Slovakia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Slovakia

Member station

RTVS

National selection events
Appearances
Appearances 7 (3 finals)
First appearance 1994
Last appearance 2012
Best result 18th: 1996
Worst result Last: 2012 SF
External links
Slovakia's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see
Slovakia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012

Slovakia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest seven times, debuting in 1994. It had attempted to debut in 1993, but did not pass through the qualifying round. In the first three finals that Slovakia participated in, it placed no better than 18th, which it achieved in 1996. Because of its poor results, it was forced to miss a year after each contest and then the country opted not to return for a number of years. It did eventually return to the Contest eleven years later, in 2009.

History

1994–1998

Slovakia had planned on entering the contest at the 1993 contest, but with the introduction of many new countries, a preliminary round was held to trim down the number of new entries. Kvalifikacija za Millstreet featured seven countries competing for only three places in the final. Slovakia came fourth in the contest, represented by Elán with "Amnestia na neveru", and therefore had to wait another year before entering again.

Slovakia's Eurovision entries in the 1990s weren't very successful, finishing 19th (1994), 18th (1996) and 21st (1998). After the 1998 contest, STV decided not to enter again for a number of years.

2009

From 1994 to 1998, STV used an internal selection to select the Slovak entry for the contest. In 2009, Slovakia organised a televised national final for the first time.[1] A number of heats preceded a grand final, held on March 8, 2009 and Kamil Mikulčík and Nela Pocisková were chosen with their song "Leť tmou".[2] They finished on 18th place out of 19 in semi-final.

2010

Slovakia tried again in 2010 contest with "Horehronie" by Kristina with similar result (16th out of 17 places in the Semi Final), despite being the fan and Bookmakers favourite.

2011

Though STV originally stated that Slovakia would not take part in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011, it eventually did appear in Düsseldorf represented by the new national public broadcaster RTVS, which had been created on 1 January 2011.[3][4] On 18 February 2011, RTVS revealed their choice for Slovakia's Eurovision 2011 entry. The song was "I'm Still Alive" and was performed by twin sisters Daniela and Veronika Nízlová better known as the pop duo TWiiNS. Daniela and Veronika Nízlová had some experience at Eurovision before as backing singers and dancers for Tereza Kerndlová, the Czech entry in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. The 2011 entry was the first Slovak entry performed in English. TWiiNS eventually finished 13th in their Semi Final, which meant they did not qualify for the Grand Final. However, they provided the best result for their country in many years.

2012

RTVS sent an artist once again to the Contest in 2012, with a song that was selected internally by RTVS. At a press conference on 7 March 2012, the Slovak entry for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest was announced: Max Jason Mai with a song called "Don't Close Your Eyes".

He performed in the second semi final, that was held on Thursday, May 24, 2012. The song did not qualify in the finals. It was later revealed that the song finished in last place with 22 points.

2013 onwards

On 4 December 2012, RTVS announced its withdrawal from Eurovision Song Contest 2013,[5] and on 9 September 2013 it announced that it wouldn't return at Eurovision Song Contest 2014.[6] It had also been announced that Slovakia would not return at Eurovision Song Contest 2015, citing financial constraints and an incompatibility between the contest and the programming goals of RTVS.[7] However RTVS returned to the Eurovision Young Dancers in 2015, with RTVS explaining that the return of Slovakia to EYD supported domestic production and promoted national culture at a European level. RTVS announced on 28 September 2015 that Slovakia would not participate in the 2016 contest.[8]

RTVS' PR manager, Juraj Kadáš, explained on 12 April 2016 that Slovakia's absence from the contest since 2012 was not due to poor results, but rather the cost associated with participation.[9] On 24 October 2016, RTVS confirmed that they would not return to the contest in 2017.[10]

Contestants

Table key
  Winner
  Second place
  Third place
  Last place
Year Artist Language Title Final Points Semi Points
1993a Elán Slovak "Amnestia na neveru" Failed to qualify 4 50
1994 Tublatanka Slovak "Nekonečná pieseň" 19 15 No semi-finals
1995 Did not participate
1996 Marcel Palonder Slovak "Kým nás máš" 18 19 17 36
1997 Did not participate No semi-finals
1998 Katarína Hasprová Slovak "Modlitba" 21 8
Did not participate between 1999 to 2008
2009 Kamil Mikulčík and Nela Pocisková Slovak "Leť tmou" Failed to qualify 18 8
2010 Kristina Slovak "Horehronie" 16 24
2011 TWiiNS English "I'm Still Alive" 13 48
2012 Max Jason Mai English "Don't Close Your Eyes" 18 22
Did not participate from 2013 to 2017
NOTES:
A. ^ Slovakia unsuccessfully attempted to participate in 1993, when there was a pre-qualifying round for seven countries hoping to make their debut in the contest. The official Eurovision site does not count 1993 in Slovakia's list of appearances.
B. If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition from 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the countries who placed 11th and 12th were advanced to the following year's grand final along with the rest of the top ten countries

Voting history

As of 2012, Slovakia's voting history is as follows:

Most points given in the grand finals only
Rank Country Points
1  Malta 34
2  Estonia 30
3  Croatia 27
4  Sweden 26
5  Ireland 21
Most points received in the grand finals only
Rank Country Points
1  Malta 20
2  Croatia 8
3  Greece 7
4  Poland 5
5  Spain 2
Most points given in the semis and finals
Rank Country Points
1  Estonia 50
2  Sweden 48
3  Norway 47
4  Bosnia and Herzegovina 41
5  Malta 31
Most points received in the semis and finals
Rank Country Points
1  Malta 27
2  Ukraine 14
3  Bosnia and Herzegovina 11
4  Portugal 9
5  Croatia 8

Commentators and spokespersons

Year(s) Commentator Spokesperson
1993 Alena Heribanová Slovakia did not participate
1994 Juraj Čurný
1995 No broadcast Slovakia did not participate
1996 Juraj Čurný Alena Heribanová
1997 Slovakia did not participate
1998 Alena Heribanová
1999–2008 No broadcast Slovakia did not participate
2009 Roman BombošĽubomír Bajaník
2010
2011 Mária Pietrová
2012
2013–2017 No broadcast Slovakia did not participate

Photogallery

References

  1. ↑ Stella, Floras (2008-10-22). "Slovakia: Televoting to select national winner". ESCToday. Retrieved 2008-12-01.
  2. ↑ Stella, Floras (2008-11-20). "Slovakia: National final on 8 March". ESCToday. Retrieved 2008-12-01.
  3. ↑ Dennis Van Eersel. "Three acts shortlisted to represent Slovakia". ESCDaily. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  4. ↑ "43 nations on 2011 participants list!". European Broadcasting Union. 2010-12-31. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
  5. ↑ Jiandani, Sanjay (4 December 2012). "Slovakia will not be in Malmö". ESCToday. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  6. ↑ Jiandani, Sanjay (9 September 2013). "Slovakia: RTVS will not return to Eurovision in 2014". ESCToday. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  7. ↑ Jiandani, Sanjay (26 August 2014). "Slovakia: RTVS will not return to Eurovision in 2015". ESCToday. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  8. ↑ Jiandani, Sanjay (28 September 2015). "Slovakia: RTVS will not participate in Eurovision 2016". esctoday.com. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  9. ↑ "Slovakia: "Eurovision is an attractive Project"". Eurovoix. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  10. ↑ Jiandani, Sanjay (24 October 2016). "Slovakia: RTVS will not participate in Eurovision 2017". ESCToday. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
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