drummers Semi-final 2: Flying Steps performing "Flying Bach" Grand final: Jan Delay performing "Oh Jonny" and "Klar" The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following the country's victory at the 2010 contest with the song "Satellite" by Lena. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasters Arbeitsgemeinschaft Rundfunkanstalten Deutschland (ARD) and Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), the contest was held at the Düsseldorf Arena and consisted of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May, and a final on 14 May 2011. The three live shows were presented by German comedian Anke Engelke, television presenter Judith Rakers as well as former German contestant and songwriter Stefan Raab. During the first semi-final, many broadcasters lost contact with their commentators due to a technical glitch. Dropouts in the multi-channel sound connections were the cause of this fault, which was corrected, with a second backup system put into place, and tested extensively before the second semi-final. That's the reason why you get to hear Steven and Peter, the German commentators in the first semifinal, partly via smartphone only. Malta (no. 11) has no commentary at all, no. 12 (San Marino) to no. 17 (Lithuania) are commented via smartphone, and from no. 18 on (Azerbaijan) everything sounds fine again. The songs themselves were not affected by the sound glitch. Forty-three countries participated in the contest, equalling the record of the 2008 edition. Four countries returned to the contest this year; Austria returned after their last participation in 2007, Hungary returned after their last participation in 2009, San Marino returned after their very first participation in 2008. Italy also returned to the contest after their last participation fourteen years earlier, in 1997. The winner was Azerbaijan with the song "Running Scared", performed by Ell and Nikki and written by Stefan Örn, Sandra Bjurman and Iain James Farquharson. This was Azerbaijan's first victory in the contest, after only 4 years of participation. The first semi-final took place in Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf on 10 May 2011. The ten countries in this semi-final with the highest scoring points, according to a combination of televotes and jury votes from each voting country, qualified for the grand final. Spain and the United Kingdom voted in this semi-final. R/O Country Artist Song Language Points Place 1 Poland Magdalena Tul "Jestem" Polish 18 19 2 Norway Stella Mwangi "Haba Haba" English, Swahili 30 17 3 Albania Aurela Gaçe "Feel the Passion" English[a] 47 14 4 Armenia Emmy "Boom Boom" English 54 12 5 Turkey Yüksek Sadakat "Live It Up" English 47 13 6 Serbia Nina "Čaroban" (Чаробан) Serbian 67 8 7 Russia Alexey Vorobyov "Get You" English, Russian 64 9 8 Switzerland Anna Rossinelli "In Love for a While" English 55 10 9 Georgia Eldrine "One More Day" English 74 6 10 Finland Paradise Oskar "Da Da Dam" English 103 3 11 Malta Glen Vella "One Life" English 54 11 12 San Marino Senit "Stand By" English 34 16 13 Croatia Daria "Celebrate" English 41 15 14 Iceland Sjonni's Friends "Coming Home" English 100 4 15 Hungary Kati Wolf "What About My Dreams?" English, Hungarian 72 7 16 Portugal Homens da Luta "A luta é alegria" Portuguese 22 18 17 Lithuania Evelina Sašenko "C'est ma vie" English 81 5 18 Azerbaijan Ell and Nikki "Running Scared" English 122 2 19 Greece Loukas Yorkas feat. Stereo Mike "Watch My Dance" English, Greek 133 1

Dates: Semi-final 1 10 May 2011 - Semi-final 2 12 May 2011 - Final 14 May 2011 Host Venue: Esprit Arena, Düsseldorf, Germany Presenters: Anke Engelke, Judith Rakers, Stefan Raab Directed by Ladislaus Kiraly - Executive supervisor: Jon Ola Sand Executive producer : Ralf Quibeldey, Thomas Schreiber Host broadcaster: Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (ARD), Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) Opening act: Grand final: Stefan Raab performing "Satellite" with Lena Meyer-Landrut Interval acts: Semi-final 1: Cold Steel Drummers Semi-final 2: Flying Steps performing "Flying Bach" Grand final: Jan Delay performing "Oh Jonny" and "Klar" The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following the country's victory at the 2010 contest with the song "Satellite" by Lena. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasters Arbeitsgemeinschaft Rundfunkanstalten Deutschland (ARD) and Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), the contest was held at the Düsseldorf Arena and consisted of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May, and a final on 14 May 2011. The three live shows were presented by German comedian Anke Engelke, television presenter Judith Rakers as well as former German contestant and songwriter Stefan Raab. During the first semi-final, many broadcasters lost contact with their commentators due to a technical glitch. Dropouts in the multi-channel sound connections were the cause of this fault, which was corrected, with a second backup system put into place, and tested extensively before the second semi-final. That's the reason why you get to hear Steven and Peter, the German commentators in the first semifinal, partly via smartphone only. Malta (no. 11) has no commentary at all, no. 12 (San Marino) to no. 17 (Lithuania) are commented via smartphone, and from no. 18 on (Azerbaijan) everything sounds fine again. The songs themselves were not affected by the sound glitch. Forty-three countries participated in the contest, equalling the record of the 2008 edition. Four countries returned to the contest this year; Austria returned after their last participation in 2007, Hungary returned after their last participation in 2009, San Marino returned after their very first participation in 2008. Italy also returned to the contest after their last participation fourteen years earlier, in 1997. The winner was Azerbaijan with the song "Running Scared", performed by Ell and Nikki and written by Stefan Örn, Sandra Bjurman and Iain James Farquharson. This was Azerbaijan's first victory in the contest, after only 4 years of participation. Results of the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 R/O Country Artist Song Points Place 1 Finland Paradise Oskar "Da Da Dam" 57 21 2 Bosnia and Herzegovina Dino Merlin "Love in Rewind" 125 6 3 Denmark A Friend in London "New Tomorrow" 134 5 4 Lithuania Evelina Sašenko "C'est ma vie" 63 19 5 Hungary Kati Wolf "What About My Dreams?" 53 22 6 Ireland Jedward "Lipstick" 119 8 7 Sweden Eric Saade "Popular" 185 3 8 Estonia Getter Jaani "Rockefeller Street" 44 24 9 Greece Loukas Yorkas feat. Stereo Mike "Watch My Dance" 120 7 10 Russia Alexey Vorobyov "Get You" 77 16 11 France Amaury Vassili "Sognu" 82 15 12 Italy Raphael Gualazzi "Madness of Love" 189 2 13 Switzerland Anna Rossinelli "In Love for a While" 19 25 14 United Kingdom Blue "I Can" 100 11 15 Moldova Zdob și Zdub "So Lucky" 97 12 16 Germany Lena "Taken by a Stranger" 107 10 17 Romania Hotel FM "Change" 77 17 18 Austria Nadine Beiler "The Secret Is Love" 64 18 19 Azerbaijan Ell & Nikki "Running Scared" 221 1 20 Slovenia Maja Keuc "No One" 96 13 21 Iceland Sjonni's Friends "Coming Home" 61 20 22 Spain Lucía Pérez "Que me quiten lo bailao" 50 23 23 Ukraine Mika Newton "Angel" 159 4 24 Serbia Nina "Čaroban" 85 14 25 Georgia Eldrine "One More Day" 110 9

Date: Tuesday, 25 May 2010 - 2010 - 55th edition - Semi-final 1 Venue: Telenor Arena, Oslo, Norway - Presentation: Haddy N'jie, Erik Solbakken & Nadia Hasnaoui Voting: Each voting country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to its top 10 (combining top 10 of televote and jury). Number of countries: 17 (total: 39) Qualification: The 10 best entries of each semi-final were allowed to participate in the final. The Eurovision Song Contest 2010 was the 55th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Oslo, Norway, following the country's victory at the 2009 contest with the song "Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak. It was the third time Norway had hosted the contest, having previously done so in 1986 and 1996. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK), the contest was held at the Telenor Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals on 25 and 27 May, and the final on 29 May 2010. The three live shows were presented by Erik Solbakken, Haddy N'jie and Nadia Hasnaoui. Thirty-nine countries took part in the contest, with Georgia returning after its one-year absence. Meanwhile, Andorra, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Montenegro all decided against participation, mainly for financial reasons related to the global financial crisis. Lithuania originally announced its non-participation, but was later among the participants confirmed by the EBU. The winner was Germany with the song "Satellite", performed by Lena and written by Julie Frost and John Gordon. This was Germany's second victory in the contest, following their win in 1982, and their first win as a unified country. It was also the first win for one of the "Big Four" countries, since the rule's introduction in 2000. Turkey, Romania, Denmark and Azerbaijan rounded out the top five. Romania, finishing third, equalled their best result from 2005, while Georgia achieved their best result to date, finishing ninth. It was also the first and to date only time since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004 that Sweden failed to qualify for the final. The last time Sweden was absent from the Eurovision final was in 1976. The global financial crisis at the time, affected how the event was run; the host broadcaster NRK was forced to sell its broadcast rights for the 2010 FIFA World Cup to TV 2 and Viasat in order to finance the event. The EBU announced prior to the contest, that the voting system used in the semi-finals would change from previous years to balance jury voting with televoting. A return of accompaniment by orchestra was also proposed, but did not happen. The first semi-final took place in Oslo on 25 May 2010. The ten countries in this semi-final with the highest scoring points, according to a combination of televotes and jury votes from each voting country, qualified for the final. France, Germany and Spain voted in this semi-final. Draw Country Artist Song Language Place Points 01 Moldova SunStroke Project and Olia Tira "Run Away" English 10 52 02 Russia Peter Nalitch and Friends "Lost and Forgotten" English 7 74 03 Estonia Malcolm Lincoln "Siren" English 14 39 04 Slovakia Kristina "Horehronie" Slovak 16 24 05 Finland Kuunkuiskaajat "Työlki ellää" Finnish 11 49 06 Latvia Aisha "What For?" English 17 11 07 Serbia Milan Stanković "Ovo je Balkan" (Oво je Балкан) Serbian 5 79 08 Bosnia and Herzegovina Vukašin Brajić "Thunder and Lightning" English 8 59 09 Poland Marcin Mroziński "Legenda" English, Polish 13 44 10 Belgium Tom Dice "Me and My Guitar" English 1 167 11 Malta Thea Garrett "My Dream" English 12 45 12 Albania Juliana Pasha "It's All About You" English 6 76 13 Greece Giorgos Alkaios and Friends "OPA" (ΩΠΑ) Greek 2 133 14 Portugal Filipa Azevedo "Há dias assim" Portuguese 4 89 15 Macedonia Gjoko Taneski "Jas ja imam silata" (Јас ја имам силата) Macedonian 15 37 16 Belarus 3+2 feat Robert Wells "Butterflies" English 9 59 17 Iceland Hera Björk "Je ne sais quoi" English 3 123

Date: Thursday, 27 May 2010 - 55th edition - Semi-final 2 - Venue: Telenor Arena, Oslo, Norway Presentation: Haddy N'jie, Erik Solbakken & Nadia Hasnaoui Voting: Each voting country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to its top 10 (combining top 10 of televote and jury). Number of countries: 17 (total: 39) Qualification: The 10 best entries of each semi-final were allowed to participate in the final. The Eurovision Song Contest 2010 was the 55th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Oslo, Norway, following the country's victory at the 2009 contest with the song "Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak. It was the third time Norway had hosted the contest, having previously done so in 1986 and 1996. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK), the contest was held at the Telenor Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals on 25 and 27 May, and the final on 29 May 2010. The three live shows were presented by Erik Solbakken, Haddy N'jie and Nadia Hasnaoui. Thirty-nine countries took part in the contest, with Georgia returning after its one-year absence. Meanwhile, Andorra, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Montenegro all decided against participation, mainly for financial reasons related to the global financial crisis. Lithuania originally announced its non-participation, but was later among the participants confirmed by the EBU. The winner was Germany with the song "Satellite", performed by Lena and written by Julie Frost and John Gordon. This was Germany's second victory in the contest, following their win in 1982, and their first win as a unified country. It was also the first win for one of the "Big Four" countries, since the rule's introduction in 2000. Turkey, Romania, Denmark and Azerbaijan rounded out the top five. Romania, finishing third, equalled their best result from 2005, while Georgia achieved their best result to date, finishing ninth. It was also the first and to date only time since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004 that Sweden failed to qualify for the final. The last time Sweden was absent from the Eurovision final was in 1976. The global financial crisis at the time, affected how the event was run; the host broadcaster NRK was forced to sell its broadcast rights for the 2010 FIFA World Cup to TV 2 and Viasat in order to finance the event. The EBU announced prior to the contest, that the voting system used in the semi-finals would change from previous years to balance jury voting with televoting. A return of accompaniment by orchestra was also proposed, but did not happen. The second semi-final took place in Oslo on 27 May 2010. The ten countries in this semi-final with the highest scoring points, according to a combination of televotes and jury votes from each voting country, qualified for the final. Norway and the United Kingdom voted in this semi-final. Draw Country Artist Song Language Place Points 01 Lithuania InCulto "Eastern European Funk" English 12 44 02 Armenia Eva Rivas "Apricot Stone" English 6 83 03 Israel Harel Skaat "Milim" (מילים) Hebrew 8 71 04 Denmark Chanée and N'evergreen "In a Moment Like This" English 5 101 05 Switzerland Michael von der Heide "Il pleut de l'or" French 17 2 06 Sweden Anna Bergendahl "This Is My Life" English 11 62 07 Azerbaijan Safura "Drip Drop" English 2 113 08 Ukraine Alyosha "Sweet People" English 7 77 09 Netherlands Sieneke "Ik ben verliefd (Sha-la-lie)" Dutch 14 29 10 Romania Paula Seling and Ovi "Playing with Fire" English 4 104 11 Slovenia Ansambel Žlindra and Kalamari "Narodnozabavni rock" Slovene 16 6 12 Ireland Niamh Kavanagh "It's for You" English 9 67 13 Bulgaria Miro "Angel si ti" (Ангел си ти) Bulgarian, English 15 19 14 Cyprus Jon Lilygreen and The Islanders "Life Looks Better in Spring" English 10 67 15 Croatia Feminnem "Lako je sve" Croatian 13 33 16 Georgia Sofia Nizharadze "Shine" English 3 106 17 Turkey maNga "We Could Be the Same" English 1 118

Date: Saturday, 29 May 2010 - 55th edition - Final - Venue: Telenor Arena, Oslo, Norway - Presentation: Haddy N'jie, Erik Solbakken & Nadia Hasnaoui Voting: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to its top 10 (combining top 10 of televote and jury). Number of countries: 25 (total: 39) Qualification: Host + big 4 + 10 best of each semi-final The Eurovision Song Contest 2010 was the 55th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Oslo, Norway, following the country's victory at the 2009 contest with the song "Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak. It was the third time Norway had hosted the contest, having previously done so in 1986 and 1996. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK), the contest was held at the Telenor Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals on 25 and 27 May, and the final on 29 May 2010. The three live shows were presented by Erik Solbakken, Haddy N'jie and Nadia Hasnaoui. Thirty-nine countries took part in the contest, with Georgia returning after its one-year absence. Meanwhile, Andorra, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Montenegro all decided against participation, mainly for financial reasons related to the global financial crisis. Lithuania originally announced its non-participation, but was later among the participants confirmed by the EBU. The winner was Germany with the song "Satellite", performed by Lena and written by Julie Frost and John Gordon. This was Germany's second victory in the contest, following their win in 1982, and their first win as a unified country. It was also the first win for one of the "Big Four" countries, since the rule's introduction in 2000. Turkey, Romania, Denmark and Azerbaijan rounded out the top five. Romania, finishing third, equalled their best result from 2005, while Georgia achieved their best result to date, finishing ninth. It was also the first and to date only time since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004 that Sweden failed to qualify for the final. The last time Sweden was absent from the Eurovision final was in 1976. The global financial crisis at the time, affected how the event was run; the host broadcaster NRK was forced to sell its broadcast rights for the 2010 FIFA World Cup to TV 2 and Viasat in order to finance the event. The EBU announced prior to the contest, that the voting system used in the semi-finals would change from previous years to balance jury voting with televoting. A return of accompaniment by orchestra was also proposed, but did not happen. The final took place on 29 May 2010 at 21:00 CEST in Telenor Arena, Bærum, Akershus, Greater Oslo, Norway. The "Big Four" and the host country, Norway, qualified directly for the final. From the two semi-finals on 25 and 27 May 2010, twenty countries qualified for the final. A total of twenty-five countries competed in the final. The voting system used was similar to that used in the 2009 contest (with a combination of televotes and jury votes), but viewers were able to vote during the performances; the voting window ended 15 minutes after the conclusion of the songs. Draw Country Artist Song Language Place Points 01 Azerbaijan Safura "Drip Drop" English 5 145 02 Spain Daniel Diges "Algo pequeñito" Spanish 15 68 03 Norway Didrik Solli-Tangen "My Heart Is Yours" English 20 35 04 Moldova SunStroke Project and Olia Tira "Run Away" English 22 27 05 Cyprus Jon Lilygreen and The Islanders "Life Looks Better in Spring" English 21 27 06 Bosnia and Herzegovina Vukašin Brajić "Thunder and Lightning" English 17 51 07 Belgium Tom Dice "Me and My Guitar" English 6 143 08 Serbia Milan Stanković "Ovo je Balkan" (Oво je Балкан) Serbian 13 72 09 Belarus 3+2 feat Robert Wells "Butterflies" English 24 18 10 Ireland Niamh Kavanagh "It's for You" English 23 25 11 Greece Giorgos Alkaios and Friends "OPA!" (ΩΠΑ) Greek[a] 8 140 12 United Kingdom Josh Dubovie "That Sounds Good to Me" English 25 10 13 Georgia Sofia Nizharadze "Shine" English 9 136 14 Turkey maNga "We Could Be the Same" English 2 170 15 Albania Juliana Pasha "It's All About You" English 16 62 16 Iceland Hera Björk "Je ne sais quoi" English 19 41 17 Ukraine Alyosha "Sweet People" English 10 108 18 France Jessy Matador "Allez Ola Olé" French 12 82 19 Romania Paula Seling and Ovi "Playing with Fire" English 3 162 20 Russia Peter Nalitch and Friends "Lost and Forgotten" English 11 90 21 Armenia Eva Rivas "Apricot Stone" English 7 141 22 Germany Lena "Satellite" English 1 246 23 Portugal Filipa Azevedo "Há dias assim" Portuguese 18 43 24 Israel Harel Skaat "Milim" (מילים) Hebrew 14 71 25 Denmark Chanée and N'evergreen "In a Moment Like This" English 4 149

Date: Saturday, 16 May 2009 - Venue: Olympic Indoor Arena, Moscow, Russia Presentation: Alsou & Ivan Urgant Voting: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to its top 10 (combining top 10 of televote and jury). Number of countries: 25 (total: 42) Qualification: Host + big 4 + 9 best of each semi-final + jury wildcard from each semi-final. The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, Russia, following the country's victory at the 2008 contest with the song "Believe" by Dima Bilan. It was the first time Russia had hosted the contest - 14 years after the country made its debut. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Channel One (C1R), the contest was held at the Olimpiysky Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals on 12 and 14 May, and the final on 16 May 2009. The semi-finals were presented by Natalia Vodianova and Andrey Malahov, while the final was presented by Ivan Urgant and Alsou Abramova. Forty-two countries participated in the contest - down one from the record forty-three the year before. Slovakia returned to the contest for the first time since 1998, while San Marino did not enter due to financial issues. Latvia and Georgia originally announced their intention not to participate, but it was later stated by the EBU that both countries would indeed participate. However, Georgia later decided to withdraw after the EBU rejected its selected song as being a breach of the contest rules. The winner was Norway with the song "Fairytale", performed and written by Alexander Rybak. This was Norway's third victory in the contest, following their wins in 1985 and 1995. The song received a record-breaking 387 points out of 492, at the time the highest total score in the history of the contest. Iceland, Azerbaijan, Turkey and the United Kingdom rounded out the top five, with the latter achieving their best placing since 2002. Iceland's second-place finish was the country's best placing in a decade. After criticism of the voting system in 2007, changes in the voting procedure were finally made prior to this contest, with the re-introduction of a national jury alongside televoting while the format of the semi-finals remained the same. The finalists were: - the four automatic qualifiers France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom; - the host country Russia; - the top nine countries from the first semi-final plus one wildcard from the juries; - the top nine countries from the second semi-final plus one wildcard from the juries. The final took place in Moscow on 16 May 2009 at 23:00 MST (19:00 UTC) and was won by Norway. R/O Country Artist Song Language Points Place 1 Lithuania Sasha Son "Love" English, Russian 23 23 2 Israel Noa and Mira Awad "There Must Be Another Way" English, Hebrew, Arabic 53 16 3 France Patricia Kaas "Et s'il fallait le faire" French 107 8 4 Sweden Malena Ernman "La voix" English, French 33 21 5 Croatia Igor Cukrov feat. Andrea "Lijepa Tena" Croatian 45 18 6 Portugal Flor-de-Lis "Todas as ruas do amor" Portuguese 57 15 7 Iceland Yohanna "Is It True?" English 218 2 8 Greece Sakis Rouvas "This Is Our Night" English 120 7 9 Armenia Inga and Anush "Jan Jan" (Ջան Ջան) English, Armenian 92 10 10 Russia Anastasia Prikhodko "Mamo" (Мамо) Russian, Ukrainian 91 11 11 Azerbaijan AySel and Arash "Always" English 207 3 12 Bosnia and Herzegovina Regina "Bistra voda" Bosnian 106 9 13 Moldova Nelly Ciobanu "Hora din Moldova" Romanian, English 69 14 14 Malta Chiara "What If We" English 31 22 15 Estonia Urban Symphony "Rändajad" Estonian 129 6 16 Denmark Brinck "Believe Again" English 74 13 17 Germany Alex Swings Oscar Sings! "Miss Kiss Kiss Bang" English 35 20 18 Turkey Hadise "Düm Tek Tek" English[b] 177 4 19 Albania Kejsi Tola "Carry Me in Your Dreams" English 48 17 20 Norway Alexander Rybak "Fairytale" English 387 1 21 Ukraine Svetlana Loboda "Be My Valentine! (Anti-Crisis Girl)" English 76 12 22 Romania Elena "The Balkan Girls" English 40 19 23 United Kingdom Jade Ewen "It's My Time" English 173 5 24 Finland Waldo's People "Lose Control" English 22 25 25 Spain Soraya Arnelas "La noche es para mí" Spanish, English 23 24

Date: Saturday, 16 May 2009 - Venue: Olympic Indoor Arena, Moscow, Russia Presentation: Natalia Vodianova & Andrey Malakhov Voting: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to its top 10 (combining top 10 of televote and jury). Number of countries: 25 (total: 42) Qualification: Host + big 4 + 9 best of each semi-final + jury wildcard from each semi-final. The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, Russia, following the country's victory at the 2008 contest with the song "Believe" by Dima Bilan. It was the first time Russia had hosted the contest - 14 years after the country made its debut. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Channel One (C1R), the contest was held at the Olimpiysky Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals on 12 and 14 May, and the final on 16 May 2009. The semi-finals were presented by Natalia Vodianova and Andrey Malahov, while the final was presented by Ivan Urgant and Alsou Abramova. Forty-two countries participated in the contest - down one from the record forty-three the year before. Slovakia returned to the contest for the first time since 1998, while San Marino did not enter due to financial issues. Latvia and Georgia originally announced their intention not to participate, but it was later stated by the EBU that both countries would indeed participate. However, Georgia later decided to withdraw after the EBU rejected its selected song as being a breach of the contest rules. The winner was Norway with the song "Fairytale", performed and written by Alexander Rybak. This was Norway's third victory in the contest, following their wins in 1985 and 1995. The song received a record-breaking 387 points out of 492, at the time the highest total score in the history of the contest. Iceland, Azerbaijan, Turkey and the United Kingdom rounded out the top five, with the latter achieving their best placing since 2002. Iceland's second-place finish was the country's best placing in a decade. After criticism of the voting system in 2007, changes in the voting procedure were finally made prior to this contest, with the re-introduction of a national jury alongside televoting while the format of the semi-finals remained the same. Semi-final 1 The first semi final took place in Moscow on 12 May 2009. The United Kingdom and Germany voted in this semi-final. Before its withdrawal, Georgia was originally drawn to perform in this semi-final. Draw Country Artist Song Language Place Points 01 Montenegro Andrea Demirović "Just Get Out of My Life" English 11 44 02 Czech Republic Gipsy.cz "Aven Romale" English, Romani 18 0 03 Belgium Copycat "Copycat" English 17 1 04 Belarus Petr Elfimov "Eyes That Never Lie" English 13 25 05 Sweden Malena Ernman "La voix" French, English 4 105 06 Armenia Inga and Anush "Jan Jan" (Ջան Ջան) English, Armenian 5 99 07 Andorra Susanne Georgi "La teva decisió (Get a Life)" Catalan, English 15 8 08 Switzerland Lovebugs "The Highest Heights" English 14 15 09 Turkey Hadise "Düm Tek Tek" English 2 172 10 Israel Noa and Mira Awad "There Must Be Another Way" English, Hebrew, Arabic 7 75 11 Bulgaria Krassimir Avramov "Illusion" English 16 7 12 Iceland Yohanna "Is It True?" English 1 174 13 Macedonia Next Time "Nešto što kje ostane" (Нешто што ќе остане) Macedonian 10 45 14 Romania Elena "The Balkan Girls" English 9 67 15 Finland Waldo's People "Lose Control" English 12 42 16 Portugal Flor-de-Lis "Todas as ruas do amor" Portuguese 8 70 17 Malta Chiara "What If We" English 6 86 18 Bosnia and Herzegovina Regina "Bistra voda" Bosnian 3 125

Date: Saturday, 16 May 2009 - Venue: Olympic Indoor Arena, Moscow, Russia Presentation: Natalia Vodianova & Andrey Malakhov Voting: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to its top 10 (combining top 10 of televote and jury). Number of countries: 25 (total: 42) Qualification: Host + big 4 + 9 best of each semi-final + jury wildcard from each semi-final. The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, Russia, following the country's victory at the 2008 contest with the song "Believe" by Dima Bilan. It was the first time Russia had hosted the contest - 14 years after the country made its debut. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Channel One (C1R), the contest was held at the Olimpiysky Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals on 12 and 14 May, and the final on 16 May 2009. The semi-finals were presented by Natalia Vodianova and Andrey Malahov, while the final was presented by Ivan Urgant and Alsou Abramova. Forty-two countries participated in the contest - down one from the record forty-three the year before. Slovakia returned to the contest for the first time since 1998, while San Marino did not enter due to financial issues. Latvia and Georgia originally announced their intention not to participate, but it was later stated by the EBU that both countries would indeed participate. However, Georgia later decided to withdraw after the EBU rejected its selected song as being a breach of the contest rules. The winner was Norway with the song "Fairytale", performed and written by Alexander Rybak. This was Norway's third victory in the contest, following their wins in 1985 and 1995. The song received a record-breaking 387 points out of 492, at the time the highest total score in the history of the contest. Iceland, Azerbaijan, Turkey and the United Kingdom rounded out the top five, with the latter achieving their best placing since 2002. Iceland's second-place finish was the country's best placing in a decade. After criticism of the voting system in 2007, changes in the voting procedure were finally made prior to this contest, with the re-introduction of a national jury alongside televoting while the format of the semi-finals remained the same. Semi-final 2 The second semi final took place in Moscow on 14 May 2009. France and Russia voted in this semi-final. Spain was also scheduled to televote in this semi-final, but due to scheduling errors at TVE, the semi-final was aired late and Spanish viewers were not able to vote, so the Spanish jury's vote was used instead. Draw Country Artist Song Language Place Points 01 Croatia Igor Cukrov feat. Andrea "Lijepa Tena" Croatian 13 33 02 Ireland Sinéad Mulvey and Black Daisy "Et Cetera" English 11 52 03 Latvia Intars Busulis "Probka" (Пробка) Russian 19 7 04 Serbia Marko Kon and Milaan "Cipela" (Ципела) Serbian 10 60 05 Poland Lidia Kopania "I Don't Wanna Leave" English 12 43 06 Norway Alexander Rybak "Fairytale" English 1 201 07 Cyprus Christina Metaxa "Firefly" English 14 32 08 Slovakia Kamil Mikulčík and Nela Pocisková "Leť tmou" Slovak 18 8 09 Denmark Niels Brinck "Believe Again" English 8 69 10 Slovenia Quartissimo feat. Martina "Love Symphony" English, Slovene 16 14 11 Hungary Zoli Ádok "Dance with Me" English 15 16 12 Azerbaijan AySel and Arash "Always" English 2 180 13 Greece Sakis Rouvas "This Is Our Night" English 4 110 14 Lithuania Sasha Son "Love" English, Russian 9 66 15 Moldova Nelly Ciobanu "Hora din Moldova" Romanian, English 5 106 16 Albania Kejsi Tola "Carry Me in Your Dreams" English 7 73 17 Ukraine Svetlana Loboda "Be My Valentine! (Anti-Crisis Girl)" English 6 80 18 Estonia Urban Symphony "Rändajad" Estonian 3 115 19 Netherlands The Toppers "Shine" English 17 11

Dates: Semi-final 1 20 May 2008 - Semi-final 2 22 May 2008 - Final: 24 May 2008 Host venue: Belgrade Arena, Serbia - Presenters: Jovana Janković, Željko Joksimović Directed by Sven Stojanović - Executive supervisor: Svante Stockselius Executive producer : Sandra Šuša - Host broadcaster: Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) Participants: Number of entries: 43 - Number of finalists: 25 Debuting countries: Azerbaijan, San Marino - Returning countries: None - Non-returning countries: Austria The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Belgrade, Serbia, following the country's victory at the 2007 contest with the song "Molitva" by Marija Šerifović. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), the contest was held at the Belgrade Arena, and (for the first time) consisted of two semi-finals on 20 and 22 May, and a final on 24 May 2008. The three live shows were presented by Serbian television presenter Jovana Janković and musician Željko Joksimović. Forty-three countries participated in the contest, the highest ever number of participants in the contest beating the record of forty-two set the year before. Azerbaijan and San Marino participated for the first time, while Austria did not participate, mainly due to questions on the semi-final organisation as well as the politicization of the contest. The winner was Russia with the song "Believe", performed by Dima Bilan who wrote it with Jim Beanz. Ukraine, Greece, Armenia and Norway rounded out the top five. Armenia achieved their best result to date this year. Of the "Big Four" countries Spain placed the highest, finishing sixteenth, while the United Kingdom ended up in last place for the second time in their Eurovision history, after 2003. The official website, eurovision.tv, streamed national finals for this year's contest live on ESCTV for the first time. Furthermore, for the first time the winner has been awarded the perpetual glass microphone trophy of the Eurovision Song Contest. The trophy is a handmade piece of sandblasted glass in the shape of a 1950s microphone. Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide. The EBU issued an invitation to participate in the contest to all active members. On 21 December 2007, the EBU confirmed that 43 countries would be present in Belgrade. San Marino, as well as the newest EBU member, Azerbaijan, made its debut at the 2008 contest. Austria did not compete; its broadcaster, ORF, said "we've already seen in 2007 that it's not the quality of the song, but the country of origin that determines the decision." Automatic grand finalists Germany and Spain exercised voting rights at the first semi-final. France, the United Kingdom and Serbia exercised voting rights at the second semi-final. Spain and France each broadcast only the semi-final in which they participated; Germany, Serbia and the UK screened both semi-finals (with Germany broadcasting on a delay). It was announced that the EBU had approved the plan of hosting two semi-finals in 2008. The second semi-final was held on 22 May 2008. The United Kingdom, France and Serbia voted in this semi-final. Results of the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 R/O Country Artist Song Points Place 1 Iceland Euroband "This Is My Life" 68 8 2 Sweden Charlotte Perrelli "Hero" 54 12 ‡ 3 Turkey Mor ve Ötesi "Deli" 85 7 4 Ukraine Ani Lorak "Shady Lady" 152 1 5 Lithuania Jeronimas Milius "Nomads in the Night" 30 16 6 Albania Olta Boka "Zemrën e lamë peng" 67 9 7 Switzerland Paolo Meneguzzi "Era stupendo" 47 13 8 Czech Republic Tereza Kerndlová "Have Some Fun" 9 18 9 Belarus Ruslan Alehno "Hasta la vista" 27 17 10 Latvia Pirates of the Sea "Wolves of the Sea" 86 6 11 Croatia Kraljevi ulice and 75 Cents "Romanca" 112 4 12 Bulgaria Deep Zone and Balthazar "DJ, Take Me Away" 56 11 13 Denmark Simon Mathew "All Night Long" 112 3 14 Georgia Diana Gurtskaya "Peace Will Come" 107 5 15 Hungary Csézy "Candlelight" 6 19 16 Malta Morena "Vodka" 38 14 17 Cyprus Evdokia Kadi "Femme Fatale" 36 15 18 Macedonia Tamara, Vrčak and Adrijan "Let Me Love You" 64 10 19 Portugal Vânia Fernandes "Senhora do mar (negras águas)" 120 2

Dates: Semi-final 1 20 May 2008 - Semi-final 2 22 May 2008 - Final 24 May 2008 Host venue: Belgrade Arena, Serbia Presenters: Jovana Janković, Željko Joksimović Directed by Sven Stojanović Executive supervisor: Svante Stockselius Executive producer : Sandra Šuša Host broadcaster: Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) Participants: Number of entries: 43 - Number of finalists: 25 Debuting countries: Azerbaijan, San Marino - Returning countries: None - Non-returning countries: Austria The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Belgrade, Serbia, following the country's victory at the 2007 contest with the song "Molitva" by Marija Šerifović. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), the contest was held at the Belgrade Arena, and (for the first time) consisted of two semi-finals on 20 and 22 May, and a final on 24 May 2008. The three live shows were presented by Serbian television presenter Jovana Janković and musician Željko Joksimović. Forty-three countries participated in the contest, the highest ever number of participants in the contest beating the record of forty-two set the year before. Azerbaijan and San Marino participated for the first time, while Austria did not participate, mainly due to questions on the semi-final organisation as well as the politicization of the contest. The winner was Russia with the song "Believe", performed by Dima Bilan who wrote it with Jim Beanz. Ukraine, Greece, Armenia and Norway rounded out the top five. Of the "Big Four" countries Spain placed the highest, finishing sixteenth, while the United Kingdom ended up in last place for the second time in their Eurovision history. The official website, eurovision.tv, streamed national finals for this year's contest live on ESCTV for the first time. Furthermore, for the first time the winner has been awarded the perpetual glass microphone trophy of the Eurovision Song Contest. The trophy is a handmade piece of sandblasted glass in the shape of a 1950s microphone. Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide. The EBU issued an invitation to participate in the contest to all active members. On 21 December 2007, the EBU confirmed that 43 countries would be present in Belgrade. San Marino, as well as the newest EBU member, Azerbaijan, made its debut at the 2008 contest. Austria did not compete; its broadcaster, ORF, said "we've already seen in 2007 that it's not the quality of the song, but the country of origin that determines the decision." Automatic grand finalists Germany and Spain exercised voting rights at the first semi-final. France, the United Kingdom and Serbia exercised voting rights at the second semi-final. Spain and France each broadcast only the semi-final in which they participated; Germany, Serbia and the UK screened both semi-finals (with Germany broadcasting on a delay). It was announced that the EBU had approved the plan of hosting two semi-finals in 2008. The grand final was held on 24 May 2008 and was won by Russia. The participants were the "Big Four" countries (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom); the host country (Serbia); the top nine countries from the first semi-final plus one wildcard from the juries; the top nine countries from the second semi-final plus one wildcard from the juries. Results of the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 R/O Country Artist Song Points Place 1 Romania Nico and Vlad "Pe-o margine de lume" 45 20 2 United Kingdom Andy Abraham "Even If" 14 25 3 Albania Olta Boka "Zemrën e lamë peng" 55 17 4 Germany No Angels "Disappear" 14 23 5 Armenia Sirusho "Qélé, Qélé" 199 4 6 Bosnia and Herzegovina Laka "Pokušaj" 110 10 7 Israel Boaz "The Fire in Your Eyes" 124 9 8 Finland Teräsbetoni "Missä miehet ratsastaa" 35 22 9 Croatia Kraljevi ulice and 75 Cents "Romanca" 44 21 10 Poland Isis Gee "For Life" 14 24 11 Iceland Euroband "This Is My Life" 64 14 12 Turkey Mor ve Ötesi "Deli" 138 7 13 Portugal Vânia Fernandes "Senhora do mar " 69 13 14 Latvia Pirates of the Sea "Wolves of the Sea" 83 12 15 Sweden Charlotte Perrelli "Hero" 47 18 16 Denmark Simon Mathew "All Night Long" 60 15 17 Georgia Diana Gurtskaya "Peace Will Come" 83 11 18 Ukraine Ani Lorak "Shady Lady" 230 2 19 France Sébastien Tellier "Divine" 47 19 20 Azerbaijan Elnur and Samir "Day After Day" 132 8 21 Greece Kalomira "Secret Combination" 218 3 22 Spain Rodolfo Chikilicuatre "Baila el Chiki Chiki" 55 16 23 Serbia Jelena Tomašević feat. Bora Dugić "Oro" 160 6 24 Russia Dima Bilan "Believe" 272 1 25 Norway Maria "Hold On Be Strong" 182 5

Dates: Semi-final: 10 May 2007 - Final: 12 May 2007 Host venue: Hartwall Areena, Helsinki, Finland Presenters: Jaana Pelkonen, Mikko Leppilampi, Krisse Salminen (green room; final) Directed by Timo Suomi Executive supervisor: Svante Stockselius Executive producer: Heikki Seppälä Host broadcaster: Yleisradio (YLE) The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Helsinki, Finland, following Lordi's win at the 2006 contest in Athens, Greece with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah". It was the first time Finland had hosted the contest - 46 years after the country made its debut. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Yleisradio (Yle), the contest was held at the Hartwall Areena, and consisted of a semi-final on 10 May, and the final on 12 May 2007. The two live shows were hosted by Jaana Pelkonen and Mikko Leppilampi. In addition, Krisse Salminen acted as guest host in the green room, and reported from the crowds at the Senate Square. Forty-two countries participated in the contest - three more than the previous record of thirty-nine, that took part in 2005. The EBU decided to put aside its limit of 40 countries, which would have meant excluding some countries using a ranking order scheme. The Czech Republic and Georgia made their first participation this year, with Montenegro and Serbia taking part as independent nations for the first time. Austria and Hungary both returned, after their absence from the previous edition. Meanwhile, Monaco decided not to participate. The winner was Serbia with the song "Molitva", performed by Marija Šerifović and written by Vladimir Graić and Saša Milošević Mare. This was Serbia's first victory in the contest, and indeed, the first year they competed as an independent nation. Also, this was the first victory for one of the former Yugoslav republics. It was also the first winning song entirely performed in a country's native language since Israel's "Diva" in 1998. Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and Bulgaria rounded out the top five. Bulgaria achieved their best result in the contest up to this point. Further down the table, Belarus achieved their best placing to date, finishing sixth. Meanwhile, Ireland achieved their worst placing in the contest, finishing twenty-fourth (last place). Of the "Big Four" countries Germany placed the highest, finishing nineteenth. For the first time, the contest featured songs entered in languages other than a country's own national language or in English (coming from Cyprus and Latvia). Although this happened in 2003, this was the first time the contest featured countries doing this with actual languages as opposed to an imaginary one. The semi-final was held on 10 May 2007 at 21:00 (CET). 28 countries performed and all 42 participants voted. Results of the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 R/O Country Artist Song Points Place 1 Bulgaria Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankoulov "Water" 146 6 2 Israel Teapacks "Push the Button" 17 24 3 Cyprus Evridiki "Comme ci, comme ça" 65 15 4 Belarus Koldun "Work Your Magic" 176 4 5 Iceland Eiríkur Hauksson "Valentine Lost" 77 13 6 Georgia Sopho "Visionary Dream" 123 8 7 Montenegro Stevan Faddy "'Ajde, kroči" 33 22 8 Switzerland DJ BoBo "Vampires Are Alive" 40 20 9 Moldova Natalia Barbu "Fight" 91 10 10 Netherlands Edsilia Rombley "On Top of the World" 38 21 11 Albania Frederik Ndoci "Hear My Plea" 49 17 12 Denmark DQ "Drama Queen" 45 19 13 Croatia Dragonfly feat. Dado Topić "Vjerujem u ljubav" 54 16 14 Poland The Jet Set "Time to Party" 75 14 15 Serbia Marija Šerifović "Molitva" 298 1 16 Czech Republic Kabát "Malá dáma" 1 28 17 Portugal Sabrina "Dança comigo" 88 11 18 Macedonia Karolina "Mojot svet" 97 9 19 Norway Guri Schanke "Ven a bailar conmigo" 48 18 20 Malta Olivia Lewis "Vertigo" 15 25 21 Andorra Anonymous "Salvem el món" 80 12 22 Hungary Magdi Rúzsa "Unsubstantial Blues" 224 2 23 Estonia Gerli Padar "Partners in Crime" 33 22 24 Belgium The KMG's "LovePower" 14 26 25 Slovenia Alenka Gotar "Cvet z juga" 140 7 26 Turkey Kenan Doğulu "Shake It Up Şekerim" 197 3 27 Austria Eric Papilaya "Get a Life – Get Alive" 4 27 28 Latvia Bonaparti.lv "Questa notte" 168 5

finals on 20 and 22 May, and a final on 24 May 2008. The three live shows were presented by Serbian television presenter Jovana Janković and musician Željko Joksimović. Forty-three countries participated in the contest, the highest ever number of participants in the contest beating the record of forty-two set the year before. Azerbaijan and San Marino participated for the first time, while Austria did not participate, mainly due to questions on the semi-final organisation as well as the politicization of the contest. The winner was Russia with the song "Believe", performed by Dima Bilan who wrote it with Jim Beanz. Ukraine, Greece, Armenia and Norway rounded out the top five. Armenia achieved their best result to date this year. Of the "Big Four" countries Spain placed the highest, finishing sixteenth, while the United Kingdom ended up in last place for the second time in their Eurovision history, after 2003. The official website, eurovision.tv, streamed national finals for this year's contest live on ESCTV for the first time. Furthermore, for the first time the winner has been awarded the perpetual glass microphone trophy of the Eurovision Song Contest. The trophy is a handmade piece of sandblasted glass in the shape of a 1950s microphone. Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide. The EBU issued an invitation to participate in the contest to all active members. On 21 December 2007, the EBU confirmed that 43 countries would be present in Belgrade. San Marino, as well as the newest EBU member, Azerbaijan, made its debut at the 2008 contest. Austria did not compete; its broadcaster, ORF, said "we've already seen in 2007 that it's not the quality of the song, but the country of origin that determines the decision." Automatic grand finalists Germany and Spain exercised voting rights at the first semi-final. France, the United Kingdom and Serbia exercised voting rights at the second semi-final. Spain and France each broadcast only the semi-final in which they participated; Germany, Serbia and the UK screened both semi-finals (with Germany broadcasting on a delay). It was announced that the EBU had approved the plan of hosting two semi-finals in 2008. The first semi-final was held on 20 May 2008. Germany and Spain voted in this semi-final. Results of the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 R/O Country Artist Song Points Place 1 Montenegro Stefan Filipović "Zauvijek volim te" 23 14 2 Israel Boaz "The Fire in Your Eyes" 104 5 3 Estonia Kreisiraadio "Leto svet" 8 18 4 Moldova Geta Burlacu "A Century of Love" 36 12 5 San Marino Miodio "Complice" 5 19 6 Belgium Ishtar "O Julissi" 16 17 7 Azerbaijan Elnur and Samir "Day After Day" 96 6 8 Slovenia Rebeka Dremelj "Vrag naj vzame" 36 11 9 Norway Maria "Hold On Be Strong" 106 4 10 Poland Isis Gee "For Life" 42 10 ‡ 11 Ireland Dustin the Turkey "Irelande Douze Pointe" 22 15 12 Andorra Gisela "Casanova" 22 16 13 Bosnia and Herzegovina Laka "Pokušaj" 72 9 14 Armenia Sirusho "Qélé, Qélé" 139 2 15 Netherlands Hind "Your Heart Belongs to Me" 27 13 16 Finland Teräsbetoni "Missä miehet ratsastaa" 79 8 17 Romania Nico and Vlad "Pe-o margine de lume" 94 7 18 Russia Dima Bilan "Believe" 135 3 19 Greece Kalomira "Secret Combination" 156 1

Date: Saturday, 20 May 2006 - Venue: Olympic Stadium's Indoor Arena, Athens, Greece Presentation: Sakis Rouvas & Maria Menounos - Voting: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to its top 10 (by televote). Number of countries: 24 (total: 37) Qualification: Host + big 4 + 9 best of 2005 (excl. host, big 4 & Serbia-Montenegro) + 10 best of semi-final. The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Athens, Greece, following the country's victory at the 2005 contest with the song "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou. It was the first time Greece had hosted the contest - 32 years after the country made its debut. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), the contest was held at the Nikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall, and consisted of a semi-final on 18 May, and the final on 20 May 2006. The two live shows were presented by Maria Menounos and Sakis Rouvas. Thirty-seven countries participated in the contest. Armenia took part for the first time this year. Meanwhile, Austria, Hungary, and Serbia and Montenegro announced their non-participations in the contest for various reasons. Serbia and Montenegro had intended to participate, however, due to a scandal in the national selection, tensions were caused between the Serbian broadcaster, RTS, and the Montenegrin broadcaster, RTCG. Despite this, the nation did retain voting rights for the contest. The winner was Finland with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah", performed by Lordi and written by lead singer Mr. Lordi a.k.a. Tomi Petteri Putaansuu. This was Finland's first victory in the contest - and first top five placing - in 45 years of participation. It was the first ever hard rock / heavy metal music song to win the contest, and Lordi was the first band to win since 1997. Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania and Sweden rounded out the top five. Bosnia and Herzegovina achieved their best result in their Eurovision history. Further down the table, Lithuania also achieved their best result to date, finishing sixth. Of the "Big Four" countries Germany placed the highest, finishing joint fourteenth (with Norway). The contest saw the 1,000th song performed in the contest, when Ireland's Brian Kennedy performed "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" in the semi-final. Semi-final The semi-final was held on 18 May 2006 at 21:00 (CET). 23 countries performed and all 37 participants and Serbia and Montenegro voted. Draw Country Artist Song Language Place Points 01 Armenia André "Without Your Love" English 6 150 02 Bulgaria Mariana Popova "Let Me Cry" English 17 36 03 Slovenia Anžej Dežan "Mr Nobody" English 16 49 04 Andorra Jenny "Sense tu" Catalan 23 8 05 Belarus Polina Smolova "Mum" English 22 10 06 Albania Luiz Ejlli "Zjarr e ftohtë" Albanian 14 58 07 Belgium Kate Ryan "Je t'adore" English 12 69 08 Ireland Brian Kennedy "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" English 9 79 09 Cyprus Annet Artani "Why Angels Cry" English 15 57 10 Monaco Séverine Ferrer "La Coco-Dance" French, Tahitian 21 14 11 Macedonia Elena Risteska "Ninanajna" (Нинанајна) English, Macedonian 10 76 12 Poland Ich Troje feat. Real McCoy "Follow My Heart" English, Polish, German, Russian[a] 11 70 13 Russia Dima Bilan "Never Let You Go" English 3 217 14 Turkey Sibel Tüzün "Süper Star" Turkish[b] 8 91 15 Ukraine Tina Karol "Show Me Your Love" English 7 146 16 Finland Lordi "Hard Rock Hallelujah" English 1 292 17 Netherlands Treble "Amambanda" English, Imaginary 20 22 18 Lithuania LT United "We Are the Winners" English[c] 5 163 19 Portugal Nonstop "Coisas de nada" Portuguese, English 19 26 20 Sweden Carola "Invincible" English 4 214 21 Estonia Sandra Oxenryd "Through My Window" English 18 28 22 Bosnia and Herzegovina Hari Mata Hari "Lejla" Bosnian 2 267 23 Iceland Silvia Night "Congratulations" English 13 62

The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Helsinki, Finland, following Lordi's win at the 2006 contest in Athens, Greece with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah". It was the first time Finland had hosted the contest - 46 years after the country made its debut. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Yleisradio (Yle), the contest was held at the Hartwall Areena, and consisted of a semi-final on 10 May, and the final on 12 May 2007. The two live shows were hosted by Jaana Pelkonen and Mikko Leppilampi. In addition, Krisse Salminen acted as guest host in the green room, and reported from the crowds at the Senate Square. Forty-two countries participated in the contest - three more than the previous record of thirty-nine, that took part in 2005. The EBU decided to put aside its limit of 40 countries, which would have meant excluding some countries using a ranking order scheme. The Czech Republic and Georgia made their first participation this year, with Montenegro and Serbia taking part as independent nations for the first time. Austria and Hungary both returned, after their absence from the previous edition. Meanwhile, Monaco decided not to participate. The winner was Serbia with the song "Molitva", performed by Marija Šerifović and written by Vladimir Graić and Saša Milošević Mare. This was Serbia's first victory in the contest, and indeed, the first year they competed as an independent nation. Also, this was the first victory for one of the former Yugoslav republics. It was also the first winning song entirely performed in a country's native language since Israel's "Diva" in 1998. Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and Bulgaria rounded out the top five. Bulgaria achieved their best result in the contest up to this point. Further down the table, Belarus achieved their best placing to date, finishing sixth. Meanwhile, Ireland achieved their worst placing in the contest, finishing twenty-fourth (last place). Of the "Big Four" countries Germany placed the highest, finishing nineteenth. For the first time, the contest featured songs entered in languages other than a country's own national language or in English (coming from Cyprus and Latvia). Although this happened in 2003, this was the first time the contest featured countries doing this with actual languages as opposed to an imaginary one. Results: R/O Country Artist Song Language Points Place 1 Bosnia and Herzegovina Marija Šestić "Rijeka bez imena" (Ријека без имена) Serbian 106 11 2 Spain D'Nash "I Love You Mi Vida" Spanish[c] 43 20 3 Belarus Koldun "Work Your Magic" English 145 6 4 Ireland Dervish "They Can't Stop the Spring" English 5 24 5 Finland Hanna Pakarinen "Leave Me Alone" English 53 17 6 Macedonia Karolina "Mojot svet" (Мојот свет) Macedonian, English 73 14 7 Slovenia Alenka Gotar "Cvet z juga" Slovene 66 15 8 Hungary Magdi Rúzsa "Unsubstantial Blues" English 128 9 9 Lithuania 4Fun "Love or Leave" English 28 21 10 Greece Sarbel "Yassou Maria" (Γεια σου Μαρία) English[d] 139 7 11 Georgia Sopho "Visionary Dream" English 97 12 12 Sweden The Ark "The Worrying Kind" English 51 18 13 France Les Fatals Picards "L'amour à la française" French, English ("Franglais") 19 22 14 Latvia Bonaparti.lv "Questa notte" Italian 54 16 15 Russia Serebro "Song #1" English 207 3 16 Germany Roger Cicero "Frauen regier'n die Welt" German, English 49 19 17 Serbia Marija Šerifović "Molitva" (Молитва) Serbian 268 1 18 Ukraine Verka Serduchka "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" German, English, Surzhyk[e] 235 2 19 United Kingdom Scooch "Flying the Flag (For You)" English 19 22 20 Romania Todomondo "Liubi, Liubi, I Love You" (Люби, Люби, I Love You) English, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French, Romanian 84 13 21 Bulgaria Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankoulov "Water" Bulgarian 157 5 22 Turkey Kenan Doğulu "Shake It Up Şekerim" English 163 4 23 Armenia Hayko "Anytime You Need" English, Armenian 138 8 24 Moldova Natalia Barbu "Fight" English 109 10

Venue: Olympic Stadium's Indoor Arena, Athens, Greece Date: Saturday, 20 May 2006 Presentation: Sakis Rouvas & Maria Menounos Voting: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to its top 10 (by televote). Number of countries: 24 (total: 37) Qualification: Host + big 4 + 9 best of 2005 (excl. host, big 4 & Serbia-Montenegro) + 10 best of semi-final. This high definition footage was filmed as part of a research experiment carried out by the European Broadcasting Union, ERT, the Institute for Broadcasting Technology in Munich and the research and development laboratories of Rai and the BBC. It was never intended to be broadcast. There are no postcards, but you can see how fast the crew prepares the stage for the next act within 40 seconds. Many aspects of this high definition cut differ from the definitive version of the 51st Eurovision Song Contest that was broadcast live from Athens on Saturday 20 May, 2006. We’re excited to share this experimental HD footage with you for reference. It is not intended to replace the original show which can be watched here: https://youtu.be/V0O74TlCuJA The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Athens, Greece, following the country's victory at the 2005 contest with the song "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou. It was the first time Greece had hosted the contest - 32 years after the country made its debut. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), the contest was held at the Nikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall, and consisted of a semi-final on 18 May, and the final on 20 May 2006. The two live shows were presented by Maria Menounos and Sakis Rouvas. Thirty-seven countries participated in the contest. Armenia took part for the first time this year. Meanwhile, Austria, Hungary, and Serbia and Montenegro announced their non-participations in the contest for various reasons. Serbia and Montenegro had intended to participate, however, due to a scandal in the national selection, tensions were caused between the Serbian broadcaster, RTS, and the Montenegrin broadcaster, RTCG. Despite this, the nation did retain voting rights for the contest. The winner was Finland with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah", performed by Lordi and written by lead singer Mr. Lordi a.k.a. Tomi Petteri Putaansuu. This was Finland's first victory in the contest - and first top five placing - in 45 years of participation. It was the first ever hard rock / heavy metal music song to win the contest, and Lordi was the first band to win since 1997. Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania and Sweden rounded out the top five. Bosnia and Herzegovina achieved their best result in their Eurovision history. Further down the table, Lithuania also achieved their best result to date, finishing sixth. Of the "Big Four" countries Germany placed the highest, finishing joint fourteenth (with Norway). The contest saw the 1,000th song performed in the contest, when Ireland's Brian Kennedy performed "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" in the semi-final. Final The finalists were: the four automatic qualifiers France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom; the top 10 countries from the 2005 final (other than the automatic qualifiers); the top 10 countries from the 2006 semi-final. Draw Country Artist Song Language Place Points 01 Switzerland six4one "If We All Give a Little" English 16 30 02 Moldova Arsenium and Natalia Gordienko "Loca" English 20 22 03 Israel Eddie Butler "Together We Are One" Hebrew, English 23 4 04 Latvia Vocal Group Cosmos "I Hear Your Heart" English 16 30 05 Norway Christine Guldbrandsen "Alvedansen" Norwegian 14 36 06 Spain Las Ketchup "Un Blodymary" Spanish 21 18 07 Malta Fabrizio Faniello "I Do" English 24 1 08 Germany Texas Lightning "No No Never" English 14 36 09 Denmark Sidsel Ben Semmane "Twist of Love" English 18 26 10 Russia Dima Bilan "Never Let You Go" English 2 248 11 Macedonia Elena Risteska "Ninanajna" (Нинанајна) English, Macedonian 12 56 12 Romania Mihai Trăistariu "Tornerò" English, Italian 4 172 13 Bosnia and Herzegovina Hari Mata Hari "Lejla" Bosnian 3 229 14 Lithuania LT United "We Are the Winners" English 6 162 15 United Kingdom Daz Sampson "Teenage Life" English 19 25 16 Greece Anna Vissi "Everything" English 9 128 17 Finland Lordi "Hard Rock Hallelujah" English 1 292 18 Ukraine Tina Karol "Show Me Your Love" English 7 145 19 France Virginie Pouchain "Il était temps" French 22 5 20 Croatia Severina "Moja štikla" Croatian 12 56 21 Ireland Brian Kennedy "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" English 10 93 22 Sweden Carola "Invincible" English 5 170 23 Turkey Sibel Tüzün "Süper Star" Turkish, English 11 91 24 Armenia André "Without Your Love" English 8 129

Date: Saturday, 21 May 2005 - Venue: Palace of Sports, Kyiv, Ukraine Presentation: Maria Efrosnina & Pavlo Shylko - Voting: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to its top 10 (by televote). Number of countries: 24 (total: 39) Qualification: Host + big 4 + 9 best of 2004 (excl. host & big 4) + 10 best of semi-final The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the 2004 contest with the song "Wild Dances" by Ruslana. It was the first time Ukraine had hosted the contest - only 2 years after the country made its debut. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU), the contest was held at the Palace of Sports, and consisted of a semi-final on 19 May, and the final on 21 May 2005. The two live shows were presented by Maria Efrosinina and Pavlo Shylko. Thirty-nine countries participated in the contest, three more than the previous record of thirty-six, that took part the year before. Bulgaria and Moldova made their first participation this year, while Hungary returned to the contest after a six-year absence, having last taken part in 1998. The winner was Greece with the song "My Number One", performed by Helena Paparizou and written by Manos Psaltakis, Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou. This was Greece's first victory in the contest, in 31 years of participation. Malta, Romania, Israel and Latvia rounded out the top five. Malta equalled their best result from 2002, while Romania achieved their best result in their Eurovision history. Unusually, all "Big Four" countries (France, Germany, Spain and United Kingdom) ended up as the "Last Four", all placing in the bottom four positions in the final. 2005 was no exception for scandals regarding the representatives from the countries participating. Germany's entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest rejected calls to quit after her producer admitted manipulating the country's pop charts with mass purchases of her single. It is also notable that the programme lasted just short of 3.5 hours. This was mainly due to the extremely long voting procedure, where 39 countries voted, reading out every single score. Many people, including United Kingdom commentator Terry Wogan, noticed this and commented about the marathon-like voting procedure, when Russia voted he stated "How many more have we got to go? What time is it?". Because the show overran so badly, the EBU changed the way the votes were announced in 2006 into a much shorter method, where only the top 3 scores were read out (the rest appeared on the scoreboard automatically). Ruslana was also intended to be a presenter for the show, but was pulled out before the contest for numerous reasons, including her poor English skills. She opened the contest, and did do a few brief interviews in the green room at a few different stages in the event. In the semifinal, the first qualifier was Hungary as shown on the card, but instead of showing Hungary's flag, it showed the Bulgarian flag accidentally. Semi-final results: The semi-final was held on 19 May 2005 at 21:00 (CET). 25 countries performed and all 39 participants voted. Draw Country Artist Song Language[10] Place[11] Points 01 Austria Global.Kryner "Y así" English, Spanish 21 30 02 Lithuania Laura & The Lovers "Little by Little" English 25 17 03 Portugal 2B "Amar" Portuguese, English 17 51 04 Moldova Zdob și Zdub "Boonika bate doba" English, Romanian 2 207 05 Latvia Walters & Kazha "The War Is Not Over" English 10 85 06 Monaco Lise Darly "Tout de moi" French 24 22 07 Israel Shiri Maimon "Hasheket Shenish'ar" (השקט שנשאר) Hebrew, English 7 158 08 Belarus Angelica Agurbash "Love Me Tonight" English 13 67 09 Netherlands Glennis Grace "My Impossible Dream" English 14 53 10 Iceland Selma "If I Had Your Love" English 16 52 11 Belgium Nuno Resende "Le grand soir" French 22 29 12 Estonia Suntribe "Let's Get Loud" English 20 31 13 Norway Wig Wam "In My Dreams" English 6 164 14 Romania Luminița Anghel & Sistem "Let Me Try" English 1 235 15 Hungary NOX "Forogj, világ!" Hungarian 5 167 16 Finland Geir Rönning "Why?" English 18 50 17 Macedonia Martin Vučić "Make My Day" English 9 97 18 Andorra Marian van de Wal "La mirada interior" Catalan 23 27 19 Switzerland Vanilla Ninja "Cool Vibes" English 8 114 20 Croatia Boris Novković feat. Lado Members "Vukovi umiru sami" Croatian 4 169 21 Bulgaria Kaffe "Lorraine" English 19 49 22 Ireland Donna and Joe "Love?" English 14 53 23 Slovenia Omar Naber "Stop" Slovene 12 69 24 Denmark Jakob Sveistrup "Talking to You" English 3 185 25 Poland Ivan & Delfin "Czarna dziewczyna" Polish, Russian 11 81

Date: Saturday, 21 May 2005 - Venue: Palace of Sports, Kyiv, Ukraine Presentation: Maria Efrosnina & Pavlo Shylko Voting: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to its top 10 (by televote). Number of countries: 24 (total: 39) Qualification: Host + big 4 + 9 best of 2004 (excl. host & big 4) + 10 best of semi-final The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the 2004 contest with the song "Wild Dances" by Ruslana. It was the first time Ukraine had hosted the contest - only 2 years after the country made its debut. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU), the contest was held at the Palace of Sports, and consisted of a semi-final on 19 May, and the final on 21 May 2005. The two live shows were presented by Maria Efrosinina and Pavlo Shylko. Thirty-nine countries participated in the contest, three more than the previous record of thirty-six, that took part the year before. Bulgaria and Moldova made their first participation this year, while Hungary returned to the contest after a six-year absence, having last taken part in 1998. The winner was Greece with the song "My Number One", performed by Helena Paparizou and written by Manos Psaltakis, Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou. This was Greece's first victory in the contest, in 31 years of participation. Malta, Romania, Israel and Latvia rounded out the top five. Malta equalled their best result from 2002, while Romania achieved their best result in their Eurovision history. Unusually, all "Big Four" countries (France, Germany, Spain and United Kingdom) ended up as the "Last Four", all placing in the bottom four positions in the final. 2005 was no exception for scandals regarding the representatives from the countries participating. Germany's entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest rejected calls to quit after her producer admitted manipulating the country's pop charts with mass purchases of her single. It is also notable that the programme lasted just short of 3.5 hours. This was mainly due to the extremely long voting procedure, where 39 countries voted, reading out every single score. Many people, including United Kingdom commentator Terry Wogan, noticed this and commented about the marathon-like voting procedure, when Russia voted he stated "How many more have we got to go? What time is it?". Because the show overran so badly, the EBU changed the way the votes were announced in 2006 into a much shorter method, where only the top 3 scores were read out (the rest appeared on the scoreboard automatically). Ruslana was also intended to be a presenter for the show, but was pulled out before the contest for numerous reasons, including her poor English skills. She opened the contest, and did do a few brief interviews in the green room at a few different stages in the event. Results: Draw Country Artist Song Language Place Points 01 Hungary NOX "Forogj, világ!" Hungarian 12 97 02 United Kingdom Javine "Touch My Fire" English 22 18 03 Malta Chiara "Angel" English 2 192 04 Romania Luminița Anghel & Sistem "Let Me Try" English 3 158 05 Norway Wig Wam "In My Dreams" English 9 125 06 Turkey Gülseren "Rimi Rimi Ley" Turkish 13 92 07 Moldova Zdob și Zdub "Boonika bate doba" English, Romanian 6 148 08 Albania Ledina Çelo "Tomorrow I Go" English 16 53 09 Cyprus Constantinos Christoforou "Ela Ela" English 18 46 10 Spain Son de Sol "Brujería" Spanish 21 28 11 Israel Shiri Maimon "Hasheket Shenish'ar" (השקט שנשאר) Hebrew, English 4 154 12 Serbia and Montenegro No Name "Zauvijek moja" (Заувијек моја) Montenegrin 7 137 13 Denmark Jakob Sveistrup "Talking to You" English 9 125 14 Sweden Martin Stenmarck "Las Vegas" English 19 30 15 Macedonia Martin Vučić "Make My Day" English 17 52 16 Ukraine GreenJolly "Razom nas bahato" (Разом нас багато) Ukrainian, English[a] 19 30 17 Germany Gracia "Run and Hide" English 24 4 18 Croatia Boris Novković feat. Lado Members "Vukovi umiru sami" Croatian 11 115 19 Greece Helena Paparizou "My Number One" English 1 230 20 Russia Natalia Podolskaya "Nobody Hurt No One" English 15 57 21 Bosnia and Herzegovina Feminnem "Call Me" English 14 79 22 Switzerland Vanilla Ninja "Cool Vibes" English 8 128 23 Latvia Walters & Kazha "The War Is Not Over" English 5 153 24 France Ortal "Chacun pense à soi" French 23 11

Dates: Semi-final 12 May 2004 - Final 15 May 2004 Host Venue: Abdi İpekçi Arena, Istanbul, Turkey Presenters: Korhan Abay, Meltem Cumbul Directed by Sven Stojanovic Executive supervisor: Svante Stockselius Executive producer: Bülent Osma Host broadcaster. Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) Opening act: Sertab Erener Interval act: Semi-final: ABBA: The Last Video Final: Fire of Anatolia The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the 49th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Istanbul, Turkey, following Sertab Erener's win at the 2003 contest in Riga, Latvia with the song "Everyway That I Can" – marking the country's first victory in the contest. The national broadcaster Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), staged the event at the Abdi İpekçi Arena on 12 and 15 May 2004. Ukrainian singer Ruslana won the contest with "Wild Dances". It is notable that this was only Ukraine's second participation in the contest. This was also the third year in a row in which the contest was won by a woman, performing a song composed at least partially by herself (being the previous two Marie N and Sertab Erener, who co-wrote their winning songs for the 2002 and 2003 contests). To accommodate the increasing number of countries who wished to participate, a semi-final was introduced. The countries which did not qualify for the final are normally calculate like participating countries, as well semi-finals are a part of the competition. For the second consecutive year, no returning acts were present – only the sixth time (including 1956) in the history of the contest that this happened and it was the first time this had happened in two consecutive years. The semi-final was held on 12 May 2004 at 21:00 (CET). 22 countries performed and all participants voted except France, Poland and Russia. This was the first ever semi-final in Eurovision history. Draw Country Artist Song Language Place Points 01 Finland Jari Sillanpää "Takes 2 to Tango" English 14 51 02 Belarus Aleksandra and Konstantin "My Galileo" English 19 10 03 Switzerland Piero Esteriore & The MusicStars "Celebrate" English 22 0 04 Latvia Fomins and Kleins "Dziesma par laimi" Latvian 17 23 05 Israel David D'Or "Leha'amin" (להאמין) Hebrew, English 11 57 06 Andorra Marta Roure "Jugarem a estimar-nos" Catalan 18 12 07 Portugal Sofia Vitória "Foi magia" Portuguese 15 38 08 Malta Julie and Ludwig "On Again... Off Again" English 8 74 09 Monaco Maryon "Notre planète" French 19 10 10 Greece Sakis Rouvas "Shake It" English 3 238 11 Ukraine Ruslana "Wild Dances" English, Ukrainian 2 256 12 Lithuania Linas and Simona "What's Happened to Your Love?" English 16 26 13 Albania Anjeza Shahini "The Image of You" English 4 167 14 Cyprus Lisa Andreas "Stronger Every Minute" English 5 149 15 Macedonia Toše Proeski "Life" English 10 71 16 Slovenia Platin "Stay Forever" English 21 5 17 Estonia Neiokõsõ "Tii" Võro 11 57 18 Croatia Ivan Mikulić "You Are the Only One" English 9 72 19 Denmark Tomas Thordarson "Shame on You" English 13 56 20 Serbia and Montenegro Željko Joksimović & Ad-Hoc Orchestra "Lane moje" (Лане моје) Serbian 1 263 21 Bosnia and Herzegovina Deen "In the Disco" English 7 133 22 Netherlands Re-Union "Without You" English 6 146 A new ABBA video was shown in the semi-final, briefly outlining how ABBA started and what the response was of the first record company they approached. It featured small puppets of the band performing snippets of their songs (the voices being the ones of the band) and featured Rik Mayall as the record company manager. This was cut from the Eurovision Song Contest DVD and released separately. References to the video that were made running up to the showing of it were also cut.

Final date: 15 May 2004 - Venue: Abdi İpekçi Arena - Istanbul, Turkey Presenters: Korhan Abay & Meltem Cumbul - Directed by Sven Stojanovic Executive supervisor: Svante Stockselius - Executive producer: Bülent Osma Host broadcaster: Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) Opening act: Sertab Erener - Interval act: Fire of Anatolia The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the 49th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Istanbul, Turkey, following Sertab Erener's win at the 2003 contest in Riga, Latvia with the song "Everyway That I Can". It was the first time Turkey had hosted the contest - 29 years after the country made its debut. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), the contest was held at the Abdi İpekçi Arena, and (for the first time) consisted of a semi-final on 12 May, and the final on 15 May 2004. The two live shows were hosted by Korhan Abay and Meltem Cumbul. It was the first Eurovision Song Contest held in a transcontinental country and city, in a Muslims-majority country and in Turkic language-speaking country. Thirty-six countries participated in the contest, beating the record of twenty-six in the previous edition. Albania, Andorra, Belarus and Serbia and Montenegro took part for the first time this year. The old relegation system was replaced with a semi-final format. This was done in order to accommodate the increasing number of countries who wished to participate. The new format allowed all countries to participate every year, rather than being forced to sit out per the relegation rules, which had been the standard since 1994. Because of this, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Macedonia, Monaco and Switzerland all returned to the contest. The winner was Ukraine with the song "Wild Dances", performed by Ruslana who wrote it with Oleksandr Ksenofontov (her husband). This was Ukraine's first victory in the contest, after only 1 year of participation. Serbia and Montenegro, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus rounded out the top five. This year was the first time in which a non-winning entry scored over 200 points. Prior to this contest, only the winning entries in 1994 and 1997 had passed this mark. In this contest, the top 3 songs all got over 200 points. This year's Eurovision contest was the first to be a two-day event, with one qualifying round held on a Wednesday and the grand final held on the following Saturday. Under this new format, byes into the final were given to the 'Big 4'; France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom (as the largest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union) and the ten highest placed finishers in the 2003 contest. Andorra, Albania, Belarus and Serbia and Montenegro participated in the Contest for the first time, with Monaco returning after a 25-year absence. Luxembourg were due to return after an absence of 11 years, but later pulled out after money issues arose between RTL and the EBU. All participating countries had the right to vote in both the qualifying round and the grand final. This was the first year in which all 36 participating countries voted based on a public phone vote. However France, Poland and Russia did not broadcast the semi-final (as they were not participating in it) and therefore did not give votes for it like the other thirty-three countries. In Belgium, the French-language RTBF did not broadcast the semi-final, but the Dutch-language VRT did. Results of the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 R/O Country Artist Song Points Place 1 Spain Ramón "Para llenarme de ti" 87 10 2 Austria Tie Break "Du bist" 9 21 3 Norway Knut Anders Sørum "High" 3 24 4 France Jonatan Cerrada "À chaque pas" 40 15 5 Serbia and Montenegro Željko Joksimović and Ad-Hoc Orchestra "Lane moje" 263 2 6 Malta Julie and Ludwig "On Again... Off Again" 50 12 7 Netherlands Re-union "Without You" 11 20 8 Germany Max "Can't Wait Until Tonight" 93 8 9 Albania Anjeza Shahini "The Image of You" 106 7 10 Ukraine Ruslana "Wild Dances" 280 1 11 Croatia Ivan Mikulić "You Are the Only One" 50 12 12 Bosnia and Herzegovina Deen "In the Disco" 91 9 13 Belgium Xandee "1 Life" 7 22 14 Russia Julia Savicheva "Believe Me" 67 11 15 Macedonia Toše Proeski "Life" 47 14 16 Greece Sakis Rouvas "Shake It" 252 3 17 Iceland Jónsi "Heaven" 16 19 18 Ireland Chris Doran "If My World Stopped Turning" 7 22 19 Poland Blue Café "Love Song" 27 17 20 United Kingdom James Fox "Hold On to Our Love" 29 16 21 Cyprus Lisa Andreas "Stronger Every Minute" 170 5 22 Turkey Athena "For Real" 195 4 23 Romania Sanda "I Admit" 18 18 24 Sweden Lena Philipsson "It Hurts" 170 5

Date: 24 May 2003 - Host Venue: Skonto Hall, Riga, Latvia Presenters: Marie Naumova, Renārs Kaupers Directed by Sven Stojanovic - Executive supervisor: Sarah Yuen Executive producer : Brigita Rozenbrika - Host broadcaster: Latvijas Televīzija (LTV) Interval act: A film showcasing 4 different styles of the Latvian music scene feat. Iļģi, Brainstorm, Marie N and Raimonds Pauls The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 was the 48th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Riga, Latvia, following the country's victory at the 2002 contest with the song "I Wanna" by Marie N. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Latvijas Televīzija (LTV), the contest was held at the Skonto Hall on 24 May 2003. The contest was presented by last year's winner Marie N and former contestant Renārs Kaupers. Twenty-six countries participated in the contest, beating the record of twenty-five first set in 1993. It saw the return of Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Poland after having been relegated from competing the previous year. Portugal also returned to the contest after being absent the previous year, while Ukraine participated in the contest for the first time. Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Macedonia and Switzerland were relegated due to their poor results in 2002. The winner was Turkey with the song "Everyway That I Can", performed by Sertab Erener who wrote it with Demir Demirkan. This was Turkey's first victory in the contest after 28 years of participation. Belgium, Russia, Norway and Sweden rounded out the top five. Further down the table, the United Kingdom achieved their worst result to date, finishing twenty-sixth (last place) with no points. However, they avoided relegation due to being one of the "Big Four" countries at the time. The host country Latvia placed twenty-fourth (third from last) – this was the first time since 1995 that the host entry did not place in the top 10, and it was, overall, the worst result for a host entry, since 1992. This was the last contest to take place on one evening. The EBU revealed that it would be adding a semi-final show to the competition in order to accommodate the growing number of interested countries wishing to take part in the contest. This was also the last contest in which a relegation system was used to determine which countries would participate in the following year's contest. As the Belgian entry was sung in an imaginary language, this was also the first time the contest featured a song with no parts performed in English or a language native to the country. The contest featured special guests that communicated with the hosts via satellite: Lys Assia, winner of the 1956 contest greeted the hosts and spectators from Nicosia, Elton John spoke to the presenters live from the Life Ball in Vienna and one astronaut and one cosmonaut—Ed Lu and Yuri Malenchenko—gave their greetings from the International Space Station. The interval act for the contest was a short film directed by Anna Viduleja that featured a sequence of performances by Latvian post-folklore group Iļģi, Renārs Kaupers' band Brainstorm, Marie N and piano player Raimonds Pauls. Results: R/O Country Artist Song Language Points Place 1 Iceland Birgitta "Open Your Heart" English 81 8 2 Austria Alf Poier "Weil der Mensch zählt" German 101 6 3 Ireland Mickey Harte "We've Got the World" English 53 11 4 Turkey Sertab Erener "Everyway That I Can" English 167 1 5 Malta Lynn Chircop "To Dream Again" English 4 25 6 Bosnia and Herzegovina Mija Martina "Ne brini" Croatian, English 27 16 7 Portugal Rita Guerra "Deixa-me sonhar" Portuguese, English 13 22 8 Croatia Claudia Beni "Više nisam tvoja" Croatian, English 29 15 9 Cyprus Stelios Constantas "Feeling Alive" English 15 20 10 Germany Lou "Let's Get Happy" English 53 11 11 Russia t.A.T.u. "Ne ver', ne boysia" (Не верь, не бойся) Russian 164 3 12 Spain Beth "Dime" Spanish 81 8 13 Israel Lior Narkis "Words for Love" Hebrew 17 19 14 Netherlands Esther Hart "One More Night" English 45 13 15 United Kingdom Jemini "Cry Baby" English 0 26 16 Ukraine Olexandr "Hasta la vista" English 30 14 17 Greece Mando "Never Let You Go" English 25 17 18 Norway Jostein Hasselgård "I'm Not Afraid to Move On" English 123 4 19 France Louisa Baïleche "Monts et merveilles" French 19 18 20 Poland Ich Troje "Keine Grenzen – Żadnych granic" German, Polish, Russian 90 7 21 Latvia F.L.Y. "Hello from Mars" English 5 24 22 Belgium Urban Trad "Sanomi" Imaginary 165 2 23 Estonia Ruffus "Eighties Coming Back" English 14 21 24 Romania Nicola "Don't Break My Heart" English 73 10 25 Sweden Fame "Give Me Your Love" English 107 5 26 Slovenia Karmen "Nanana" English 7 23

Date: 25 May 2002 - Host Venue: Saku Suurhall, Tallinn, Estonia Presenters: Annely Peebo, Marko Matvere Directed by Marius Bratten Executive supervisor: Christine Marchal-Ortiz Executive producer .Juhan Paadam Host broadcaster. Eesti Televisioon (ETV) Opening act: "Everybody" performed by Tanel Padar and Dave Benton Interval act: (During the song presentation): "A Little Story in the Music" performed by Annely Peebo and Marko Matvere, with music composed by Raimond Valgre (During the voting procedure): Dance performance directed and choreographed by Teet Kask The Eurovision Song Contest 2002 was the 47th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tallinn, Estonia, following the country's victory at the 2001 contest with the song "Everybody" by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Eesti Televisioon (ETV), the contest was held at the Saku Suurhall on 25 May 2002. The contest was presented by Estonian opera singer Annely Peebo and actor Marko Matvere. It was the first Eurovision Song Contest held in one of the former Soviet republics. Twenty-four countries participated in the contest. Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, Macedonia, Romania and Switzerland returned after their relegation from the previous edition. Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway and Poland were relegated due to their poor results in 2001. It was the first (and only) time Ireland and Norway were relegated from the contest. Latvia was also set to sit out this year, but when Portugal announced their non-participation, due to internal problems at its broadcaster, it left a spot open for Latvia to take, as the country had finished higher the year before than any of the other relegated countries. This would go on to be very fortunate for the country as Latvia ended up winning the contest with the song "I Wanna", performed by Marie N who wrote it with Marats Samauskis. Malta, United Kingdom, Estonia and France rounded out the top five. Malta achieved their best result in their Eurovision history, coming second. Further down the table, Denmark finished twenty-fourth and last, their worst result up until that point, despite having been declared one of the favourites to win the competition beforehand. For the first time, a slogan (or theme) was implemented. This year's theme was called 'A Modern Fairytale', which was evident in the postcards shown between the songs, which showed classic fairytales ending in modern Estonian situations. Running Order: R/O Country Artist Song Language Points Place 1 Cyprus One "Gimme" English 85 6 2 United Kingdom Jessica Garlick "Come Back" English 111 3 3 Austria Manuel Ortega "Say a Word" English 26 18 4 Greece Michalis Rakintzis "S.A.G.A.P.O." English 27 17 5 Spain Rosa "Europe's Living a Celebration" Spanish[b] 81 7 6 Croatia Vesna Pisarović "Everything I Want" English 44 11 7 Russia Prime Minister "Northern Girl" English 55 10 8 Estonia Sahlene "Runaway" English 111 3 9 Macedonia Karolina "Od nas zavisi" (Од нас зависи) Macedonian 25 19 10 Israel Sarit Hadad "Light a Candle" Hebrew, English 37 12 11 Switzerland Francine Jordi "Dans le jardin de mon âme" French 15 22 12 Sweden Afro-dite "Never Let It Go" English 72 8 13 Finland Laura "Addicted to You" English 24 20 14 Denmark Malene Mortensen "Tell Me Who You Are" English 7 24 15 Bosnia and Herzegovina Maja "Na jastuku za dvoje" (На јастуку за двоје) Serbian, English 33 13 16 Belgium Sergio and the Ladies "Sister" English 33 13 17 France Sandrine François "Il faut du temps" French 104 5 18 Germany Corinna May "I Can't Live Without Music" English 17 21 19 Turkey Buket Bengisu and Group Safir "Leylaklar Soldu Kalbinde" Turkish, English 29 16 20 Malta Ira Losco "7th Wonder" English 164 2 21 Romania Monica Anghel and Marcel Pavel "Tell Me Why" English 71 9 22 Slovenia Sestre "Samo ljubezen" Slovene 33 13 23 Latvia Marie N "I Wanna" English 176 1 24 Lithuania Aivaras "Happy You" English 12

Date of the Final: 12 May 2001 - Host Venue: Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark Presenters: Natasja Crone Back, Søren Pilmark - Directed by Jan Frifelt Executive supervisor: Christine Marchal-Ortiz - Executive producer: Jørgen Ramskov Host broadcaster: DR Opening act: "Fly on the Wings of Love" and "Walk Right Back" performed by the Olsen Brothers Interval act: Medley of Aqua hits performed by Aqua feat. Safri Duo The Eurovision Song Contest 2001 was the 46th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the 2000 contest with the song "Fly on the Wings of Love" by Olsen Brothers. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR), the contest was held at the Parken Stadium on 12 May 2001. The contest was presented by Danish television presenter Natasja Crone Back and actor Søren Pilmark. Twenty-three countries took part in the contest. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, and Slovenia returned after their relegation from the previous edition. Greece also returned after their two-year absence, following financial trouble. Meanwhile, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, Macedonia, Romania, and Switzerland were relegated. The winner was Estonia with the song "Everybody", performed by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL, and written by Ivar Must and Maian-Anna Karmas. This was the first time one of the former Soviet republics won the contest. Denmark, Greece, France and Sweden rounded out the top five with Greece achieving its best result up to that point in the contest. Meanwhile, Ireland finished in 21st place, giving the nation its worst placement up to that point. The winner was Estonia represented by the song "Everybody", composed by Ivar Must, written by Maian-Anna Kärmas and performed by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL. This marked Estonia's first victory in the contest. Norway meanwhile finished in last place for the ninth time. Prior to the contest Greece were hotly tipped to win by the bookmakers, Sweden the second favourites, with France, Slovenia and host country Denmark expected to round out the top 5. However, as the voting progressed it quickly became a two-horse race between host Denmark and surprisingly Estonia. Dave Benton, who was born and raised in Aruba, was the first black person and, at the age of 50 years and 101 days, the oldest contestant at the time to win the contest. R/O Country Artist Song Language Points Place 1 Netherlands Michelle "Out on My Own" English 16 18 2 Iceland Two Tricky "Angel" English 3 22 3 Bosnia and Herzegovina Nino "Hano" Bosnian, English 29 14 4 Norway Haldor Lægreid "On My Own" English 3 22 5 Israel Tal Sondak "Ein Davar" (אין דבר) Hebrew 25 16 6 Russia Mumiy Troll "Lady Alpine Blue" English 37 12 7 Sweden Friends "Listen to Your Heartbeat" English 100 5 8 Lithuania Skamp "You Got Style" English, Lithuanian[b] 35 13 9 Latvia Arnis Mednis "Too Much" English 16 18 10 Croatia Vanna "Strings of My Heart" English 42 10 11 Portugal MTM "Só sei ser feliz assim" Portuguese 18 17 12 Ireland Gary O'Shaughnessy "Without Your Love" English 6 21 13 Spain David Civera "Dile que la quiero" Spanish 76 6 14 France Natasha St-Pier "Je n'ai que mon âme" French, English 142 4 15 Turkey Sedat Yüce "Sevgiliye Son" Turkish, English 41 11 16 United Kingdom Lindsay Dracass "No Dream Impossible" English 28 15 17 Slovenia Nuša Derenda "Energy" English 70 7 18 Poland Piasek "2 Long" English 11 20 19 Germany Michelle "Wer Liebe lebt" German, English 66 8 20 Estonia Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL "Everybody" English 198 1 21 Malta Fabrizio Faniello "Another Summer Night" English 48 9 22 Greece Antique "Die for You" Greek, English 147 3 23 Denmark Rollo and King "Never Ever Let You Go" English 177 2

Date: Saturday, 13 May 2000 - Venue: Globen, Stockholm, Sweden Presentation: Kattis Ahlström & Anders Lundin Voting: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to its top 10 (by televote). Number of countries: 24 Qualification: Winner of 1999 + passive countries of 1999 + big 4 + 13 other countries with the highest average score over the previous five years (excl. Italy). The Eurovision Song Contest 2000 was the 45th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the 1999 contest with the song "Take Me to Your Heaven" by Charlotte Nilsson. It was the fourth time Sweden had hosted the contest, having previously done so in 1975, 1985 and 1992. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT), the contest was held at the Globe Arena, with the final on 13 May 2000. The live show was presented by Kattis Ahlström and Anders Lundin. Twenty-four countries took part in the contest. Latvia participated for the first time, while Slovakia, Greece and Hungary decided not to compete, citing financial reasons. Finland, Macedonia, Romania and Switzerland returned after their relegation from the previous edition. Russia also returned, after their last participation in 1997. Meanwhile, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia were relegated due to having the lowest average scores over the previous five editions. The winner was Denmark with the song "Fly on the Wings of Love", performed by the Olsen Brothers and written by the oldest brother Jørgen Olsen. This was Denmark's second victory in the contest, following their win in 1963. Russia, Latvia, Estonia and Germany rounded out the top five. Both Russia and Estonia achieved their best result in the contest up to this point, while Latvia achieved the best placing for a debuting country since Poland's second place finish in 1994. On the day of their victory, Jørgen Olsen was 50 years and 61 days of age, making him the oldest artist yet to win the contest. The combined ages of The Olsen Brothers make them the oldest aged act ever to win the contest. Sponsored by Microsoft, the contest was also broadcast in Australia, Canada, Japan and the United States via the internet for the first time. There were some controversies concerning some participating countries. Israel, who opened the contest, entered a group who waved Israeli and Syrian flags advocating peace between the two nations. The two male singers in the group also ran up to each other and kissed for a brief moment. The Russian delegation petitioned for the winning Olsen Brothers to be disqualified, after they had used a vocoder to give Jørgen Olsen an electronic sound to his voice, during one of the verses of their performance. (Even though Russia themselves awarded Denmark maximum 12 points.) This issue was rejected by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). In the Netherlands, NOS decided to take the Contest off air halfway through because of the Enschede fireworks disaster that happened earlier that day, so it could use the channel for continuous news broadcasts. Later, NOS declared that it was both for practical reasons as well as because they found it "inappropriate to broadcast a light entertainment programme on the night of such a catastrophic event". As a result, televoting had to be suspended and the Dutch votes were given by a stand-by jury instead. The contest was later rebroadcast in full. Results Draw Country Artist Song Language Place Points 01 Israel PingPong "Sameach" (שמח) Hebrew 22 7 02 Netherlands Linda Wagenmakers "No Goodbyes" English 13 40 03 United Kingdom Nicki French "Don't Play That Song Again" English 16 28 04 Estonia Ines "Once in a Lifetime" English 4 98 05 France Sofia Mestari "On aura le ciel" French 23 5 06 Romania Taxi "The Moon" English 17 25 07 Malta Claudette Pace "Desire" English 8 73 08 Norway Charmed "My Heart Goes Boom" English 11 57 09 Russia Alsou "Solo" English 2 155 10 Belgium Nathalie Sorce "Envie de vivre" French 24 2 11 Cyprus Voice "Nomiza" (Νόμιζα) Greek, Italian 21 8 12 Iceland August & Telma "Tell Me!" English 12 45 13 Spain Serafín Zubiri "Colgado de un sueño" Spanish 18 18 14 Denmark Olsen Brothers "Fly on the Wings of Love" English 1 195 15 Germany Stefan Raab "Wadde hadde dudde da?" German, English 5 96 16 Switzerland Jane Bogaert "La vita cos'è?" Italian 20 14 17 Croatia Goran Karan "Kad zaspu anđeli" Croatian 9 70 18 Sweden Roger Pontare "When Spirits Are Calling My Name" English 7 88 19 Macedonia XXL "100% te ljubam" (100% те љубам) Macedonian, English 15 29 20 Finland Nina Åström "A Little Bit" English 18 18 21 Latvia Brainstorm "My Star" English 3 136 22 Turkey Pınar Ayhan & The SOS "Yorgunum Anla" Turkish, English 10 59 23 Ireland Eamonn Toal "Millennium of Love" English 6 92 24 Austria The Rounder Girls "All to You" English 14 34

Date: 13 May 1995 - Host Venue: Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland Presenter: Mary Kennedy - Conductor: Noel Kelehan; Proinnsías Ó Duinn (during the interval act) Directed by John Comiskey - Executive supervisor: Christian Clausen Executive producer:John McHugh - Host broadcaster: Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) Opening act :Video montage commemorating the history of the Eurovision Song Contest for its 40th edition. Interval act: Lumen The Eurovision Song Contest 1995 was the 40th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Dublin, Ireland, following Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan's win at the 1994 contest in Dublin, Ireland with the song "Rock 'n' Roll Kids". It was held on 13 May 1995 in the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. The presenter was Mary Kennedy. This year's competition was the last with only one host until 18 years later in 2013 in Malmö, Sweden. This contest broke the chain of victories that Ireland enjoyed in 1992, 1993, and 1994. This was Ireland's 3rd year in succession to host the contest - and to mark the 40th show, it was opened with a 4-minute retrospective showing images from the contest's history. The Norwegian group Secret Garden[a] was the winner of this contest with the mostly instrumental song, "Nocturne". Incidentally, Secret Garden's violinist was Fionnuala Sherry, who is Irish. It was Johnny Logan's birthday that night, but according to host Kennedy, "He wouldn't say which one!" Nonetheless, the audience sang "Happy Birthday" for him, assisted by the orchestra. Heavy favourites to win the contest, according to bookmakers, were Sweden with the pop-ballad "Se på mig" and Slovenia, presented by Darja Švajger‘s entry “Prisluhni mi”. Other countries in contention for the win were Croatia, Denmark, Israel, Spain, and the eventual winner, Norway. The winning song was something new at Eurovision in that it contained only 24 words accompanied by long violin solos. The United Kingdom contributed a modern rap number, while the previous year’s runner-up, Poland, went for something that completely contrasted with their début entry. After the voting was completed, Norway was the winner with 148 points, followed by Spain's "Vuelve conmigo" with 119 points, and Sweden gaining 100 points. Starter List: Draw Country Artist Song Language Place Points 01 Poland Justyna "Sama" Polish 18 15 02 Ireland Eddie Friel "Dreamin'" English 14 44 03 Germany Stone & Stone "Verliebt in Dich" German 23 1 04 Bosnia and Herzegovina Davorin Popović "Dvadeset prvi vijek" Bosnian 19 14 05 Norway Secret Garden[a] "Nocturne" Norwegian 1 148 06 Russia Philipp Kirkorov "Kolybelnaya dlya vulkana" (Колыбельная для вулкана) Russian 17 17 07 Iceland Bo Halldórsson "Núna" Icelandic 15 31 08 Austria Stella Jones "Die Welt dreht sich verkehrt" German 13 67 09 Spain Anabel Conde "Vuelve conmigo" Spanish 2 119 10 Turkey Arzu Ece "Sev" Turkish 16 21 11 Croatia Magazin & Lidija "Nostalgija" Croatian 6 91 12 France Nathalie Santamaria "Il me donne rendez-vous" French 4 94 13 Hungary Csaba Szigeti "Új név a régi ház falán" Hungarian 22 3 14 Belgium Frédéric Etherlinck "La voix est libre" French 20 8 15 United Kingdom Love City Groove "Love City Groove" English 10 76 16 Portugal Tó Cruz "Baunilha e chocolate" Portuguese 21 5 17 Cyprus Alexandros Panayi "Sti fotia" (Στη φωτιά) Greek 9 79 18 Sweden Jan Johansen "Se på mig" Swedish 3 100 19 Denmark Aud Wilken "Fra Mols til Skagen" Danish 5 92 20 Slovenia Darja Švajger "Prisluhni mi" Slovene 7 84 21 Israel Liora "Amen" (אמן) Hebrew 8 81 22 Malta Mike Spiteri "Keep Me In Mind" English 10 76 23 Greece Elina Konstantopoulou "Pia prosefhi" (Ποια προσευχή) Greek 12 68