Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Encyclopedia
The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

 and was hosted by Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 after their win in 2008
Eurovision Song Contest 2008
The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Contest. It was hosted in Belgrade, Serbia after Marija Šerifović won the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, Finland. This year was the first contest to have two semi-finals which were held on 20 and 22 May, and the final held on 24 May 2008...

. It took place between 12 and 16 May 2009 at the Olympic Indoor Arena
Olympic Stadium (Moscow arena)
Olympic Stadium, known locally as the Olimpiyskiy or Olimpiski, is a large indoor arena, located in Moscow, Russia. It was built for the 1980 Summer Olympics and hosted the basketball and boxing events. A part of the Olimpiyskiy Sports Complex, it makes up one architectural ensemble with another...

 in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

.

The contest was won by Norway
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Norway and Norsk Rikskringkasting won the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia on 16 May. Their song was chosen at a national final, Melodi Grand Prix, held on 21 February 2009....

's Alexander Rybak
Alexander Rybak
Alexander Igoryevich Rybak or in Belarusian Alyaksandr Igaravich Rybak , born 13 May 1986 in Byelorussian SSR is a Norwegian singer-composer, violinist, pianist, writer, and actor...

 and his own composition "Fairytale
Fairytale (Alexander Rybak song)
"Fairytale" is a song written and composed by Norwegian violinist/singer Alexander Rybak, and the first single from Rybak's debut album Fairytales...

", which received a record-breaking 387 points out of 492, the highest total score in Eurovision history by 95 points. (Until then, the highest win had been Finland in 2006 with 292 points.) Second place went to Iceland
Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Iceland confirmed its presence at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. It was held in Moscow, Russia. Ríkisútvarpið , the Icelandic broadcaster, has decided to continue with a national final format, with members of the public being called to send in songs to RÚV.-Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2009:The...

, third to Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Azerbaijan participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, making their second appearance at the contest. Aysel Teymurzadeh represented Azerbaijan at the contest after she was internally selected by the Azeri broadcaster, İctimai Televiziya və Radio Yayımları Şirkəti .-Selection:A multi-artist...

, fourth to Turkey
Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Turkey will be represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 by the song "Düm Tek Tek" performed by Hadise. The Turkish broadcaster Türkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu , chose Belgian-Turk Hadise in October 2008 and she prepared three songs which she submitted to TRT...

, and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009
The United Kingdom and the British Broadcasting Corporation confirmed their participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, despite their last place finish in 2008. Jade Ewen was selected on 31 January 2009, to represent the UK at Eurovision with "It's My Time", a song composed by...

 taking 5th, seeing their best placing since 2002
Eurovision Song Contest 2002
The Eurovision Song Contest 2002 was the 47th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place on 25 May 2002 at the Saku Suurhall Arena in Tallinn, Estonia....

.

After criticism of the voting system after the 2007 Contest
Eurovision Song Contest 2007
The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It was won by first-time appearance as an independent country Serbia and was held at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland from 10 May to 12 May. The host broadcaster was YLE.Finland earned the right to host...

, changes in the voting procedure were made with the re-introduction of a national jury
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...

 alongside televoting
Televoting
Televoting, telephone voting or phone voting is a method of decision making and opinion polling conducted by telephone. Televoting can also extend to voting by SMS text message via a mobile cell phone.- Broadcast contest televoting :...

 while the format of the semi-finals remained the same. Forty-two countries participated in the contest; Slovakia
Slovakia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Slovakia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest six times, debuting in 1994. It had attempted to debut in 1993, but did not pass through the qualifying round. In the three finals that Slovakia has participated, it has placed no better than 18th, which it received in 1996...

 announced that it would return to the contest, while San Marino
San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest
San Marino has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twice, since debuting in the 2008 Contest.-2008 debut:In June 2007, Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino , the Sammarinese public service broadcaster, indicated interest in joining the contest in the near future, all depending on...

 withdrew due to financial issues. Latvia
Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Latvia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 12 times, for unknown reasons only debuting at the 2000 contest, where Brainstorm came 3rd with the song "My Star". The country's first, and so far, only win came in 2002 when Marie N and her song "I Wanna" beat favourite's Malta by 12 points,...

 and Georgia
Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Georgia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest four times, debuting at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. Although Georgia did plan to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, it decided to withdraw after the European Broadcasting Union demanded it re-write its song which made...

 originally announced their intention to withdraw, but it was later stated by the European Broadcasting Union
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union is a confederation of 74 broadcasting organisations from 56 countries, and 49 associate broadcasters from a further 25...

 (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 contest rules
Rules of the Eurovision Song Contest
The official rules of the Eurovision Song Contest are long, technical, and ever-changing. Many of the rules cover technical aspects of the television broadcast itself. However, a few of the more important rules affecting the conduct and outcome of the Contest follow.-Number of songs:Each country in...

.

Venue

The contest was held in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 following its victory in the 2008 contest
Eurovision Song Contest 2008
The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Contest. It was hosted in Belgrade, Serbia after Marija Šerifović won the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, Finland. This year was the first contest to have two semi-finals which were held on 20 and 22 May, and the final held on 24 May 2008...

 in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

, with Dima Bilan
Dima Bilan
' is a Russian actor and pop singer . Bilan represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with "Never Let You Go", finishing second, and he won the contest in 2008 in Belgrade, with the song "Believe". He has had several Russian no. 1 hits....

's "Believe
Believe (Dima Bilan song)
"Believe" is the winning Russian entry for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest sung by Dima Bilan. The song was composed and written by Jim Beanz & Dima Bilan. On 20 May 2008 Bilan sang in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, and the song was voted into the final by public vote...

". Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...

, Prime Minister of Russia
Prime Minister of Russia
The Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation The use of the term "Prime Minister" is strictly informal and is not allowed for by the Russian Constitution and other laws....

, stated that the contest would be held in Moscow.

It was proposed by Channel One that the contest be held in Moscow's Olympic Indoor Arena, and this proposal was evaluated by the European Broadcasting Union
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union is a confederation of 74 broadcasting organisations from 56 countries, and 49 associate broadcasters from a further 25...

 (EBU) and confirmed on 13 September 2008. The Director-General of the venue, Vladimir Churilin, refuted rumours of emergency reconstruction of the building, saying: "It will not be required for the Eurovision Song Contest. We now can take up to 25 thousand spectators."

Visual design

Host broadcaster Channel One
Channel One (Russia)
Channel One is the first television channel to broadcast in the Soviet Union. The channel was renamed Ostankino Channel 1 in 1991, after the Soviet Union broke up and the Russian SFSR became the Russian Federation. According to a recent government publication, the Russian government controls 51%...

 presented the sub-logo and theme for the 2009 contest on 30 January 2009. The sub-logo is based upon a "Fantasy Bird", which can be used with many colours. As in previous years, the sub-logo was presented alongside the generic logo. 2009 was the first year since 2001 that there was no slogan for the contest.

The stage was designed by New York-based set designer John Casey, and was based around the theme of contemporary Russian avant-garde
Russian avant-garde
The Russian avant-garde is an umbrella term used to define the large, influential wave of modern art that flourished in Russia approximately 1890 to 1930 - although some place its beginning as early as 1850 and its end as late as 1960...

. Casey, who had previously designed the stage for the Eurovision Song Contest 1997
Eurovision Song Contest 1997
The Eurovision Song Contest 1997, was the 42nd Eurovision Song Contest and it was held at the Point Theatre Dublin, Ireland, on 3 May 1997. Boyzone member Ronan Keating and Carrie Crowley were the presenters of the show....

 in Dublin, was also involved in design teams for the 1994 and 1995 contests. He explained that "even before [he] worked with the Russians on the TEFI Awards in Moscow in 1998, [he] was inspired by and drawn to art from the Russian Avant Garde period, especially the constructivists... [He] tried to come up with a theatrical design for the contest that incorporates Russian avant-garde art into a contemporary setting, almost entirely made up of different types of LED screens." Casey explained that together, the various LED shapes form the finished product. Furthermore, large sections of the stage can move, including the circular central portion of curved LED screens, which can be moved to effect and allow each song to have a different feel.

The postcards (short videos between the acts) were as follows:
  • Miss World 2008
    Miss World 2008
    Miss World 2008, the 58th Miss World pageant was held at Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa on December 13, 2008. Originally, the pageant was going to take place in Kiev, Ukraine, but because of the ongoing crisis between Georgia and Russia in neighboring South Ossetia, the...

    , Ksenia Sukhinova
    Ksenia Sukhinova
    Ksenia Vladimirovna Sukhinova is a Russian beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Russia 2007 and Miss World 2008. She also appeared in all of the postcards that introduced every participating song in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest.- Personal :...

     appeared;
  • A group of famous buildings, monuments and landscapes from the corresponding country were shown, similar to 3-D pages of a book;
  • Sukhinova reappeared wearing a hat comprising the above (as well as a different hairstyle & make-up each time) and a T-shirt with the colours of the country's flag. On the right the ESC 2009 logo appeared with the name of the country; The Russia's video had the exact appearance of Sukhinova shown in the first part of every video and no different hairstyle was shown for Russia.
  • Finally a phrase in transliterated Russian and its English translation were shown (e.g. Spasibo and Thank You).

Participating countries

Following the release of the final participants list by the EBU, 42 countries confirmed their participation in the 2009 contest, including Slovakia
Slovakia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Slovakia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest six times, debuting in 1994. It had attempted to debut in 1993, but did not pass through the qualifying round. In the three finals that Slovakia has participated, it has placed no better than 18th, which it received in 1996...

, which returned to the contest after 11 years.

Georgia
Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Georgia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest four times, debuting at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. Although Georgia did plan to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, it decided to withdraw after the European Broadcasting Union demanded it re-write its song which made...

 originally announced that it was to withdraw from the contest due to the 2008 South Ossetia war
2008 South Ossetia war
The 2008 South Ossetia War or Russo-Georgian War was an armed conflict in August 2008 between Georgia on one side, and Russia and separatist governments of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the other....

 in protest of the foreign policies of Russia, but later decided to return to the contest, inspired by its win at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008
The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the sixth Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which is the world's largest song contest for children. It was held at the "Spyros Kyprianou" Athletic Centre in Lemesos, Cyprus and hosted by Alex Michael and Sophia Paraskeva. It was won by the Georgian trio...

, as well as Russia's 12 points to it in the same contest. The country eventually withdrew from the contest due to its entry being deemed to contain political references, including in the title a play on words of Russia's prime minister's surname.

Rumours arose surrounding the participation and return of San Marino
San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest
San Marino has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twice, since debuting in the 2008 Contest.-2008 debut:In June 2007, Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino , the Sammarinese public service broadcaster, indicated interest in joining the contest in the near future, all depending on...

 and Monaco
Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest
Monaco first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1959. The country's first and only win in the contest came in 1971, when Séverine performed "Un banc, un arbre, une rue". In 1972 Monaco was expected to host the contest, but declined...

. Télé Monte Carlo
Télé Monte Carlo
Télé Monte Carlo or TMC Monte Carlo, traditionally known as TMC is a Monégasque general entertainment television channel.-History:The oldest private channel in Europe, TMC dates back to 1954, inaugurated by Rainier III, Prince of Monaco...

 (TMC), the Monegasque broadcaster, confirmed that there were talks with the EBU over a Monegasque return to the 2009 contest. At the same time, rumours spread that San Marino's
San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest
San Marino has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twice, since debuting in the 2008 Contest.-2008 debut:In June 2007, Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino , the Sammarinese public service broadcaster, indicated interest in joining the contest in the near future, all depending on...

 broadcaster, Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV), would withdraw from the contest due to poor placing at the 2008 contest. In the end, after originally confirming their intent to participate in Moscow, SMRTV was forced to withdraw from the event due to financial difficulties that prevented a second entry.

The Latvian broadcaster, Latvijas Televīzija
Latvijas Televizija
Latvijas Televīzija is the state-owned public service broadcasting television company in Latvia.The company is funded by grant-in-aid from the Latvian government , and gaining the rest from showing television commercials . Although moving LTV to licence fee funding has long been debated, this has...

 (LTV), had reportedly withdrawn from the 2009 contest on 17 December 2008, three days after the final participation deadline. This came about due to budget cuts of over 2 million lati
Latvian lats
The lats is the currency of Latvia. It is abbreviated as Ls. The lats is sub-divided into 100 santīmi ....

 (2.8 million euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

s) from the LTV budget, hindering their ability to pay the participation fee. LTV confirmed that they had informed the EBU of their intent to withdraw based solely on financial difficulties. LTV then went into discussions with the EBU in an attempt to find a solution that would keep the country in the Contest. On 20 December 2008, LTV announced that it would be withdrawing from the contest, and that both the EBU and Channel One had agreed not to force a financial penalty on the late withdrawal of the broadcaster from the 2009 contest. LTV also announced its intent to be at the 2010 contest. However, on 12 January 2009, it was announced that Latvia would participate in the 2009 contest.

Each country chose its entry for the contest through its own selection process. Some countries selected their entry through an internal selection, where the representing network chose both the song and artist, while others held national finals where the public chose the song, the artist, or both. By the completion of the 2009 selection processes, two countries had chosen artists who had previously participated in the contest. Returning artists included Chiara, who represented Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

 in 1998
Eurovision Song Contest 1998
The Eurovision Song Contest 1998 was the 43rd Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 9 May 1998 at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, United Kingdom. The presenters were Terry Wogan and Ulrika Jonsson...

 and 2005
Eurovision Song Contest 2005
The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th Eurovision Song Contest, which was held at the Palace of Sports, Kiev, Ukraine. The winner was Greece's My Number One, written by Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou and performed by Swedish-born Greek singer Elena Paparizou, who scored 230 points,...

, and Sakis Rouvas
Sakis Rouvas
Anastasios "Sakis" Rouvas II , often referred to mononymously as Sakis, is a Greek musician, television and film artist, businessman, and former pole vaulter who is one of the most successful and influential entertainers of all time in Greece and Cyprus...

, who represented Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 in 2004
Eurovision Song Contest 2004
The Eurovision Song Contest 2004, was the 49th Contest and it was held in the Abdi İpekçi Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. This was the first occasion in which the contest was held in Turkey after they had won the competition in 2003 with Sertab Erener singing "Everyway That I Can"...

. Friðrik Ómar
Friðrik Ómar
Friðrik Ómar Hjorleifsson is an Icelandic singer probably best known for representing Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.- Career :...

, part of the Euroband duo in 2008, was part of the choir in Iceland's entry.

Format

The contest final took place on 16 May 2009 at the Olympic Indoor Arena
Olympic Stadium (Moscow arena)
Olympic Stadium, known locally as the Olimpiyskiy or Olimpiski, is a large indoor arena, located in Moscow, Russia. It was built for the 1980 Summer Olympics and hosted the basketball and boxing events. A part of the Olimpiyskiy Sports Complex, it makes up one architectural ensemble with another...

 in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 with two semi-finals preceding it on 12 and 14 May. Thirty-seven countries participated in one of the two semi-finals of the contest, with the "Big Four" countries (France
France in the Eurovision Song Contest
France is one of the most successful countries in the Eurovision Song Contest and has entered the competition fifty-four times since their debut at the very first contest in 1956. France is one of only seven countries to be present at the very first contest, and has only been absent from two...

, Germany
Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest
Germany has participated in every Eurovision Song Contest since its beginning in 1956, although its entry in 1996 did not qualify past the pre‐selection round, and therefore was not seen in the broadcast final. No other country has been represented as often. France and the United Kingdom come in a...

, Spain
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
Spain debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961, finishing 9th. Since 1999, Spain is one of the "Big Five" and therefore automatically allowed to participate in the final because they are the five biggest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union.Spain has won the contest...

 and the United Kingdom) and the host pre-qualified for the final. In addition to those pre-qualified, the final also included the ten selected countries from each semi-final, making a total of twenty-five participants.

A discussion on changes to the format of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest had taken place at a EBU meeting in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 in June 2008 where a proposal was made that could have resulted in the "Big Four" losing their automatic place in the final of the contest. However, it was confirmed that the "Big Four" countries would continue to automatically qualify for the final at the 2009 contest.

Voting

In response to some broadcasters' continued complaints about politically charged, neighbourly and diaspora voting, the EBU evaluated the voting procedure used in the contest, with the possibility of a change in the voting system for 2009. Contest organisers sent a questionnaire regarding the voting system to participating broadcasters, and a reference group incorporated the responses into their suggestions for next year's format. Telewizja Polska (TVP)
Telewizja Polska
Telewizja Polska Spółka Akcyjna is Poland's public broadcasting corporation...

, the Polish broadcaster, suggested that an international jury similar to the one used in the 2008 Eurovision Dance Contest
Eurovision Dance Contest 2008
The Eurovision Dance Contest 2008 was the second Eurovision Dance Contest and was held in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, hosted by BBC Scotland on 6 September.The winner of contest was Poland who achieved a score of 154 points...

 be introduced in the Eurovision Song Contest to lessen the impact of neighbourly voting and place more emphasis on the artistic value of the song. A jury would lead to less political and diaspora voting as the jury members, mandated to be music industry experts, would also have a say in addition to "random members of the public".

It was decided that for the contest final, each country's votes would be decided by a combination of 50% televoting
Televoting
Televoting, telephone voting or phone voting is a method of decision making and opinion polling conducted by telephone. Televoting can also extend to voting by SMS text message via a mobile cell phone.- Broadcast contest televoting :...

 results and 50% national jury
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...

. The method of selecting the semi-final qualifiers remained the same for the most part, with nine countries, instead of the ten as in years past, qualifying from each semi-final based on the televoting results. For the tenth qualifier from each semi-final, the highest placed country on the back-up jury scoreboard that had not already qualified, was chosen for the final. At the final, each country combined their 1-12 points from the televote with their 1-12 jury points to create their "national scorecard". The country with the most points received 12 points, the second placed country received 10 points and so on. If a tie arose, the song with the higher televote position was given the advantage and the higher point value. National juries were originally phased out of the contest beginning in 1997, with televoting becoming mandatory for nearly all participants since 2003.

Edgar Böhm, director of entertainment for Austria's
Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest
Austria has appeared frequently at the Eurovision Song Contest. The country has won once, in 1966, with the song "Merci Chérie".In recent years, Austria's entries have tended towards the humorous, in contrast with the dance-pop achieving success. 2003 saw comedian and personality Alf Poier perform...

 public broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF)
ORF (broadcaster)
Österreichischer Rundfunk, ORF, is the Austrian national public service broadcaster.Funded from a combination of a television licence fees and revenue from limited on-air advertising, ORF is the dominant player in the Austrian broadcast media...

, has stated that the 2008 format with two semi-finals "still incorporates a mix of countries who will be politically favoured in the voting process," and "that, unless a clear guideline as to how the semifinals are organised is made by the EBU, Austria will not be taking part in Moscow 2009." Despite the inclusion of jury voting in the final, Austria did not return to the contest in 2009.

Pot allocations

On Friday 30 January 2009, the draw to decide which countries would appear in either the first or second semi-final took place. Participating countries were separated into six pots as determined by voting patterns in previous contests. A draw then took place from the six pots to determine which countries would participate in the first semi-final or second semi-final. It was also determined that Germany
Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest
Germany has participated in every Eurovision Song Contest since its beginning in 1956, although its entry in 1996 did not qualify past the pre‐selection round, and therefore was not seen in the broadcast final. No other country has been represented as often. France and the United Kingdom come in a...

 and the United Kingdom would vote in the first semi-final, while France
France in the Eurovision Song Contest
France is one of the most successful countries in the Eurovision Song Contest and has entered the competition fifty-four times since their debut at the very first contest in 1956. France is one of only seven countries to be present at the very first contest, and has only been absent from two...

, Russia
Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Russia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 14 times, and every year since 2000.Their debut was in the 1994 contest after Russia became a member of the European Broadcasting Union . In both 2000 and 2006, Russia came second in the contest with Alsou's song "Solo" and Dima Bilan's "Never...

 and Spain
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
Spain debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961, finishing 9th. Since 1999, Spain is one of the "Big Five" and therefore automatically allowed to participate in the final because they are the five biggest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union.Spain has won the contest...

 would vote in the second semi-final. The draw for the running order of the semi-finals, finals, and the order of voting, occurred on 16 March 2009.
Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3
Pot 4 Pot 5 Pot 6

Semi-finals

Thirty-seven countries participated in one of the two semi-finals of the contest. The semi-final allocation draw took place on 30 January 2009, while the draw for the running order was held on 16 March 2009.

Semi-final 1

  • The first semi final took place in Moscow on 12 May.
  • The United Kingdom and Germany voted in this semi-final.
  • Flax
    Flax (color)
    Flax is a pale yellowish-gray color named after flax seeds. It is similar to the color mustard.-Flax in culture:...

    denotes the entry chosen by the jury to go to the final.

Draw Country Language Artist Song English translation Place Points
01 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Andrea Demirović
Andrea Demirovic
Andrea Demirović also known as simply Andrea, is a Montenegrin singer and a student of the Cetinje Music Academy - Music Pedagogy....

"Just Get Out of My Life
Just Get Out of My Life
"Just Get Out of My Life" is a song by Andrea Demirović and was the Montenegrin entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia. This was the first English language Montenegrin entry at Eurovision, as well as the first time the country was represented by a female soloist...

"
11 44
02 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Romani
Romani language
Romani or Romany, Gypsy or Gipsy is any of several languages of the Romani people. They are Indic, sometimes classified in the "Central" or "Northwestern" zone, and sometimes treated as a branch of their own....

Gipsy.cz
Gipsy.cz
Gipsy.cz are a Romani Hip hop group from the Czech Republic. Their music has recently hit the charts there and they are gaining a following throughout Europe, featuring on MTV. They played at Glastonbury 2007 festival...

"Aven Romale
Aven Romale
"Aven Romale" , is a song by the Czech group Gipsy.cz that was the Czech entry at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest held in Moscow, Russia. It failed to reach the Eurovision final...

"
Come in gypsies 18 0
03 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Patrick Ouchène
Patrick Ouchène
Patrick Ouchène is a Belgian singer perhaps most known for being the lead singer in the rockabilly band Runnin' Wild.-Eurovision 2009:On 17 February he was chosen to represent Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia, with the song "Copycat"...

"Copycat
Copycat (song)
"Copycat" is a song by Belgian singer Patrick Ouchène and was the Belgian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 held in Moscow, Russia. It failed to win a place in the Eurovision final, finishing second last in the first semi final with just one point....

"
17 1
04 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Petr Elfimov
Petr Elfimov
Petr Elfimov is a singer from Belarus who represented his nation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia. He won the national selection of Belarus with 11,475 votes on January 19, 2009 with the rock/pop song Eyes That Never Lie. The song competed in the first semi-final as the...

"Eyes That Never Lie
Eyes That Never Lie
"Eyes That Never Lie" is a song by Petr Elfimov and was the Belarusian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 held in Moscow, Russia. A new version of the song was produced by Tero Kinnunen and recorded at the Finnvox Studios in Helsinki, Finland for the finals.The song competed in the first...

"
13 25
05 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

Malena Ernman
Malena Ernman
Sara Magdalena "Malena" Ernman is a Swedish opera singer . Ernman is a versatile artist in her field, who outside the world of opera and operettas also has performed chansons, cabaret, jazz, appeared in musicals and she is a performer who's declared that she's very much attracted to the attributes...

"La voix
La voix
La voix is a song by Swedish singer Malena Ernman and was the Swedish entry at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, held in Moscow, Russia. It was composed by Fredrik Kempe, with lyrics by both Kempe and Ernman...

"
The voice 4 105
06 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Armenian
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...

Inga and Anush
Inga and Anush Arshakyans
Inga and Anush Arshakyan , or, the Arshakyan Sisters , are an Armenian folk singing duo. The sisters represented Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, eventually finishing in 10th place in the final.-Early life:...

"Jan Jan" (Ջան Ջան) My dear 5 99
07 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...

Susanne Georgi
Susanne Georgi
Susanne Jonah-Lynn Georgi Puigcercos, commonly known as Susanne Georgi, is a Danish singer who lives and works in Andorra....

"La teva decisió (Get a Life)" Your decision 15 8
08 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Lovebugs
Lovebugs (band)
The Lovebugs are a Swiss Britpop inspired band from Basel, Switzerland founded in 1992.They are one of Switzerland's most successful bands with three number one albums in the Swiss charts...

"The Highest Heights
The Highest Heights
"The Highest Heights" is a song by the Lovebugs and was the Swiss entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia.The song competed in the first semi-final on 12 May 2009 but failed to reach the final on 16 May.-Charts:-Year-end charts:...

"
14 15
09 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Hadise
Hadise
Hadise Açıkgöz , is a Belgian born Turkish singer of Circassian descent. Hadise's career began in 2004 with the release of her debut single "Sweat", which peaked at 19 on the Flanders chart. Hadise continued to release more successful singles, most notably the single "Milk Chocolate Girl"...

"Düm Tek Tek
Düm Tek Tek
"Düm Tek Tek" is a song by Belgium born Turkish singer Hadise that was performed as the Turkish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia....

"
[A] 2 172
10 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

, Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

Noa
Achinoam Nini
Achinoam Nini , also known by her professional name, Noa, is a leading Israeli international concert and recording artist.-Career:...

 and Mira Awad
Mira Awad
Mīrā ’Anwar ‘Awaḍ is an Israeli Arab singer, actress, and songwriter.‘Awaḍ lives in Tel Aviv, Israel. In 2009, she was chosen to represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest along with Jewish-Israeli singer Achinoam Nini, singing the song There Must Be Another Way. She was the first Arab to...

"There Must Be Another Way" 7 75
11 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Krassimir Avramov
Krassimir Avramov
Krassimir Avramov born November 5, 1972 in Sliven, Bulgaria is a singer and songwriter.-Eurovision 2009:Krassimir Avramov competed in Bulgaria's national contest to represent the country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. On 21 February 2009, Avramov won the selection and was chosen represent...

"Illusion
Illusion (Krassimir Avramov song)
"Illusion" is a song performed by Krassimir Avramov. The song represented Bulgaria at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia.It competed in the first semi-final on 12 May 2009, but failed to reach the final, finishing 16th of the 18 performers, scoring just seven points. Male lead...

"
16 7
12 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Yohanna
Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir
Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir , widely known outside of Iceland as Yohanna, is an Icelandic singer who was chosen to represent her nation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia, with the song "Is It True?", earning 2nd place.- Background and career:Jóhanna was raised in Hafnarfjörður,...

"Is It True?
Is It True?
"Is It True?" is a song by Icelandic singer Yohanna and was the Icelandic entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia. The song was composed by Óskar Páll Sveinsson and won second place in the contest...

"
1 174
13 Macedonian
Macedonian language
Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...

Next Time
Next Time
Next Time is a rock duo from Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. The duo consists of twin brothers Martin and Stefan Filipovski. Stefan fronts the band as the lead singer, while Martin plays the guitar and sings back-up vocals...

"Nešto što kje ostane
Nešto što kje ostane
"Nešto što kje ostane" is a song by the Macedonian band Next Time. It was the Macedonian entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia, but it failed to qualify for the final round...

"
(Нешто што ќе остане)
Something that will remain 10 45
14 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Elena
Elena Gheorghe
Elena Gheorghe is a Romanian singer. Gheorghe represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 and qualified for the final. One of her most notable music singles is "Te Ador" and her 2010 music single "Disco Romancing"....

"The Balkan Girls
The Balkan Girls
"The Balkan Girls" is a song by Elena Gheorghe and was the Romanian entry in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. The song was selected in the Romanian national final Selecţia Naţională 2009, which Gheorghe won....

"
9 67
15 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Waldo's People
Waldo's People
Waldo's People is a Finnish Eurodance band. The lead singer of the band is Waldo, whose real name is Marko Reijonen. They represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, with the song "Lose Control". It won a place for the Eurovision final on May 16 as the jury's chosen act...

"Lose Control
Lose Control (Waldo's People song)
"Lose Control" is a song by the Finnish band Waldo's People and was the Finnish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia. The band won the right to represent the country after winning the Finnish national final Euroviisut 2009 on January 31, 2009...

"
12 42
16 Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

Flor-de-Lis
Flor-de-Lis
Flor-de-Lis is a Portuguese folk music group which represented Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia, following their victory in the 45th edition of Festival da Canção, with the song "Todas as ruas do amor"...

"Todas as ruas do amor
Todas as ruas do amor
"Todas as ruas do amor" is a song by Portuguese band Flor-de-Lis, and was the Portuguese entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The song was composed by Paulo Pereira and Pedro Marques....

"
All the streets of love 8 70
17 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Chiara "What If We
What If We (song)
"What If We" is a song by Maltese singer Chiara, and was the Maltese entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia. The song was composed by Belgian songwriters Marc Paelinck and Gregory Bilsen....

"
6 86
18 Bosnian
Bosnian language
Bosnian is a South Slavic language, spoken by Bosniaks. As a standardized form of the Shtokavian dialect, it is one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina....

Regina
Regina (band)
Grupa Regina is a rock band founded in 1990 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, then Yugoslavia.- Band career :Three of the members, Aleksandar, Bojan and Denis, started a garage band. It was hard for them to find the right lead singer, but after a long while of searching, they found Davor Ebner....

"Bistra voda
Bistra voda
"Bistra voda" was the Bosnian and Herzegovinian entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia. The song was composed by Aleksandar Čović, and was performed by the Bosnian rock band Regina....

"
Clear water 3 125

Semi-final 2

  • The second semi final took place in Moscow on 14 May.
  • 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.
  • Flax
    Flax (color)
    Flax is a pale yellowish-gray color named after flax seeds. It is similar to the color mustard.-Flax in culture:...

    denotes the entry chosen by the jury to go to the final.

Draw Country Language Artist Song English translation Place Points
01 Croatian
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...

Igor Cukrov
Igor Cukrov
Igor Cukrov born is a Croatian singer, musician and television personality. He came to media attention as one of sixteen contestants of talents show Operacija trijumf, Balkan version of Endemol's Star Academy. Cukrov represented Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 alongside Andrea Šušnjara...

 feat. Andrea
Andrea Šušnjara
Andrea Šušnjara is a Croatian singer who was the Croatian entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. She, alongside Igor Cukrov, were the winners of Dora 2009, performing the song "Lijepa Tena" . At Eurovision they performed in the second semi-final as the opening act and qualified for the...

"Lijepa Tena
Lijepa Tena
"Lijepa Tena" is a song by Croatian singer Igor Cukrov and was the Croatian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia. The song competed in the second semi-final on 14 May 2009 and qualified for the final, where it finished 18th with 57 points.-Charts:-External links:* from...

"
Beautiful Tena 13 33
02 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Sinéad Mulvey
Sinéad Mulvey
Sinéad Mulvey is an Irishprofessional singer & air hostess who, alongside Black Daisy, represented her country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the pop-rock song "Et Cetera"...

 and Black Daisy
Black Daisy
Black Daisy was an Irish band that, along with Sinéad Mulvey represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song Et Cetera.- Biography :...

"Et Cetera
Et Cetera (song)
"Et Cetera" is a song by Irish singer Sinéad Mulvey and rock band Black Daisy that represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia...

"
11 52
03 Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

Intars Busulis
Intars Busulis
Intars Busulis is a Latvian singer represented Latvia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia with the song Probka . It competed in the second semi-final on May 14 but finished last with seven points and failed to win a place in the final.- External links :* *...

"Probka
Probka
"Probka" is a song by Latvian singer Intars Busulis, and was the Latvian entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia. The song competed in the second semi-final of the contest on 14 May 2009 but failed to reach the final, having finished last with 7 points...

" (Пробка)
Traffic jam 19 7
04 Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....

Marko Kon
Marko Kon
Marko Kon is a Serbian singer who was the Serbian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with Milan Nikolić. The song Cipela was chosen after a national final. It competed in the second semi final but failed to reach the final...

 and Milaan
Milan Nikolić (musician)
Milan Nikolić is a Serbian accordionist who was the Serbian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with Marko Kon. The song "Cipela" was chosen to represent Serbia in the 2009 national final of the Eurovision Song Contest...

"Cipela
Cipela
"Cipela" is a song composed and performed by Serbian singer Marko Kon and accordionist Milan Nikolić. It was the Serbian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 held in Moscow, Russia...

" (Ципела)
Shoe 10 60
05 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Lidia Kopania
Lidia Kopania
Lidia Kopania is the frontwoman of Kind of Blue. Kopania represented her nation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia.-Biography:...

"I Don't Wanna Leave
I Don't Wanna Leave
"I Don't Wanna Leave" is a song by Polish singer Lidia Kopania and was the Polish entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, set to be held in Moscow, Russia...

"
12 43
06 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Alexander Rybak
Alexander Rybak
Alexander Igoryevich Rybak or in Belarusian Alyaksandr Igaravich Rybak , born 13 May 1986 in Byelorussian SSR is a Norwegian singer-composer, violinist, pianist, writer, and actor...

"Fairytale
Fairytale (Alexander Rybak song)
"Fairytale" is a song written and composed by Norwegian violinist/singer Alexander Rybak, and the first single from Rybak's debut album Fairytales...

"
1 201
07 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Christina Metaxa
Christina Metaxa
Christina Metaxa born April 4, 1992 is a Cypriot singer-songwriter born in Limassol. Her brother Nikolas Metaxas, who is also is a singer, won second place in the Greek version of The X Factor; he is also the creator and composer of Christina's Eurovision entry.She now attends Brown University,...

"Firefly" 14 32
08 Slovak
Slovak language
Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...

Kamil Mikulčík
Kamil Mikulčík
Kamil Mikulčík is a Slovak singer and actor who was the Slovakia entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with Nela Pocisková. The song, Leť tmou was chosen after a national final. They were the first singers to represent Slovakia at the contest since the Eurovision Song Contest 1998. However,...

 and Nela
Nela Pocisková
Nela Pocisková is a Slovak singer and actress who was the Slovakian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with Kamil Mikulčík. The song Leť tmou was chosen after a national final...

"Leť tmou
Let tmou
"Leť tmou" is a song by Kamil Mikulčík and Nela Pocisková, and was the Slovak entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. It was the first Slovak entry at Eurovision since 1998, and competed in the second semi-final of the contest on 14 May 2009 but failed to reach the final.-Charts:...

"
Fly through the darkness 18 8
09 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Niels Brinck
Niels Brinck
Niels Brinck Kristensen is a Danish singer and songwriter.Brinck won the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix in 2009 with the song "Believe Again" which was written by Lars Halvor Jensen, Martin Larsson Moller and Ronan Keating...

"Believe Again
Believe Again (Niels Brinck song)
"Believe Again" is a song by Danish singer-songwriter Niels Brinck and it was the Danish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The song was written by Lars Halvor Jensen, Martin Michael Larsson, and Irish singer Ronan Keating. It was selected by the Danish public through the show Dansk Melodi...

"
8 69
10 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Slovene
Quartissimo
Quartissimo
Quartissimo are the string quartet made of Žiga Cerar , Matjaž Bogataj , Luka Dukarić and Samo Dervišić ....

 feat. Martina
Martina Majerle
Martina Majerle is a Croatian singer. Majerle represented Slovenia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia with the string quartet Quartissimo with the song "Love Symphony". It competed in the second semi-final but failed to reach the final...

"Love Symphony
Love Symphony
"Love Symphony" is a song by string quartet Quartissimo and was the Slovene entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The song was composed by Andrej Babić and Aleksandar Valenčić, and vocals were performed by Martina Majerle....

"
16 14
11 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Zoli Ádok
Zoli Ádok
Zoltán Ádok is a Hungarian singer, actor and dancer who represented his nation at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Dance with me". Ádok's song was the internal selection jury's third choice, but after the original winning song was disqualified and the first runner-up withdrawn,...

"Dance with Me
Dance with Me (Zoli Ádok song)
"Dance with Me" is a song by Hungarian singer Zoli Ádok and was the Hungarian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, set to be held in Moscow, Russia...

"
15 16
12 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

AySel
Aysel Teymurzadeh
-Biography:Aysel was born in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, the youngest of the three daughters of a journalist and a university professor. She is a descendant of the nineteenth-century Azerbaijani publicist Hasan bey Zardabi. Her grandmother on her mother's side was half-Russian, half-Ukrainian...

 and Arash
"Always" 2 180
13 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Sakis Rouvas
Sakis Rouvas
Anastasios "Sakis" Rouvas II , often referred to mononymously as Sakis, is a Greek musician, television and film artist, businessman, and former pole vaulter who is one of the most successful and influential entertainers of all time in Greece and Cyprus...

"This Is Our Night
This Is Our Night
"This Is Our Night" is a song by Greek singer Sakis Rouvas, from the album Irthes. It was selected as Greece's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009...

"
4 110
14 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

Sasha Son
Sasha Son
Sasha Son is a Lithuanian singer who represented Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. His nickname Sasha Son means "Sasha Dream" in Russian, with Sasha being a Russian diminutive form of the name Alexander.-Early life:...

"Love
Love (Sasha Son song)
"Love", known by its Lithuanian name "Pasiklydęs žmogus" is a song by Lithuanian singer Sasha Son, the Lithuanian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, where it was performed in English with the final verse in Russian....

"
9 66
15 Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...

, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Nelly Ciobanu
Nelly Ciobanu
Nelly Ciobanu is a Moldovan singer. Ciobanu graduated from music college of the city of Tiraspol. Nelly made her debut on stage in 1993, with her brother as part of duo "Master Dinamit"...

"Hora din Moldova
Hora din Moldova
"Hora din Moldova" is a song by Moldovan singer Nelly Ciobanu and was the Moldovan entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia...

"
Dance from Moldova 5 106
16 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Kejsi Tola
Kejsi Tola
Kejsi Tola is an Albanian singer and the winner of Albanian Idol 2007. In 2008 she was the winning contestant in the Festivali i Këngës competition to find the representative for Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia. Kejsi has a cousin called Öner studying music theory and...

"Carry Me in Your Dreams
Carry Me in Your Dreams
"Carry Me in Your Dreams" was the Albanian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia. The song was composed by Edmond Zhulali and Agim Doçi, composers of Albania's first entry to Eurovision, "The Image of You" by Anjeza Shahini, and is performed by Albanian singer Kejsi Tola...

"
7 73
17 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Svetlana Loboda
Svetlana Loboda
Svitlana Loboda is a Ukrainian singer and composer. Loboda represented Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 and finished in 12th place with 76 points.-Early life:Loboda was born in Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR...

"Be My Valentine" 6 80
18 Estonian
Estonian language
Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...

Urban Symphony "Rändajad
Rändajad
"Rändajad" is a song by the Estonian band Urban Symphony, composed by Sven Lõhmus, and represented Estonia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia....

"
Nomads 3 115
19 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

The Toppers
De Toppers
- History :The group was formed in 2005 by Dutch singers Gordon, René Froger and Gerard Joling. In 2008, Joling was replaced by Jeroen van der Boom....

"Shine
Shine (De Toppers song)
"Shine" is a song by De Toppers and was the Dutch entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The song was composed by Bas van den Heuvel and Gordon ....

"
17 11

Final

The finalists were:
  • The "Big Four" (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 at 23:00 MST
Moscow Time
Moscow Time is the time zone for the city of Moscow, Russia and most of western Russia, including Saint Petersburg. It is the second westernmost of the nine time zones of Russia. Moscow Time has been UTC+4 year-round since 27 March 2011....

 (19:00 UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...

) and was won by Norway.
Draw Country Language Artist Song English translation Place Points
01 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

Sasha Son
Sasha Son
Sasha Son is a Lithuanian singer who represented Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. His nickname Sasha Son means "Sasha Dream" in Russian, with Sasha being a Russian diminutive form of the name Alexander.-Early life:...

"Love
Love (Sasha Son song)
"Love", known by its Lithuanian name "Pasiklydęs žmogus" is a song by Lithuanian singer Sasha Son, the Lithuanian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, where it was performed in English with the final verse in Russian....

"
23 23
02 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

, Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

Noa
Achinoam Nini
Achinoam Nini , also known by her professional name, Noa, is a leading Israeli international concert and recording artist.-Career:...

 and Mira Awad
Mira Awad
Mīrā ’Anwar ‘Awaḍ is an Israeli Arab singer, actress, and songwriter.‘Awaḍ lives in Tel Aviv, Israel. In 2009, she was chosen to represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest along with Jewish-Israeli singer Achinoam Nini, singing the song There Must Be Another Way. She was the first Arab to...

"There Must Be Another Way" 16 53
03 French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

Patricia Kaas
Patricia Kaas
Patricia Kaas is a French singer and actress.Kaas is a very successful French-speaking singer, with an International following...

"Et s'il fallait le faire
Et s'il fallait le faire
"Et s'il fallait le faire" is a song by French singer Patricia Kaas and the first single off her album Kabaret. It was the French entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia, where it finished 8th with 107 points...

"
And if it had to be done 107
04 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

Malena Ernman
Malena Ernman
Sara Magdalena "Malena" Ernman is a Swedish opera singer . Ernman is a versatile artist in her field, who outside the world of opera and operettas also has performed chansons, cabaret, jazz, appeared in musicals and she is a performer who's declared that she's very much attracted to the attributes...

"La voix
La voix
La voix is a song by Swedish singer Malena Ernman and was the Swedish entry at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, held in Moscow, Russia. It was composed by Fredrik Kempe, with lyrics by both Kempe and Ernman...

"
The voice 21 33
05 Croatian
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...

Igor Cukrov
Igor Cukrov
Igor Cukrov born is a Croatian singer, musician and television personality. He came to media attention as one of sixteen contestants of talents show Operacija trijumf, Balkan version of Endemol's Star Academy. Cukrov represented Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 alongside Andrea Šušnjara...

 feat. Andrea
Andrea Šušnjara
Andrea Šušnjara is a Croatian singer who was the Croatian entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. She, alongside Igor Cukrov, were the winners of Dora 2009, performing the song "Lijepa Tena" . At Eurovision they performed in the second semi-final as the opening act and qualified for the...

"Lijepa Tena
Lijepa Tena
"Lijepa Tena" is a song by Croatian singer Igor Cukrov and was the Croatian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia. The song competed in the second semi-final on 14 May 2009 and qualified for the final, where it finished 18th with 57 points.-Charts:-External links:* from...

"
Beautiful Tena 18 45
06 Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

Flor-de-Lis
Flor-de-Lis
Flor-de-Lis is a Portuguese folk music group which represented Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia, following their victory in the 45th edition of Festival da Canção, with the song "Todas as ruas do amor"...

"Todas as ruas do amor
Todas as ruas do amor
"Todas as ruas do amor" is a song by Portuguese band Flor-de-Lis, and was the Portuguese entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The song was composed by Paulo Pereira and Pedro Marques....

"
All the streets of love 15 57
07 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Yohanna
Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir
Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir , widely known outside of Iceland as Yohanna, is an Icelandic singer who was chosen to represent her nation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia, with the song "Is It True?", earning 2nd place.- Background and career:Jóhanna was raised in Hafnarfjörður,...

"Is It True?
Is It True?
"Is It True?" is a song by Icelandic singer Yohanna and was the Icelandic entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia. The song was composed by Óskar Páll Sveinsson and won second place in the contest...

"
218
08 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Sakis Rouvas
Sakis Rouvas
Anastasios "Sakis" Rouvas II , often referred to mononymously as Sakis, is a Greek musician, television and film artist, businessman, and former pole vaulter who is one of the most successful and influential entertainers of all time in Greece and Cyprus...

"This Is Our Night
This Is Our Night
"This Is Our Night" is a song by Greek singer Sakis Rouvas, from the album Irthes. It was selected as Greece's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009...

"
120
09 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Armenian
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...

Inga and Anush
Inga and Anush Arshakyans
Inga and Anush Arshakyan , or, the Arshakyan Sisters , are an Armenian folk singing duo. The sisters represented Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, eventually finishing in 10th place in the final.-Early life:...

"Jan Jan" (Ջան Ջան) My dear 10 92
10 Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

, Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....

Anastasiya Prikhodko "Mamo
Mamo (song)
"Mamo" is a song by Ukrainian singer Anastasiya Prikhodko, was Russia's entrant at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in the Russian capital of Moscow...

" (Мамо)
Mom 11 91
11 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

AySel
Aysel Teymurzadeh
-Biography:Aysel was born in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, the youngest of the three daughters of a journalist and a university professor. She is a descendant of the nineteenth-century Azerbaijani publicist Hasan bey Zardabi. Her grandmother on her mother's side was half-Russian, half-Ukrainian...

 and Arash
"Always" 207
12 Bosnian
Bosnian language
Bosnian is a South Slavic language, spoken by Bosniaks. As a standardized form of the Shtokavian dialect, it is one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina....

Regina
Regina (band)
Grupa Regina is a rock band founded in 1990 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, then Yugoslavia.- Band career :Three of the members, Aleksandar, Bojan and Denis, started a garage band. It was hard for them to find the right lead singer, but after a long while of searching, they found Davor Ebner....

"Bistra voda
Bistra voda
"Bistra voda" was the Bosnian and Herzegovinian entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia. The song was composed by Aleksandar Čović, and was performed by the Bosnian rock band Regina....

"
Clear water 106
13 Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...

, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Nelly Ciobanu
Nelly Ciobanu
Nelly Ciobanu is a Moldovan singer. Ciobanu graduated from music college of the city of Tiraspol. Nelly made her debut on stage in 1993, with her brother as part of duo "Master Dinamit"...

"Hora din Moldova
Hora din Moldova
"Hora din Moldova" is a song by Moldovan singer Nelly Ciobanu and was the Moldovan entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia...

"
Dance from Moldova 14 69
14 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Chiara "What If We
What If We (song)
"What If We" is a song by Maltese singer Chiara, and was the Maltese entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia. The song was composed by Belgian songwriters Marc Paelinck and Gregory Bilsen....

"
22 31
15 Estonian
Estonian language
Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...

Urban Symphony "Rändajad
Rändajad
"Rändajad" is a song by the Estonian band Urban Symphony, composed by Sven Lõhmus, and represented Estonia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia....

"
Nomads 129
16 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Niels Brinck
Niels Brinck
Niels Brinck Kristensen is a Danish singer and songwriter.Brinck won the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix in 2009 with the song "Believe Again" which was written by Lars Halvor Jensen, Martin Larsson Moller and Ronan Keating...

"Believe Again
Believe Again (Niels Brinck song)
"Believe Again" is a song by Danish singer-songwriter Niels Brinck and it was the Danish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The song was written by Lars Halvor Jensen, Martin Michael Larsson, and Irish singer Ronan Keating. It was selected by the Danish public through the show Dansk Melodi...

"
13 74
17 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Alex
Alex Christensen
Alex Christensen , Jasper Forks or Alex C. as he is known, is a German dance music composer, producer, and DJ, generally known as the face, and one of the founding members, of U96...

 Swings Oscar
Oscar Loya
Joseph Oscar Loya is an American singer and Broadway musical theatre performer.- Life :Loya was born in 1979 in Indio, California and grew up as the youngest of five children in California...

 Sings!
"Miss Kiss Kiss Bang
Miss Kiss Kiss Bang
"Miss Kiss Kiss Bang" is a song by Alex Christensen and Oscar Loya which was the German entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia. In Moscow the duo performed the song under the group moniker Alex Swings Oscar Sings. It was featured on Oscar Loya's debut album Heart 4 Sale.-...

"
20 35
18 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Hadise
Hadise
Hadise Açıkgöz , is a Belgian born Turkish singer of Circassian descent. Hadise's career began in 2004 with the release of her debut single "Sweat", which peaked at 19 on the Flanders chart. Hadise continued to release more successful singles, most notably the single "Milk Chocolate Girl"...

"Düm Tek Tek
Düm Tek Tek
"Düm Tek Tek" is a song by Belgium born Turkish singer Hadise that was performed as the Turkish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia....

"
[A] 177
19 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Kejsi Tola
Kejsi Tola
Kejsi Tola is an Albanian singer and the winner of Albanian Idol 2007. In 2008 she was the winning contestant in the Festivali i Këngës competition to find the representative for Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia. Kejsi has a cousin called Öner studying music theory and...

"Carry Me in Your Dreams
Carry Me in Your Dreams
"Carry Me in Your Dreams" was the Albanian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia. The song was composed by Edmond Zhulali and Agim Doçi, composers of Albania's first entry to Eurovision, "The Image of You" by Anjeza Shahini, and is performed by Albanian singer Kejsi Tola...

"
17 48
20 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Alexander Rybak
Alexander Rybak
Alexander Igoryevich Rybak or in Belarusian Alyaksandr Igaravich Rybak , born 13 May 1986 in Byelorussian SSR is a Norwegian singer-composer, violinist, pianist, writer, and actor...

"Fairytale
Fairytale (Alexander Rybak song)
"Fairytale" is a song written and composed by Norwegian violinist/singer Alexander Rybak, and the first single from Rybak's debut album Fairytales...

"
387
21 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Svetlana Loboda
Svetlana Loboda
Svitlana Loboda is a Ukrainian singer and composer. Loboda represented Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 and finished in 12th place with 76 points.-Early life:Loboda was born in Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR...

"Be My Valentine" 12 76
22 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Elena
Elena Gheorghe
Elena Gheorghe is a Romanian singer. Gheorghe represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 and qualified for the final. One of her most notable music singles is "Te Ador" and her 2010 music single "Disco Romancing"....

"The Balkan Girls
The Balkan Girls
"The Balkan Girls" is a song by Elena Gheorghe and was the Romanian entry in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. The song was selected in the Romanian national final Selecţia Naţională 2009, which Gheorghe won....

"
19 40
23 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Jade Ewen
Jade Ewen
Jade Almarie Louise Ewen is an English singer, songwriter, actress and member of the Sugababes. Ewen began her singing career in a girl group named Trinity Stone signed to Sony BMG in 2005, but they disbanded in 2007 with no album released...

"It's My Time" 173
24 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Waldo's People
Waldo's People
Waldo's People is a Finnish Eurodance band. The lead singer of the band is Waldo, whose real name is Marko Reijonen. They represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, with the song "Lose Control". It won a place for the Eurovision final on May 16 as the jury's chosen act...

"Lose Control
Lose Control (Waldo's People song)
"Lose Control" is a song by the Finnish band Waldo's People and was the Finnish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia. The band won the right to represent the country after winning the Finnish national final Euroviisut 2009 on January 31, 2009...

"
25 22
25 Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

Soraya Arnelas
Soraya Arnelas
Soraya Arnelas Rubiales , better known by her stage name Soraya, is a popular Spanish singer...

"La noche es para mí
La noche es para mí
"La noche es para mí" is a song by Spanish singer Soraya and was the Spanish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia. It was released on 12 January 2009 in Spain as the second single from Soraya's fourth studio album Sin Miedo...

"
The night is for me 24 23

Voting during the final

Countries revealed their votes in the following order:
































    1. [B]

      Split jury/televoting results

      The full split jury/televoting results were announced by the EBU in July 2009.
      Place Televoting Points Jury Points
      1 382 319
      2 261 272
      3 208 229
      4 174 169
      5 151 134
      6 129 120
      7 124 115
      8 123 114
      9 121 111
      10 105 93
      11 81 93
      12 80 90
      13 68 87
      14 64 74
      15 59 73
      16 55 68
      17 54 67
      18 45 64
      19 45 58
      20 40 31
      21 38 31
      22 30 27
      23 21 26
      24 18 12
      25 18 9

      Scoreboards

      In this year's Eurovision Song Contest there were a few glitches out of the 84 total televote counts from the two semi finals and Grand final.

      Semi-final 1

      • No problems were reported in the first Eurovision Song Contest semi-final.

      Televoting Results
      Montenegro 44 3 5 1 2 5 1 8 1 6 10 2
      Czech Republic 0
      Belgium 1 1
      Belarus 25 2 1 1 4 4 1 1 6 4
      Sweden 105 6 4 7 8 7 4 4 7 10 3 4 10 8 8 4 4 7
      Armenia 99 4 12 10 10 5 1 10 10 8 2 2 8 1 1 10 5
      Andorra 8 1 4 3
      Switzerland 15 2 2 2 5 2 2
      Turkey 172 8 5 12 6 7 10 5 12 6 12 7 12 12 7 5 10 12 12 12
      Israel 75 5 4 3 4 6 7 8 5 3 4 6 1 3 6 4 5 1
      Bulgaria 7 2 5
      Iceland 174 7 10 7 12 12 12 10 7 8 12 6 4 10 12 12 12 7 6 8
      Macedonia 45 10 3 6 6 10 2 8
      Romania 67 6 2 1 2 4 7 8 5 4 7 10 2 6 1 2
      Finland 42 3 1 10 3 12 1 3 5 4
      Portugal 70 2 6 3 12 10 2 2 8 7 2 3 7 6
      Malta 86 1 7 8 8 4 3 6 3 5 3 5 6 3 6 5 3 10
      Bosnia and Herzegovina 125 12 8 5 5 8 6 8 12 3 7 3 10 5 8 7 7 8 3

      Semi-final 2

      • In the second semi final, Spain's and Albania's delays in broadcasting the show meant that their results were provided by the back-up juries.

      Voting procedure used:
      Televoting Results
      Croatia 33 12 2 10 1 3 1 1 3
      Ireland 52 1 5 3 3 4 10 2 7 2 7 4 3 1
      Latvia 7 6 1
      Serbia 60 12 2 4 12 2 5 6 12 5
      Poland 43 10 3 3 3 1 1 3 1 6 6 2 4
      Norway 201 8 8 10 8 10 8 10 12 8 10 12 8 12 10 8 10 12 12 3 10 12
      Cyprus 32 2 1 2 1 7 12 1 6
      Slovakia 8 1 4 2 1
      Denmark 69 2 7 3 1 12 3 5 3 2 2 5 5 8 7 4
      Slovenia 14 7 5 2
      Hungary 16 2 8 3 3
      Azerbaijan 180 6 6 8 6 12 6 10 12 8 6 12 7 10 12 12 10 8 10 12 7
      Greece 110 3 4 10 2 1 12 5 2 4 6 4 4 6 12 4 5 10 6 4 6
      Lithuania 66 12 7 4 7 1 5 6 4 5 7 2 5 1
      Moldova 106 5 5 2 7 5 10 7 7 3 5 7 6 8 2 4 7 8 8
      Albania 73 10 6 5 4 6 7 4 5 10 5 3 1 5 2
      Ukraine 80 3 6 1 7 6 6 8 10 3 2 8 3 7 10
      Estonia 115 4 4 12 4 8 8 5 8 4 1 7 3 4 8 7 7 5 8 6 2
      Netherlands 11 1 10

      Final

      • In the Grand Final, SMS voting was the only method used to provide the Hungarian public voting scores as the televotes could not be counted due to a technical problem.
      • Norway's jury vote was used because a technical mistake by the local telephone operator rendered the televotes and SMS texts unusable.

      Voting procedure used:
      Voting Results
      Lithuania 23 1 2 1 4 1 7 7
      Israel 53 10 8 5 1 4 4 8 7 1 5
      France 107 6 5 6 6 6 10 6 2 3 2 1 3 1 4 3 1 1 7 3 7 3 5 3 7 6
      Sweden 33 2 3 4 6 4 1 4 7 2
      Croatia 45 1 2 5 12 2 8 4 5 6
      Portugal 57 7 7 1 3 8 7 6 6 10 2
      Iceland 218 8 10 10 2 8 4 5 3 3 12 8 10 7 2 6 12 10 8 10 5 2 2 8 5 5 2 12 8 1 5 6 5 7 7
      Greece 120 2 7 10 4 5 7 6 12 8 5 1 2 5 5 2 12 6 12 4 4 1
      Armenia 92 8 6 3 4 5 5 6 2 7 1 4 12 7 1 6 1 2 4 3 5
      Russia 91 7 7 12 6 6 10 5 4 8 8 8 6 3 1
      Azerbaijan 207 5 6 1 8 10 8 1 7 3 10 1 7 8 12 4 10 10 4 3 2 6 10 3 10 8 3 4 4 6 8 4 1 10 10
      Bosnia and Herzegovina 106 5 12 2 2 2 8 5 6 12 4 4 10 12 8 10 4
      Moldova 69 1 3 12 2 1 7 7 3 7 12 5 4 5
      Malta 31 1 4 3 6 3 1 5 1 7
      Estonia 129 10 7 6 10 5 8 4 7 5 1 4 1 12 4 6 10 8 3 12 6
      Denmark 74 2 5 4 5 6 8 5 2 5 4 3 1 7 6 8 3
      Germany 35 3 1 2 7 1 3 6 7 2 1 2
      Turkey 177 3 12 6 1 3 3 4 12 7 5 6 10 10 7 6 12 5 2 3 1 12 12 10 12 5 8
      Albania 48 1 5 7 1 10 7 6 7 2 2
      Norway 387 12 12 8 12 8 5 12 10 8 12 8 10 8 8 12 12 12 3 7 12 5 10 8 12 10 3 10 12 10 8 2 8 8 12 10 12 10 10 12 12 12
      Ukraine 76 4 2 6 3 2 10 4 2 5 2 6 5 6 10 1 8
      Romania 40 2 3 12 5 7 5 2 2 2
      United Kingdom 173 3 4 4 4 10 12 7 6 4 1 10 3 8 8 2 6 10 6 3 4 7 6 10 2 8 4 7 7 3 1 3
      Finland 22 4 8 3 4 3
      Spain 23 7 1 12 3
      The table is ordered by appearance in the final, then by appearance in the semi-finals.

      12 points

      Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the final:
      N. Recipient nation Voting nation(s)
      16 Norway
      Norway
      Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

       
      Belarus
      Belarus
      Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

      , Denmark
      Denmark
      Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

      , Estonia
      Estonia
      Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

      , Germany
      Germany
      Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

      , Hungary
      Hungary
      Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

      , Iceland
      Iceland
      Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

      , Israel
      Israel
      The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

      , Latvia
      Latvia
      Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

      , Lithuania
      Lithuania
      Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

      , Netherlands
      Netherlands
      The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

      , Poland
      Poland
      Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

      , Russia
      Russia
      Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

      , Slovenia
      Slovenia
      Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

      , Spain
      Spain
      Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

      , Sweden
      Sweden
      Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

      , Ukraine
      Ukraine
      Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

      6 Turkey
      Turkey
      Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

       
      Azerbaijan
      Azerbaijan
      Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

      , Belgium
      Belgium
      Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

      , France
      France
      The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

      , Macedonia
      Republic of Macedonia
      Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

      , Switzerland
      Switzerland
      Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

      , United Kingdom
      United Kingdom
      The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

      3 Bosnia and Herzegovina
      Bosnia and Herzegovina
      Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

       
      Croatia
      Croatia
      Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

      , Montenegro
      Montenegro
      Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...

      , Serbia
      Serbia
      Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

      Greece
      Greece
      Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

       
      Albania
      Albania
      Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

      , Bulgaria
      Bulgaria
      Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

      , Cyprus
      Cyprus
      Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

      Iceland
      Iceland
      Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

       
      Ireland
      Republic of Ireland
      Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

      , Malta
      Malta
      Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

      , Norway
      Norway
      Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

      2 Estonia
      Estonia
      Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

       
      Finland
      Finland
      Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

      , Slovakia
      Slovakia
      The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

      Moldova
      Moldova
      Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...

       
      Portugal
      Portugal
      Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

      , Romania
      Romania
      Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

      1 Armenia
      Armenia
      Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

       
      Czech Republic
      Czech Republic
      The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

      Azerbaijan
      Azerbaijan
      Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

       
      Turkey
      Turkey
      Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

      Croatia
      Croatia
      Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

       
      Bosnia and Herzegovina
      Bosnia and Herzegovina
      Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

      Romania
      Romania
      Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

       
      Moldova
      Moldova
      Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...

      Russia
      Russia
      Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

       
      Armenia
      Armenia
      Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

      Spain
      Spain
      Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

       
      Andorra
      Andorra
      Andorra , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, , is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of...

      United Kingdom
      United Kingdom
      The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

       
      Greece
      Greece
      Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....


      Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the 1st semi-final:
      N. Recipient nation Voting nation(s)
      8 Turkey
      Turkey
      Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

       
      Belgium
      Belgium
      Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

      , Switzerland
      Switzerland
      Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

      , Bulgaria
      Bulgaria
      Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

      , Macedonia
      Republic of Macedonia
      Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

      , Romania
      Romania
      Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

      , Bosnia and Herzegovina
      Bosnia and Herzegovina
      Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

      , Germany
      Germany
      Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

      , United Kingdom
      United Kingdom
      The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

      7 Iceland
      Iceland
      Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

       
      Belarus
      Belarus
      Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

      , Sweden
      Sweden
      Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

      , Armenia
      Armenia
      Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

      , Israel
      Israel
      The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

      , Finland
      Finland
      Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

      , Portugal
      Portugal
      Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

      , Malta
      Malta
      Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

      2 Bosnia and Herzegovina
      Bosnia and Herzegovina
      Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

       
      Montenegro
      Montenegro
      Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...

      , Turkey
      Turkey
      Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

      1 Armenia
      Armenia
      Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

       
      Czech Republic
      Czech Republic
      The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

      Finland
      Finland
      Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

       
      Iceland
      Iceland
      Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

      Portugal
      Portugal
      Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

       
      Andorra
      Andorra
      Andorra , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, , is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of...


      Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the 2nd semi-final:
      N. Recipient nation Voting nation(s)
      6 Norway
      Norway
      Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

       
      Denmark
      Denmark
      Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

      , Estonia
      Estonia
      Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

      , Lithuania
      Lithuania
      Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

      , Netherlands
      Netherlands
      The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

      , Azerbaijan
      Azerbaijan
      Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

      , Spain
      Spain
      Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

      Azerbaijan
      Azerbaijan
      Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

       
      Poland
      Poland
      Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

      , Slovakia
      Slovakia
      The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

      , Hungary
      Hungary
      Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

      , Moldova
      Moldova
      Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...

      , Ukraine
      Ukraine
      Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

      , Russia
      Russia
      Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

      3 Serbia
      Serbia
      Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

       
      Croatia
      Croatia
      Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

      , Slovenia
      Slovenia
      Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

      , France
      France
      The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

      2 Greece
      Greece
      Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

       
      Cyprus
      Cyprus
      Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

      , Albania
      Albania
      Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

      1 Cyprus
      Cyprus
      Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

       
      Greece
      Greece
      Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

      Denmark
      Denmark
      Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

       
      Norway
      Norway
      Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

      Croatia
      Croatia
      Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

       
      Serbia
      Serbia
      Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

      Lithuania
      Lithuania
      Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

       
      Ireland
      Ireland
      Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

      Estonia
      Estonia
      Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

       
      Latvia
      Latvia
      Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...


      Returning artists

      Artist Country Previous year(s)
      Sakis Rouvas
      Sakis Rouvas
      Anastasios "Sakis" Rouvas II , often referred to mononymously as Sakis, is a Greek musician, television and film artist, businessman, and former pole vaulter who is one of the most successful and influential entertainers of all time in Greece and Cyprus...

      2004
      Eurovision Song Contest 2004
      The Eurovision Song Contest 2004, was the 49th Contest and it was held in the Abdi İpekçi Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. This was the first occasion in which the contest was held in Turkey after they had won the competition in 2003 with Sertab Erener singing "Everyway That I Can"...

      Chiara 1998
      Eurovision Song Contest 1998
      The Eurovision Song Contest 1998 was the 43rd Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 9 May 1998 at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, United Kingdom. The presenters were Terry Wogan and Ulrika Jonsson...

      , 2005
      Eurovision Song Contest 2005
      The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th Eurovision Song Contest, which was held at the Palace of Sports, Kiev, Ukraine. The winner was Greece's My Number One, written by Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou and performed by Swedish-born Greek singer Elena Paparizou, who scored 230 points,...


      Commentators for participating countries

      The commentators of the 42 participating countries are as follows:
      Country SF1 / SF2 / Final Commentator(s)
      All Leon Menkshi
      Leon Menkshi
      Leon Menkshi is a famous Albanian TV personality. Leon is a professional Journalist and one of Albania's outstanding and charming news anchors; he is also known as a radio host and interviewer...

      All Meri Picart
      - -
      - -
      Semi-Finals Leyla Əliyeva
      Leyla Aliyeva
      Leyla Aliyeva is an Azerbaijani author, social activist, youth campaigner and environmentalist.- Heydar Aliyev Foundation :...

       (İctimai Televiziya və Radio Yayımları Şirkəti)
      AySel
      Aysel
      Aysel is a common feminine Turkish given name. In Turkish, "Aysel" means "moonbeam" .-People:* Aysel Gürel, Turkish lyricist* Aysel Teymurzadeh, Azerbaijani pop and R&B singer* Aysel Tuğluk, Kurdish politician...

       (SF1 guest) (İctimai Televiziya və Radio Yayımları Şirkəti)
      Final Leyla Əliyeva
      Leyla Aliyeva
      Leyla Aliyeva is an Azerbaijani author, social activist, youth campaigner and environmentalist.- Heydar Aliyev Foundation :...

       (İctimai Televiziya və Radio Yayımları Şirkəti)
      Isa Melikov (İctimai Televiziya və Radio Yayımları Şirkəti)
      - -
      - -
      All Jean-Pierre Hautier
      Jean-Pierre Hautier
      Jean-Pierre Hautier is a Belgian television presenter and broadcaster for RTBFHautier is known for his long time commentary for RTBF viewers on the Eurovision Song Contest which he has done since the 1994 Contest after the regular commentator Claude Delacroix got promoted to the head of Belgian...

       (French, La Une
      La Une
      La Une is a Belgian national television channel, owned and operated by RTBF.- INR :The Institut National de Radiodiffusion began experimental television in Belgium on 2 June 1953, with the crowning of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom...

      )
      Jean-Louis Lahaye (French, La Une
      La Une
      La Une is a Belgian national television channel, owned and operated by RTBF.- INR :The Institut National de Radiodiffusion began experimental television in Belgium on 2 June 1953, with the crowning of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom...

      )
      André Vermeulen
      André Vermeulen
      André Leopold Adiel Vermeulen is a Belgian/Flemish journalist and television personality for VRT.Since the 1991 Contest, Vermeulen following Luc Appermont has been the Flemish commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest...

       (Dutch, één
      EEN
      EEN may refer to:* Eastern Educational Television Network, the original name for American Public Television.* Elemental Energy, a Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game booster pack.* Emerald Energy, an oil company...

       & Radio 2
      Radio 2 (Belgium)
      Radio 2 is a Belgian radio channel operated by the Flemish public broadcaster Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep .In contrast to the more formal VRT Radio 1, Radio 2 features a more populist schedule aimed at a general family audience and is currently one of the most popular radio stations in...

      )
      Anja Daems (Dutch, één
      EEN
      EEN may refer to:* Eastern Educational Television Network, the original name for American Public Television.* Elemental Energy, a Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game booster pack.* Emerald Energy, an oil company...

      )
      Michel Follet
      Michel Follet
      Michel Follet is a Flemish Radio and Television host.Follet started his radio career for VRT as a disc jockey on Radio 2 in 1982. In 1992 Follet co-founded Radio Donna and presented the show Jabbedabbedoe...

       (Dutch, Radio 2
      Radio 2 (Belgium)
      Radio 2 is a Belgian radio channel operated by the Flemish public broadcaster Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep .In contrast to the more formal VRT Radio 1, Radio 2 features a more populist schedule aimed at a general family audience and is currently one of the most popular radio stations in...

      )
      All Dejan Kukrić (BHT1)
      - -
      - Elena Rosberg
      - Georgi Kushvaliev
      All Duško Čurlić
      - -
      All Nathan Morley
      Nathan Morley
      Nathan Morley is a multi award winning television presenter, columnist and journalist based in Finland and Cyprus.He is best known to international audiences for his live radio broadcasts on Talksport, LBC and the BBC to the United Kingdom...

       (CyBC Radio 2
      Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation
      The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation ) or CyBC is Cyprus's public broadcasting service, transmitting island-wide on four radio and two television channels. CyBC is a non-profit organization that utilises its entire income for the promotion of its main mission, which is the objective provision of...

      )
      - Melina Karageorgiou (RIK 1
      Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation
      The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation ) or CyBC is Cyprus's public broadcasting service, transmitting island-wide on four radio and two television channels. CyBC is a non-profit organization that utilises its entire income for the promotion of its main mission, which is the objective provision of...

      )
      All Jan Rejžek
      - -
      All Nikolaj Molbech (DR1
      DR1
      DR1 is a Danish national television channel, produced by the public service broadcaster, DR. It was the first television station to be established in Denmark, and began broadcasting in 1951 – at first only for an hour a day three times a week....

      )
      Semi-finals & Final Marko Reikop
      Final Olav Osolin
      All Jaana Pelkonen
      Jaana Pelkonen
      Jaana Pelkonen is a Finnish member of parliament and former television hostess.-Career:Pelkonen's media career started as a radio presenter for Radio 99 in Lahti in 1995–1997. She became famous in Finland as the host of the video gaming show Tilt in 1997–2005 and the youth program Jyrki in 1998...

       (Finnish, YLE TV1
      YLE TV1
      YLE TV1 is a Finnish television channel owned and operated by Finnish public broadcaster Yleisradio. It is the first and oldest Television channel in Finland. More than 70% of channel's programs are documentaries, news or educative programmes...

      )
      Mikko Peltola (Finnish, YLE TV1
      YLE TV1
      YLE TV1 is a Finnish television channel owned and operated by Finnish public broadcaster Yleisradio. It is the first and oldest Television channel in Finland. More than 70% of channel's programs are documentaries, news or educative programmes...

      )
      Asko Murtomäki (Finnish, YLE TV1
      YLE TV1
      YLE TV1 is a Finnish television channel owned and operated by Finnish public broadcaster Yleisradio. It is the first and oldest Television channel in Finland. More than 70% of channel's programs are documentaries, news or educative programmes...

      )
      Tobias Larsson (Swedish, YLE FST5)
      SF2 Peggy Olmi
      Yann Renoard
      Final Julien Courbet (France 3
      France 3
      France 3 is the second largest French public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5, and France Ô....

      )
      Cyril Hanouna
      Cyril Hanouna
      Cyril Valery Hanouna is a French Radio and television presenter, writer, author, columnist, producer and occasional actor and comedian of Tunisian origins....

       (France 3
      France 3
      France 3 is the second largest French public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5, and France Ô....

      )
      François Kevorkian
      François Kevorkian
      François Kevorkian, alias François K, is a French DJ of Armenian origin, remixer, producer and record label owner. Having started his career in renowned clubs such as the Paradise Garage and Studio 54, the New York City resident is widely considered as one of the forefathers of house...

       (France Bleu
      France Bleu
      France Bleu is a network of 43 local and regional radio stations in France. National programming from Paris is relayed by local and regional stations supplemented with local news and content. It is part of the public broadcaster Radio France...

      )
      All Tim Frühling
      Tim Frühling
      Tim Frühling is a German disc jockey and Radio personality for Hessischer Rundfunk.Between 1998 and 2003 hr XXL before working for You FM and between the years of 2000 and 2003 and from 2005 and 2008 Frühling was news broadcaster for the breakfast show...

       (Das Erste
      Das Erste
      Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen , marketed as Das Erste , is the principal publicly owned television channel in Germany...

      )
      Final Ina Müller (NDR Radio 2
      Norddeutscher Rundfunk
      Norddeutscher Rundfunk is a public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR transmits for the German states of Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein...

      )
      Thomas Mohr (NDR Radio 2
      Norddeutscher Rundfunk
      Norddeutscher Rundfunk is a public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR transmits for the German states of Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein...

      )
      All Maggira Sisters
      Maggira Sisters
      Betty and Mathildi Maggira also known as "The Maggira sisters" are two Greek television presenters, and a comedy act. They are known for hosting the Greek Eurovision Song Contest selections and also being the commentators at the Eurovision Song Contest for ERT, the Greek network broadcasting the...

       (NET
      New Hellenic Television
      New Hellenic Television , branded as NET, is the second television network of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation , the public broadcaster of Greece. It is mainly a news and information channel that broadcasts daily newscasts with national and international news, documentaries, talkshows, current...

      )
      All Gábor Gundel-Takács
      All Sigmar Guðmundsson (Sjónvarpið)
      - -
      All Marty Whelan
      Marty Whelan
      Martin 'Marty' Whelan is a Jacob's Award-winning Irish radio and television personality currently working for Raidió Teilifís Éireann. Frequently seen and heard on RTÉ radio and television, he has presented a variety of shows...

       (RTÉ One
      RTÉ One
      RTÉ One is the flagship television channel of Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and it is the most popular and most watched television channel in Ireland. It was launched as Telefís Éireann on 31 December 1961, it was renamed RTÉ Television in 1966, and it was renamed as RTÉ One upon the launch of RTÉ...

      )
      All Maxi
      Maxi (singer)
      Maxi is an Irish radio disc-jockey and producer; actor, journalist, and singer. Her real name is Irene McCoubrey. She was nicknamed Maxi in school because of the McC letters in her name. She came to fame as part of the popular girl band, Maxi, Dick and Twink, in Ireland in the late 1960s.She...

       (RTÉ Radio 1
      RTÉ Radio 1
      RTÉ Radio 1 is the principal radio channel of Irish public-service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926...

      )
      - -
      - -
      All Kārlis Streips
      All Darius Užkuraitis
      - Karolina Petkovska
      - Aleksandra Jovanovska
      All Valerie Vella
      - -
      - -
      - Dražen Bauković (TVCG2
      RTCG
      Radio Television of Montenegro is the public broadcasting organization of Montenegro...

      )
      - Tamara Ivanković (TVCG2
      RTCG
      Radio Television of Montenegro is the public broadcasting organization of Montenegro...

      )
      All Cornald Maas
      Cornald Maas
      Cornald Maas is a Dutch television presenter who has been known for presenting talk shows in the Netherlands. He is the brother of Frans Maas-Early career:...

       (Nederland 1
      Nederland 1
      Nederland 1 is the first national television station in the Netherlands, it was launched on 2 October 1951. It provides public broadcasting and currently exists next to sister channels Nederland 2 and 3. The several broadcasting organisations of the Publieke Omroep deliver programmes. A wide...

      )
      All Synnøve Svabø
      Synnøve Svabø
      Synnøve Svabø is a Norwegian talk show host. Svabø is best known for her 1997 boob stunt on Thorbjørn Jagland who was then the Prime Minister of Norway...

       (NRK1
      NRK1
      NRK1 is the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation's main television channel. Test broadcasts started on 12 January 1954, regular test broadcasts started on 13 April 1958 and regular broadcasts started in 20 August 1960. It is Norway's oldest and largest television channel...

      )
      SF2 & Final Artur Orzech (TVP1)
      All Hélder Reis
      Hélder Reis
      Hélder Reis is a Portuguese fencer. He competed in the team épée event at the 1968 Summer Olympics.-References:...

       (RTP1)
      All Ioana Isopescu (TVR1)
      Alexandru Nagy (TVR1)
      All Yana Churikova
      Yana Churikova
      Yana Churikova is a Russian journalist and television host who worked on MTV Russia before moving to Channel One, where she hosted seven seasons of the Star Factory show. She has also gained publicity across Europe and the world for presenting the results of the Russian televote at the Eurovision...

       (Channel One
      Channel One (Russia)
      Channel One is the first television channel to broadcast in the Soviet Union. The channel was renamed Ostankino Channel 1 in 1991, after the Soviet Union broke up and the Russian SFSR became the Russian Federation. According to a recent government publication, the Russian government controls 51%...

      )
      Semi-Finals Alexey Manuylov (Channel One
      Channel One (Russia)
      Channel One is the first television channel to broadcast in the Soviet Union. The channel was renamed Ostankino Channel 1 in 1991, after the Soviet Union broke up and the Russian SFSR became the Russian Federation. According to a recent government publication, the Russian government controls 51%...

      )
      Final Philipp Kirkorov
      Philipp Kirkorov
      Philipp Bedrosovich Kirkorov is a Bulgarian-born Russian singer and producer living and working in Moscow.-Biography:Philipp Kirkorov was born on April 30, 1967 in Varna, Bulgaria. His father is Bulgarian singer of Armenian and Belarusian ethnicity Bedros Kirkorov. His mother, Victoria, is...

       (Channel One
      Channel One (Russia)
      Channel One is the first television channel to broadcast in the Soviet Union. The channel was renamed Ostankino Channel 1 in 1991, after the Soviet Union broke up and the Russian SFSR became the Russian Federation. According to a recent government publication, the Russian government controls 51%...

      )
      SF1 -
      SF2 & Final Duška Vučinić - Lučić (RTS1)
      All Roman Bomboš (Dvojka
      Dvojka
      Dvojka is a Slovak television channel owned and operated by Slovenská televízia....

      )
      All Andrej Hofer
      SF2 & Final Joaquín Guzmán (La 1)
      SF1 Arash (guest) (SVT1
      SVT1
      SVT1 is the primary television station of the Swedish public service broadcaster Sveriges Television in Sweden.-History:The channel began broadcasting in 1956 and was known as Radiotjänst TV, A year later, it was renamed Sveriges Radio TV. In 1969, the second television station TV2 was launched and...

      )
      All Shirley Clamp
      Shirley Clamp
      Shirley Natasja Clamp, is a Swedish pop singer. Because her mother is Swedish and her father is British, Shirley has dual nationality...

       (SVT1
      SVT1
      SVT1 is the primary television station of the Swedish public service broadcaster Sveriges Television in Sweden.-History:The channel began broadcasting in 1956 and was known as Radiotjänst TV, A year later, it was renamed Sveriges Radio TV. In 1969, the second television station TV2 was launched and...

      )
      Edward af Sillén
      Edward af Sillén
      Edward af Sillén was born in 1982 and works as a comedywriter, screenwriter and director.For Swedish Television SVT he did the commentary for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, Eurovision Song Contest 2010 and again for Eurovision Song Contest 2011....

       (SVT1
      SVT1
      SVT1 is the primary television station of the Swedish public service broadcaster Sveriges Television in Sweden.-History:The channel began broadcasting in 1956 and was known as Radiotjänst TV, A year later, it was renamed Sveriges Radio TV. In 1969, the second television station TV2 was launched and...

      )
      German Sven Epiney (SF zwei)
      French Jean-Marc Richard & Nicolas Tanner (TSR 2
      TSR 2
      TSR 2 is a Swiss public television channel owned by Télévision Suisse Romande, launched on 1 September 1997, showing documentary, culture and sport programmes...

      )
      Italian Sandy Altermatt (RSI La 2)
      All Bülend Özveren
      Bülend Özveren
      Bülend Özveren is a Turkish television presenter and sport speaker. He completed his secondary education from Lycée Saint-Benoît and higher education from Galatasaray High School. He graduated from Istanbul University, faculty of Law. He started to work at TRT on 31 July 1965. For a long time he...

       (TRT 1
      TRT 1
      TRT 1 is the first Turkish national television station. It launched on January 31 , 1968.-Introduction:TRT 1, the first television channel in Turkey, started their test transmissions on January 31, 1968, and commenced full national broadcasts in December 1971. It was the only channel in Turkey...

      )
      All Tymur Miroshnychenko (First National TV Channel)
      SF2 & Final Pavlo Shylko (National Radio
      Radio Ukraine
      The National Radio Company of Ukraine is the publicly-funded radio broadcaster in Ukraine.- Current broadcasting :The National Radio Company of Ukraine broadcasts 97.5 hours daily on its three home channels and "Radio Ukraine International"...

      )
      Semi-Finals Paddy O'Connell
      Paddy O'Connell
      Guy Patrick Bennett O'Connell , known as Paddy O'Connell, is an English television and radio presenter, working mainly for the BBC....

       (BBC Three
      BBC Three
      BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...

      )
      Sarah Cawood
      Sarah Cawood
      Sarah Cawood is an English television presenter.-Career:Cawood grew up in the Cambridgeshire village of Maxey and was educated at Stamford High School, Lincolnshire near Peterborough, United Kingdom. She also attended the Royal Ballet School and Arts Educational Schools London.Between 1995 and...

       (BBC Three
      BBC Three
      BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...

      )
      Final Graham Norton
      Graham Norton
      Graham William Walker, known by his stage name Graham Norton , is an Irish actor, comedian, television presenter and columnist...

       (BBC One
      BBC One
      BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

      )
      Ken Bruce
      Ken Bruce
      Kenneth Robertson Bruce is a British broadcaster known for his programme on BBC Radio 2, which is broadcast on weekdays from 9:30am until 12 noon.-Early life and career:...

       (BBC Radio 2
      BBC Radio 2
      BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...

      )

      Commentators for non-participating countries

      The commentators of the non-participating countries are:
      Country SF1/SF2/Final Commentator(s)
        Australia All Julia Zemiro
      Julia Zemiro
      Julia Zemiro is an Australian television presenter, radio host, actor, singer and comedian.- Early life :...

      Sam Pang
      Sam Pang
      Sam Pang is a Chinese Australian radio and television host, writer and producer.-Career:A former Collingwood Football Club under 19s member, Pang turned to radio hosting at an age of 18 at the urging of his friends to do so. He co-hosted Triple R's Breakfasters program for 5 years.He then began...

        New Zealand -
      -

      Spokespersons

      - Leon Menkshi
      Leon Menkshi
      Leon Menkshi is a famous Albanian TV personality. Leon is a professional Journalist and one of Albania's outstanding and charming news anchors; he is also known as a radio host and interviewer...

       - Brigits - Sirusho
      Sirusho
      Siranush Harutyunyan , known simply as Sirusho , is an Armenian pop singer. She began her music career singing live in Canada, in the Armenian diaspora music scene, when she was seven years old and, at the age of nine, she received an Armenian Music Award for her song "Lusabats"...

       - Hüsniyyə Məhərrəmova - Ekaterina Litvinova - Maureen Louys - Laka
      Elvir Lakovic Laka
      Elvir Laković, also known as Laka, is a Bosnian rock singer-songwriter, born in Goražde, Bosnia and Herzegovina.He attended music school there studying guitar, but he disliked the school's teaching methods and views towards music, and then subsequently quit the school...

       - Yoanna Dragneva - Mila Horvat
      Mila Horvat
      Mila Horvat is a Croatian TV host who appears on Croatian Radiotelevision .Horvat was born in Hum na Sutli, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia, and studied journalism at the University of Zagreb's Croatian Studies...

       - Sophia Paraskeva - Petra Šubrtová - Felix Smith - Laura Põldvere
      Laura Põldvere
      Laura Põldvere also known as Laura is an Estonian singer perhaps mostly known for representing Estonia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 as part of the girl group Suntribe.- Career :...

       - Jari Sillanpää
      Jari Sillanpää
      Jari Sillanpää a Finnish singer. With over 820,000 records sold, he is the fourth-best-selling music artist and best-selling solo artist in Finland....



      - Yann Renoard - Thomas Anders
      Thomas Anders
      Thomas Anders is a German singer, composer and record producer. Anders was the lead singer of Germany's popular pop-duo Modern Talking in 1984–1987 and in 1998–2003.-Early years:...

       - Alexis Kostalas - Éva Novodomszky
      Éva Novodomszky
      Éva Novodomszky is a Hungarian journalist and presenter.She started her career in a journalist school . She became reporter of news of youth in Magyar Televízió. Later she worked for Parlamenti Napló, EuroPercek, Szabadság tér and Híradó. She has been the presenter of Híradó since 2000...

       - Þóra Tómasdóttir - Derek Mooney
      Derek Mooney
      Derek James Mooney is an Irish radio and television presenter, as well as a radio producer. He currently presents a weekday afternoon programme called Mooney on RTÉ Radio 1....

       - Ofer Nachshon - Roberto Meloni
      Roberto Meloni
      Roberto Meloni is an Italian judoka. Height 1.79m, weight 90kg-Achievements:-References:* on JudoInside.com...

       - Ignas Krupavičius - Frosina Josifovska - Pauline Agius - Andrei Porubin - Jovana Vukčević - Yolanthe Cabau van Kasbergen
      Yolanthe Cabau van Kasbergen
      -Early life:Sneijder-Cabau was born on the Spanish island of Ibiza. Her father, Xavier Cabau , was Spanish, while her mother, Richarda "Rici" van Kasbergen, is Dutch. Xavier Cabau was a wealthy entrepreneur known as the "King of Ibiza", who owned several discothèques, restaurants, and bars...



      - Stian Barsnes Simonsen
      Stian Barsnes Simonsen
      Stian Barsnes Simonsen is a Norwegian actor and television host of Amigo, Midt i smørøyet and Melodi Grand Prix.- As host :*De ukjente *Gullruten...

       - Radek Brzózka - Helena Coelho - Alina Sorescu - Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė
      Ingeborga Dapkunaite
      Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė is a Lithuanian actress, who stars mostly in Russian movies.-Youth:Ingeborga Dapkunaite was born in Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR. Her father was a diplomat and her mother a meteorologist. For many years her parents worked in Moscow, and she only saw them on holidays...

       - Jovana Janković
      Jovana Jankovic
      Jovana Janković is a Serbian television personality. In May 2008, together with Željko Joksimović, she was the host of the 53rd edition of Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade.-Career:Janković started her early television career at the age of 19 while attending university...

       - Ľubomír Bajaník - Peter Poles
      Peter Poles
      Peter Poles is a Slovenian television personality, responsible for presenting the Slovenian televote results in various editions of Eurovision Song Contest. Poles first filled this role in 2003, returning in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009...

       - Iñaki del Moral - Sarah Dawn Finer
      Sarah Dawn Finer
      Sarah Dawn Finer, born 14 September 1981 in Stockholm, Sweden, is a singer, songwriter and actress. Sarah Dawn Finer has Russian and American heritage. Her grandparents emigrated from Russia to America, and her mother is American.-Career:...

       - Cécile Bähler - Meltem Ersan Yazgan - Marysya Horobets - Duncan James
      Duncan James
      Duncan Matthew James Inglis is an English singer, actor and television presenter. He is best known as a member of the boyband Blue.-Early life:...



      Broadcasting

       Australia: Although Australia is not eligible to enter, the contest was broadcast on Special Broadcasting Service
      Special Broadcasting Service
      The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...

       (SBS) as in previous years. The first semi-final was broadcast on Friday 15 May 2009, the second semi-final on Saturday 16 May 2009, and the final on Sunday 17 May 2009, with all shows broadcast at 19:30 local time (09:30 UTC). This year, instead of airing the United Kingdom
      United Kingdom
      The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

      's commentary, the broadcaster sent its own commentators, Julia Zemiro
      Julia Zemiro
      Julia Zemiro is an Australian television presenter, radio host, actor, singer and comedian.- Early life :...

       and Sam Pang
      Sam Pang
      Sam Pang is a Chinese Australian radio and television host, writer and producer.-Career:A former Collingwood Football Club under 19s member, Pang turned to radio hosting at an age of 18 at the urging of his friends to do so. He co-hosted Triple R's Breakfasters program for 5 years.He then began...

      . They also anchored a number of behind the scenes and interview pieces, which were inserted during assigned the various broadcasts. In recent years the contest has been one of SBS's highest-rating programmes in terms of viewer numbers. The contest rated well for SBS with 482,000 viewers tuning in for the final, with 414,000 for the second semi-final and 276,000 for the first semi-final.
      SBS also broadcast the Junior Eurovision
      Junior Eurovision Song Contest
      The Junior Eurovision Song Contest , is an international song competition which has been organised by the European Broadcasting Union annually since 2003 and is open exclusively to broadcasters that are members of the EBU. It is held in a different European city each year.The competition has many...

       and Eurovision Dance Contest
      Eurovision Dance Contest
      The Eurovision Dance Contest was an international dancing competition that was held for the first time in the United Kingdom on Saturday 1 September 2007....

      s for 2008 in the lead-up to the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. The Eurovision Dance Contest 2008
      Eurovision Dance Contest 2008
      The Eurovision Dance Contest 2008 was the second Eurovision Dance Contest and was held in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, hosted by BBC Scotland on 6 September.The winner of contest was Poland who achieved a score of 154 points...

       was broadcast on SBS on Wednesday 6 May 2009 at 13:00 local time (03:00 UTC), while the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008
      Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008
      The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the sixth Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which is the world's largest song contest for children. It was held at the "Spyros Kyprianou" Athletic Centre in Lemesos, Cyprus and hosted by Alex Michael and Sophia Paraskeva. It was won by the Georgian trio...

       was broadcast on Wednesday 13 May at 13:00 local time (03:00 UTC). SBS also broadcast the EBU produced Eurovision Countdown shows on 13, 14 and 15 May 2009 at 17:30 local time (07:30 UTC) before the semi-finals and final.


       Austria: Österreichischer Rundfunk
      ORF (broadcaster)
      Österreichischer Rundfunk, ORF, is the Austrian national public service broadcaster.Funded from a combination of a television licence fees and revenue from limited on-air advertising, ORF is the dominant player in the Austrian broadcast media...

       (ORF) confirmed that, despite having no Austrian entry in the competition, they would broadcast the Contest on television. Both semi-finals were broadcast on ORF on a time delay, beginning past midnight CET. A song presentation show was broadcast on the night of the final, before broadcasting live the voting in the final. The entire Eurovision final was broadcast later that night. In all three shows the commentator was Hitradio Ö3
      Hitradio Ö3
      Hitradio Ö3 is one of the national radio stations of Austria's state-run broadcaster ORF.The station focuses on contemporary music. Until 1995 its schedules included many specialist music shows, but following a reorganization of ORF's channels shortly before the introduction in Austria of private...

       radio presenter Benny Hörtnagl.

       New Zealand: Although New Zealand was not eligible to enter, the final of the contest was broadcast on Triangle TV
      Triangle TV
      Triangle Television and Stratos Television are public service television stations based in Auckland, New Zealand. Triangle broadcasts across Auckland on analogue UHF, while Stratos broadcasts around New Zealand on the Freeview, Sky TV and TelstraClear cable digital platforms...

      's satellite channel STRATOS on 17 May 2009. They also did a compilation of the two 2008 semi-finals on 3 May 2009 and the Eurovision Song Contest 2008
      Eurovision Song Contest 2008
      The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Contest. It was hosted in Belgrade, Serbia after Marija Šerifović won the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, Finland. This year was the first contest to have two semi-finals which were held on 20 and 22 May, and the final held on 24 May 2008...

       final on 10 May 2009. This was the first time in 30 years that the contest has been broadcast in New Zealand. The 2009 final was broadcast in local prime time, about 10 hours after the show has finished in Moscow.

      Worldwide : A commentated live broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest was available worldwide via satellite by broadcaster streams such as
      •  Belgium: BVN
        BVN
        BVN which is the abbreviation of Het beste van Vlaanderen en Nederland is a satellite and cable television channel – a joint venture by Radio Netherlands Worldwide , the Flemish and Dutch public broadcasting organizations Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep and Nederlandse Publieke Omroep ...

      •  Kingdom of Bulgaria: BNT Sat
        BNT Sat
        BNT World is Bulgaria's international television channel owned and operated by the Bulgarian National Television.-Programming:* Team 5 * 13+* Bulgaria Today * Viewer's hour * Women ...

      •  Independent State of Croatia: HRT Sat
        Croatian Radiotelevision
        Croatian Radiotelevision is a Croatian public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite...

      •  Cyprus: RIK Sat
        Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation
        The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation ) or CyBC is Cyprus's public broadcasting service, transmitting island-wide on four radio and two television channels. CyBC is a non-profit organization that utilises its entire income for the promotion of its main mission, which is the objective provision of...

      •  Greece: ERT World
      •  Lithuania: LTV World
        LTV World
        LTV World is a third Lithuanian public television channel, operated by LTV. The channel broadcast 24 hours and is a mix of original programming from LTV and LTV2.-Launch and reach:...

      •  Republic of Macedonia: MKTV Sat
        MKTV Sat
        MKTV Sat is the name of Macedonian Radio-Television's satellite service created in 2000 to telecast to the Macedonian diaspora across the world. Its programming istaken from MTV. MKTV SAT is available in Australia and New Zealand. It is currently broadcasted through UBI World TV.-External links:*...

      •  Kingdom of Montenegro: TVCG Sat
        RTCG
        Radio Television of Montenegro is the public broadcasting organization of Montenegro...

      •  Netherlands: BVN
        BVN
        BVN which is the abbreviation of Het beste van Vlaanderen en Nederland is a satellite and cable television channel – a joint venture by Radio Netherlands Worldwide , the Flemish and Dutch public broadcasting organizations Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep and Nederlandse Publieke Omroep ...

      •  Poland: TVP Polonia
        TVP Polonia
        TVP Polonia is the international channel of the Telewizja Polska . The channel is co-funded by the TVP and the Polish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and broadcasts from the TVP headquarters in Warsaw...

      •  Portugal: RTP Internacional
        RTP Internacional
        RTP Internacional is the international television service of Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, the Portuguese public broadcaster...

      •  Kingdom of Romania: TVR International
      •  Serbia: RTS Sat
        Radio Television of Serbia
        Radio Television of Serbia or Serbian Broadcasting Corporation is the public broadcaster in Serbia. It broadcasts and produces a variety of news, drama, and sports programming through radio, television and the Internet. RTS is, since July 2001, a member of the European Broadcasting Union. RTS is...

      •  Spain: TVE Internacional
        TVE Internacional
        TVE Internacional is an internationally-broadcast Spanish language channel run by Spain's national broadcaster, TVE. Programming includes a mix of news, discussion-based programmes and drama and documentaries from TVE's La 1 and La 2 Spanish networks. It was launched in 1989...


      Additionally, the official Eurovision Song Contest website also provided a live stream without commentary via the peer-to-peer medium Octoshape
      Octoshape
      Octoshape is a proprietary streaming media platform. It uses throughput optimization technology to deliver HD quality streams and to break through congestion in the last mile to provide more resilient delivery...

      .

      Controversies and incidents

      The 2009 contest experienced several controversies and incidents during its lead-up, including the interpretation of over Georgia's entry as an attack against the Russian prime minister, conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan stemming from the inclusion of a monument in a disputed region to represent Armenia in a video introduction, Spain's broadcaster showing a semi-final on tape delay after a scheduling conflict, and protests over Russia's treatment of LGBT
      LGBT
      LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

       people to coincide with the contest.

      Armenia and Azerbaijan

      Armenia
      Armenia
      Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

       and Azerbaijan
      Azerbaijan
      Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

       experienced several conflicts during the 2009 contest.

      After the first semi-final, representatives for Azerbaijan complained to the EBU over the introductory "postcard" preceding the Armenian entry, since the video clip had included a depiction of We Are Our Mountains
      We Are Our Mountains
      "We Are Our Mountains" is a large Armenian monument north of Stepanakert, the capital city of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.The sculpture, completed in 1967 by Sargis Baghdasaryan, is widely regarded as a symbol of Nagorno-Karabakh...

      , a monumental statue located in the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh
      Nagorno-Karabakh
      Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...

       republic, which is considered to be a de jure
      De jure
      De jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact".De jure = 'Legally', De facto = 'In fact'....

      part of Azerbaijan. As a result of the complaint, the statue was edited out during the finals. However, Armenia retaliated during the results presentations by having the monument displayed on a video screen in the background, and having presenter Sirusho
      Sirusho
      Siranush Harutyunyan , known simply as Sirusho , is an Armenian pop singer. She began her music career singing live in Canada, in the Armenian diaspora music scene, when she was seven years old and, at the age of nine, she received an Armenian Music Award for her song "Lusabats"...

       read the results from a clipboard
      Clipboard
      A clipboard is a thin, rigid board with a clip at the top for holding paper in place. A clipboard is typically used to support paper with one hand while writing on it with the other, especially when other writing surfaces are not available.-Other uses:...

       decorated with a photo of the monument.

      There were also allegations that no number had been shown for the public to call and vote for Armenia's entry during the telecast in Azerbaijan. Representatives denied these allegations by showing a video that showed an untampered signal during the Armenian performance. However, a subsequent EBU investigation found that the Azerbaijani broadcaster, Ictimai TV, had blurred out the number for Armenia's entry and distorted the TV signal when the Armenian contestants were performing on stage. The EBU fined Ictimai TV an undisclosed sum and is said to have threatened to exclude the broadcaster from the competition for up to three years if further infractions of the Eurovision Song Contest rules are made.

      In August 2009, a number of Azerbaijanis
      Azerbaijani people
      The Azerbaijanis are a Turkic-speaking people living mainly in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as in the neighbourhood states, Georgia, Russia and formerly Armenia. Commonly referred to as Azeris or Azerbaijani Turks , they also live in a wider area from the Caucasus to...

       who had voted for Armenia's entry during the 2009 Contest were summoned for questioning at the Ministry of National Security
      Ministry of National Security of Azerbaijan
      The Azerbaijan Ministry of National Security is an intelligence agency of the Azerbaijan government...

       in Baku
      Baku
      Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...

      , during which they were accused of being "unpatriotic" and "a potential security threat". This incident initiated an EBU investigation that resulted in a change to the Eurovision rules to allow a country's participating broadcaster to be liable "for any disclosure of information which could be used to identify voters".

      Broadcast delays in Spain


    2. Due to its commitments to broadcast the Madrid Open tennis tournament
      2009 Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open
      The 2009 Madrid Masters is a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It is the 8th edition of the event on the ATP and 1st on the WTA. It is classified as an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the 2009 ATP World Tour and a Premier Mandatory event on the 2009 WTA Tour...

      , Spanish
      Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
      Spain debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961, finishing 9th. Since 1999, Spain is one of the "Big Five" and therefore automatically allowed to participate in the final because they are the five biggest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union.Spain has won the contest...

       broadcaster Televisión Española
      Televisión Española
      Televisión Española is the national state-owned public-service television broadcaster in Spain. TVE's activities were previously financed by a combination of advertising revenue and subsidies from the national government, but since it's been supported by subsidies only.TVE belongs to the RTVE...

       (TVE) broadcast the second semifinal on a tape delay
      Broadcast delay
      In radio and television, broadcast delay refers to the practice of intentionally delaying broadcast of live material. A short delay is often used to prevent profanity, bloopers, violence, or other undesirable material from making it to air, including more mundane problems such as technical...

       on its channel La 2, approximately 66 minutes after the show began in Moscow. As a result of the tape delay, the broadcaster also utilized a backup jury rather than televoting to decide its votes. TVE had already switched to voting in the second semi-final due to another scheduling conflict, which had already sparked criticism from the neighboring Andorran and Portuguese delegations, who stated that a Spanish vote would have positively influenced their performance in the first semifinal.

      On the day following the semifinal, local newspaper El Mundo
      El Mundo (Spain)
      El Mundo is the second largest printed and the largest digital daily newspaper in Spain and one of the newspapers of record in that country, with a daily circulation topping 300,000 readers for the printed edition and 24 million unique web visitors per month for the...

       speculated that RTVE
      RTVE
      The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española, S.A. or Corporación Radiotelevisión Española is the state-owned public corporation that assumed the indirect management of the Spanish public radio and television service from Ente Público Radiotelevisión Española in 2007...

       may had administered the delay on purpose in order to prevent Spain from winning the contest, claiming that the broadcaster would not be ready to host the contest if Spain were to win. A statement in ABC had cited technical difficulties for the delay.

      After the semi-finals, the EBU announced that Spain would face sanctions for their actions in the contest, but also stated that their participation in the 2010 contest in Moscow would not be affected. The Spanish entry, "La noche es para mí
      La noche es para mí
      "La noche es para mí" is a song by Spanish singer Soraya and was the Spanish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia. It was released on 12 January 2009 in Spain as the second single from Soraya's fourth studio album Sin Miedo...

      ", would not fare well in the contest itself, finishing in 24 place during the finals.

      Georgia: "We Don't Wanna Put In"

      After being placed to compete in the first semi-final on 12 May, a national final was held in Georgia to select its entry. The selected entry, Stefane & 3G with "We Don't Wanna Put In
      We Don't Wanna Put In
      "We Don't Wanna Put In" is a 2009 song by Stephane & 3G and was to have been the Georgian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 held in Moscow, composed by Stefane Mgebrishvili and written by Bibi Kvachadze....

      " gained coverage and controversy due to perceived political connotations within its lyrics relating to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
      Vladimir Putin
      Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...

      . The EBU rejected the song due to these political connotations, calling it a clear breach of the contest's rules. The EBU then asked the Georgian broadcaster Georgian Public Broadcasting
      Georgian Public Broadcasting
      Georgian Public Broadcasting is the national public broadcaster of Georgia. It started broadcasting radio in 1925, and Georgian TV started broadcasting in 1956. Today, 85% of the Georgian population receive the First Channel , and 55% receive the Second Channel...

       (GPB) on 10 March to change either the lyrics of the song, or to select a new song to compete for the country. GPB refused to change the lyrics or the song, claiming that the song contained no political references, and that the rejection by the EBU was due to political pressure from Russia. As such, GPB withdrew Georgia from the contest on 11 March. The EBU never made a comment on the country's withdrawal. On 11 May the band admitted the political content of the song and their intention was just to embarrass Putin in Moscow. As a result of refusing to change the song lyrics and decision to withdraw the song developed in an idea to start an AlterVision Open Air Song Contest. First Open Air AlterVision Song Contest was held in Tbilisi (Georgia) on May 15-17, 2009.

      LGBT protests

      Russian gay rights activist Nikolai Alekseev
      Nikolai Alekseev
      Nikolay Alexandrovich Alexeyev, also written in English as Alekseyev, Alekseev and Alexeev born on December 23, 1977 in Moscow) is a Russian LGBT rights activist, lawyer and journalist....

       used the Contest's presence in Russia as a platform for promoting the country's position on the rights of LGBT people
      LGBT
      LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

      , countering Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov's view that homosexuality
      Homosexuality
      Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...

       is "satan
      Satan
      Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...

      ic". Alekseev announced that the 2009 edition of Moscow Pride
      Moscow Pride
      Moscow Pride is a demonstration of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered persons . It was intended to take place in May annually since 2006 in the Russian capital Moscow, but has been regularly banned by Moscow City Hall, headed by Mayor Yuri Luzhkov until 2010...

      , the city's annual gay pride parade
      Gay pride parade
      Pride parades for the LGBT community are events celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender culture. The events also at times serve as demonstrations for legal rights such as same-sex marriage...

      , would coincide with the finals on 16 May, the day before the International Day Against Homophobia
      International Day Against Homophobia
      The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia is celebrated every May 17.It is coordinated by the Paris based "IDAHO Committee" founded and presided by French academics, Louis-Georges Tin...

      . The parade was also renamed "Slavic Pride", to promote gay rights and culture across the entire Slavic region of Europe. The parade was denied authorisation by Moscow officials on the basis that it would "destroy morals in society" and statements were issued stating that protesters would be treated "toughly", and that "tough measures" would be faced by anyone joining the march.

      The rally was broken up by Moscow police, and 20 protesters were arrested including Nikolai Alekseev and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell
      Peter Tatchell
      Peter Gary Tatchell is an Australian-born British political campaigner best known for his work with LGBT social movements...

      , who exclaimed that "this shows the Russian people are not free" as he was taken away by police. Sweden's representative Malena Ernman
      Malena Ernman
      Sara Magdalena "Malena" Ernman is a Swedish opera singer . Ernman is a versatile artist in her field, who outside the world of opera and operettas also has performed chansons, cabaret, jazz, appeared in musicals and she is a performer who's declared that she's very much attracted to the attributes...

       supported the cause saying that she is not homosexual herself but would be proud to call herself gay to support her fans, stating that she was sad that the Moscow government would not allow a "tribute to love" to occur. The winner of the contest, Norway's Alexander Rybak
      Alexander Rybak
      Alexander Igoryevich Rybak or in Belarusian Alyaksandr Igaravich Rybak , born 13 May 1986 in Byelorussian SSR is a Norwegian singer-composer, violinist, pianist, writer, and actor...

      , also referred to the controversy in an interview when he called the Eurovision Song Contest itself the "biggest gay parade".

      The Dutch
      Dutch people
      The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...

       group De Toppers
      De Toppers
      - History :The group was formed in 2005 by Dutch singers Gordon, René Froger and Gerard Joling. In 2008, Joling was replaced by Jeroen van der Boom....

       made news by member Gordon threatening to boycott the final of Eurovision 2009 if the gay parade was violently beaten down. However, the group's failure to qualify for the final left this threat redundant.

      External links


      The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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