 | ||
Semi-final 1 25 May 2010 (2010-05-25) Semi-final 2 27 May 2010 (2010-05-27) Final 29 May 2010 (2010-05-29) Presenter(s) Erik SolbakkenHaddy N'jieNadia Hasnaoui Director Ole Jørgen GrønlundKim Strømstad | ||
The Eurovision Song Contest 2010 was the 55th annual Eurovision Song Contest, broadcast from the Telenor Arena in Bærum, Greater Oslo, Norway. Norway gained the rights to host the contest after achieving a record breaking victory in Moscow the previous year. It was the third time Norway had hosted the contest, having previously done so in 1986 and 1996. The 2010 winner was Germany with Lena singing "Satellite", written by American Julie Frost and Denmark's John Gordon. It was Germany's first win in twenty-eight years, its second since the Contest's inception, and its first win as a unified country. It was also the first time a "Big Four" country won the contest since the rule's introduction in 2000.
Contents
- Venue
- Visual design
- Postcards
- Presenters
- Voting
- Possible return of the orchestra
- Interval
- Pot allocations
- Participating countries
- Semi final 1
- Semi final 2
- Final
- Voting during the final
- 12 points
- Marcel Bezenon Awards
- OGAE
- Barbara Dex Award
- Incidents
- Commentators
- Broadcasting
- High definition broadcasts
- Notable artists that did not qualify
- Official album
- References
The semi-finals took place on 25 and 27 May 2010 while the final was scheduled for 29 May 2010. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced that the voting system used in the semi-finals would change from previous years to balance jury voting with televoting. A return of accompaniment by orchestra was also proposed, but did not happen.
Thirty-nine countries took part in the contest, with Georgia returning after a one-year hiatus, and Andorra, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Montenegro withdrawing. Lithuania originally announced its withdrawal from the competition, but was later among the 39 participants confirmed by the EBU. A global financial crisis affected how the event was run; several countries elected not to compete due to budget cuts, and host broadcaster NRK sold its broadcast rights for the 2010 FIFA World Cup to TV 2 and Viasat to finance the event.
Venue
150 million Norwegian kroner (€17 million) was originally the venue budget agreed upon by Trond Giske and Hans-Tore Bjerkaas, respectively the Norwegian Minister for Culture and the head of Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). This represents a larger budget than that allotted in the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, but is not as much as the budget in Moscow for 2009. The revised estimated cost for the concert now stands at 211 million kroner (€24 million). At a press conference in Oslo on 27 May 2009, it was announced that the show was to be held in the Oslo metropolitan area. NRK argued that Oslo was the only city with the required capacity, venues, and infrastructure to hold the show. On 3 July 2009, it was decided that the venue would be the newly constructed Telenor Arena, in the municipality of Bærum neighbouring Oslo. The Oslo Spektrum was ruled out to host the contest due to its smaller size and capacity as was Valhall in Oslo and the Hamar Vikingskipet.
Visual design
NRK announced the theme art, slogan and design for the Contest on 4 December 2009, during the Host City Insignia Exchange between the Mayors of Moscow, Oslo and Bærum, marking the official kick-off of the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 season. The theme art, a series of intersecting circles, was selected to "represent gathering people and the diversity of emotions surrounding the Eurovision Song Contest." In addition to the base colour of white, the logo was created in black, gold, and pink. A preview of the stage design was released on 6 May 2010, featuring no LED screens, opting instead for various other lighting techniques.
Postcards
Unlike the 2009 and the 2008 postcards, the 2010 postcards were based in simplicity but also included an innovative idea, they are shown like they could be seen right in the venue, over the crowd's heads.
The basic synopsis of the postcards is a numerous group of little golden balls (the theme of the ESC 2010) forms the shape of each country. Then, they move and form a screen where we can see a pre-recorded video of a little crowd from in a city of the country (usually the capital) about to perform supporting and cheering their act. After that, a few seconds of the performer of the country getting ready in the stage are shown; and then, the balls form the flag of the country supported.
In the part of the shape of the country, there were little discrepancies: some countries' shapes, such as those for Serbia, Israel, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, weren't completely shown, due to territorial or border disputes in those areas.
Presenters
NRK announced the hosts of the contest on 10 March 2010. Those chosen were Erik Solbakken, Haddy Jatou N'jie, and Nadia Hasnaoui. Solbakken and N'jie opened the three shows, introduced the artists, and reported from the green room during the voting, with Hasnaoui presenting the voting section and scoreboard announcements. This was the second time that more than two hosts were presenting the shows, after the 1999 Contest.
Voting
On 11 October 2009 the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced that the format of the semi-finals was to be changed so that the results would be determined by a combination of 50% national jury and 50% televoting, making it more consistent with the final. Each country's votes were determined by combining the jury votes and the televoting results; the countries with the top ten highest points in each semi-final then qualify to participate in the final of the contest. This replaces the semi-final format used in the 2008 and 2009 contests in which the countries with the top nine highest points from the televoting results in each semi-final qualified for the final. The tenth semi-final place was then given to the country with the highest number of points from the jury's votes which had not already qualified for the final from the televoting results. On 26 October 2009 the EBU announced that the voting would be open throughout the competition and would conclude 15 minutes after the end of the very last song.
Possible return of the orchestra
A number of fans began a campaign on social networking site Facebook for the return of an orchestra to the contest in Oslo, for the first time since 1998, with more than 5,000 people joining An orchestra, which had been used since the first contest in 1956, was dropped after the 1998 contest due to rapid developments in music technology, which made backing tracks more useful. Jan Fredrik Heyerdahl of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra said that they were interested in participating in the 2010 Contest if the EBU and NRK approved the return of an orchestra. However, no such change to the contest had been approved.
Interval
The interval act involved a number of live public outdoor dance events from across Europe, which were planned for promotional purposes, but done in the style of a series of spontaneous flashmobs. The outdoor footage was intercut with webcam footage from individual private households. Peter Svaar, Head of Press for the contest on behalf of broadcaster NRK, said: "We want to share the Eurovision Song Contest, rather than just broadcast it." The seven and a half minute long song, called "Glow", was produced and co-written by the Element team and performed and co-written by Madcon.
Pot allocations
On Sunday 7 February 2010, the draw to decide which countries were to appear in either the first or second semi-final took place. The participating countries excluding the automatic finalists (France, Germany, Norway, Spain & the United Kingdom) were split into six pots, based upon how those countries had been voting. From these pots, half (or as close to half as is possible) competed in the first Semi Final on 25 May 2010. The other half in that particular pot will compete in the second Semi Final on 27 May 2010. This draw also doubled up as an approximate running order, in order for the delegations from the countries to know when their rehearsals commenced. The draw also determined in which Semi Final the automatic finalists voted in. The draw for the running order of the semi-finals, finals, and the order of voting, took place on 23 March 2010.
Participating countries
A total of 39 countries confirmed their participation for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, including Georgia, which returned to the contest after its withdrawal in 2009 when its entry, "We Don't Wanna Put In" (by Stephane & 3G), was disallowed owing to political references to the newly elected Russian President Vladimir Putin, which violated contest rules.
The EBU announced that they would work harder to bring back Austria, Italy, and Monaco to the 2010 Contest. In September 2009 the EBU's director Bjørn Erichsen stated during an EBU press conference that "Austria will be back", and that the EBU "has reasons to believe that Luxembourg and Monaco" were also to participate and that "now we are only missing Italy". In late October 2009, the 2010 Contest project manager Jon Ola Sand has stated that "countries such as Monaco and Luxembourg have indicated that they wish to participate in next year's competition in Norway". However, the representatives of broadcasters of Austria, Monaco and Luxembourg denied participation in the 2010 contest. Wolfgang Lorenz, the programme director of the Austrian broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), informed Austria would not take part in the competition stating that the contest has been "ruined by the regulations". Télé Monte Carlo (TMC) has also declared that Monaco would not be returning to the Eurovision Song Contest for the 2010 Edition, mainly due to a lack of finances to send a Monegasque entry. The RTL Group had announced that they were having serious discussions regarding a possible comeback for Luxembourg in the contest for the first time since 1993, but later confirmed that the country would not be present for the 2010 Contest either. San Marino also considered returning to the competition in 2010. However, after deliberations with Italian artists, including Italian sister duo Paola & Chiara, Sammarinnese broadcaster Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV) was informed to withhold returning after failing to receive funding from the Sammarinnese parliament or sponsors.
EBU had talks to Liechtenstein's only broadcaster 1FLTV (1 Fürstentum Liechtenstein Television) for them to join the EBU, and become a part of the Eurovision Song Contest. 1FLTV's programme director Peter Kolbel had confirmed interest in Liechtenstein's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest as soon as full EBU membership is granted, which may have happened in December 2009. Thus they were getting ready to debut in 2010, considering a national final concept similar to the German version of the Idol series – Deutschland sucht den Superstar (DSDS). In November 1FLTV decided against applying for EBU membership in December for financial reasons, ruling out a debut in at the 2010 contest. The broadcaster will now look at other options for funding EBU membership in the future.
In 2009, Jillian Evans, a representative of the European Parliament from Wales, stated her interest in securing Wales a place in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Norway. but in the end it was decided they would not to participate in the competition. Because their debut was rejected because Wales isn't a sovereign state and the BBC has the exclusive right to represent the United Kingdom. Wales could be represented by either BBC Cymru Wales, ITV Cymru Wales or S4C.
From July to December 2009, five countries who participated in the 2009 contest announced their withdrawal, and non-participation in the 2010 contest. The Czech Republic declared that it was to withdraw due to a lack of interest from Czech viewers after three successive semi-final failures since their debut in 2007.
Andorra's broadcaster Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra (RTVA) announced a 10% reduction in its spending budget for 2010. RTVA had submitted a preliminary application to take part in the contest. However, being unable to secure extra funds by 11 December 2009, it decided to withdraw from the 2010 Contest. After its withdrawal many former Andorran Eurovision Song Contest contestants expressed their "disappointment" in RTVA's decision to withdraw, and the lack of publicity the country will now receive by not being contestants in the contest. Hungary withdrew from the 2010 Contest, due to financial difficulties of the national broadcaster Magyar Televízió (MTV). Montenegro and the Montenegrin broadcaster Radiotelevizija Crne Gore (RTCG) also withdrew because of financial problems, in a way to reach financial consolidation after three years as an independent state.
Lithuania's broadcaster Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) initially announced its formal withdrawal from the contest after failing to achieve the necessary funds of 300,000 litas (€90,000) for participation. It was later confirmed by the EBU that Lithuania would indeed participate in Oslo. Funding was eventually given by Lithuanian company Teo LT, which allowed Lithuania to participate in the contest.
Thirty-four countries participated in the semi-finals of the contest. The semi-final allocation draw took place on 7 February 2010, while the draw for the running order was held on 23 March 2010.
To keep tension high, the qualifiers were announced in random order, and scores were published online only after the final took place.
Semi-final 1
Notes
1.^ Contains one phrase in English.Semi-final 2
Final
Voting during the final
Countries revealed their votes in the following order:
Semi-final 1
In the first semifinal, one unknown country had only a jury because the votes of the country did not meet the EBU threshold.
12 points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the 1st semi-final:
Semi-final 2
12 points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the 2nd semi-final:
Final
12 points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the final:
Marcel Bezençon Awards
The Marcel Bezençon Awards were first handed out during the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia honoring the best competing songs in the final. Founded by Christer Björkman (Sweden's representative in the 1992 Eurovision Song Contest and current Head of Delegation for Sweden) and Richard Herrey (member of the Herreys, Eurovision Song Contest 1984 winner from Sweden), the awards are named after the creator of the annual competition, Marcel Bezençon. The awards are divided into 3 categories; Press Award; Artistic Award; and Composer Award.
OGAE
Organisation Générale des Amateurs de l'Eurovision (more commonly known as OGAE) is an international organisation that was founded in 1984 in Savonlinna, Finland by Jari-Pekka Koikkalainen. The organisation consists of a network of 40 Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, and is a non-governmental, non-political, and non-profitable company. In what has become an annual tradition for the OGAE fan clubs, a voting poll was opened allowing members from different clubs around the world to vote for their favourite songs of the 2010 contest. Below is the top five overall results, after all the votes had been cast.
Barbara Dex Award
The Barbara Dex Award has been annually awarded by the fan website House of Eurovision since 1997, and is a humorous award given to the worst dressed artist each year in the contest. It is named after the Belgian artist, Barbara Dex, who came last in the 1993 contest, in which she wore her own self designed (awful) dress.
Incidents
The performance of Daniel Diges representing Spain was disrupted by Catalan pitch invader Jaume Marquet Cot, also known as Jimmy Jump. The performance continued as Marquet, wearing a barretina, joined in with the carefully choreographed routine, but he ran off when security personnel appeared on the stage. Spain was subsequently allowed to perform their song a second time after Denmark's entry - the 25th and final song - had been performed.
Commentators
Most countries sent commentators to Oslo or commentated from their own country, in order to add insight to the participants and, if necessary, provide voting information.
The commentators of the 39 participating countries are as follows:
The commentators of the non-participating countries are:
Broadcasting
High-definition broadcasts
For the third time, the contest was broadcast in high-definition. Some countries, through their high-definition channel, allowed their country to watch the contest in HD:
Notable artists that did not qualify
Notable artists that participated in one of the national song selection shows, but did not manage to qualify for the Eurovision Song Contest include A1, Andreas Johnson, Buranovskiye Babushki, Darin, Emina Jahović, Eric Saade, Keep of Kalessin, Lenna Kuurmaa, Michael Graham and Ola Svensson
Official album
Eurovision Song Contest: Oslo 2010 was the official compilation album of the 2010 Contest, put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by EMI Records and CMC International on 17 May 2010.The album featured all 39 songs that entered in the 2010 contest, including the semi-finalists that failed to qualify into the grand final.