Country Slovakia Selected entrant Kristina | Selection process Eurosong 2010 Selected song "Horehronie" | |
Selection date(s) Heats
22 January 2010 -
7 February 2010
Semi-finals
14 February 2010
21 February 2010
Final
27 February 2010 Semi-final result Failed to qualify (16th, 24 points) | ||
Slovakia participated at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Bærum, Norway with the song Horehronie, which failed to qualify for the final. Slovenská televízia (STV) organised the national final to select the Slovak entry for the contest using the Eurosong 2010 format.
Contents
Eurosong 2010
Slovakia was the first country to announce its participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, which was announced by STV on 28 March 2009, six weeks before the 2009 Contest. It was revealed that preparation for the 2010 Contest would begin shortly after the 2009 Contest ended.
Three preliminary rounds, a semi-final and final were to begin in mid-January to select the Slovak entry. The first announcement for the 2010 selection process came from STV on 14 July. All competing artists for the Slovak national final must have Slovak citizenship, and the main language must be Slovak. However an exception can be made for the chorus, which may be in English. Interested authors can submit more than one song to the competition, however singers can only perform one song in the competition. The deadline for entries was set for 30 October.
STV announced that the received entries would be examined by a jury, and the best songs would progress to the live shows. STV received 242 entries for the contest, with three entries being disqualified for arriving after the deadline. An internal jury selected the 60 competing songs from the remaining 239 entries, which were announced on 15 December.
In December SVT announced the complete details of the live shows: 6 preliminary heats will be held over three weeks in January and February 2010. After this two semi-finals will be held on 14 and 21 February, with the final held on 28 February 2010. The shows will be hosted by Martin Rausch, with Martin Kontúr reporting from the green room. Both jury and viewers will have a say in the outcome of the Slovak shows, although the jury will be introduced only from the first semifinal.
Heats
Six heats were held between 22 January and 7 February. From the sixty competing acts, ten in each heat, 24 qualified to the two semi-finals on 14 and 21 February.
Heat 1
The first heat was held on 22 January. The line-up and running order for the first heat was revealed on 19 January. Televoting during the live shows selected four songs to qualify to one of two semi-finals. It has been announced that profits from the voting in the semi-final will be contributed towards aid for those affected by the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
The four qualifiers to the semi-finals were Tomáš Bezdeda; Michaella; Hrdza; and Richard Čanaky & FBI. However, on 28 January Hrdza, the winners of the heat, had been disqualified after it was revealed that their song, "Taká sa mi páči", had been performed before 1 October 2009, breaking fundamental Eurovision rules. They will be replaced by Horská chata in the semi-finals, who came fifth in the televote.
Heat 2
The second heat of Eurosong 2010 was held on 24 January. The songs and running order for this heat were revealed on the day of the contest. Televoting selected four songs from the 10 competing to progress to the semi-finals.
The four qualifiers were Mista, Pavol Remenár, Klára & Liquid Error, Peter Bažík and Get Explode.
Heat 3
The third semi-final was held on 29 January. On 26 January it was announced that two songs, "Chýrna zem" by Gionno & Ján Mitaľ and "Sevilla" by Golden Storm, had withdrawn. They were replaced by two new songs, "Dolina, dolina" by Lekra and "Príčina" by the Guru Brothers.
The four qualifiers from this semi-final were Robo Opatovský, Free Voices, Renata Čonková & Martina Polievková and Martin Konrád.
Heat 4
The fourth heat was held on 31 January. Four further acts qualified to the semi-finals after a public vote: Martina Schindlerová; Mayo; Alone; and Petra Humeňanská.
On 1 February it was revealed Barbora Šulíková's song "Čelný náraz", which had placed 6th in the televote, had been disqualified after it had been revealed that it had previously been performed in summer 2009; therefore it would have been disqualified from the contest had it qualified to the semi-final round.
Heat 5
The fifth heat was held on 5 February, with another four acts qualifying to the semi-finals after a public vote. They were Kristina; Smola a hrušky; Robert Mikla; and Dáška Kostovčik.
Heat 6
The sixth and final heat of Eurosong 2010 was held on 7 February. From the 10 competing songs another 4 acts were selected to qualify to the semi-final. They were: Soňa; Miro Jaroš; Aya; and Marián Bango.
Semi-finals
Two semi-finals will be held on 14 and 21 February. 24 acts which qualified from the heats will take part over the two nights, 12 in each semi-final. 12 acts will qualify to the final after a joint televoting and jury decision, each with 50% stake in the results, giving 1-12 points to each song.
Semi-final 1
The first semi-final was held on 14 February. The line-up and running order for the semi-final was confirmed on 11 February.
Kristina was the winner of the semi-final, receiving maximum points from both televoting and jury, getting 31.2% of the televote, almost triple the percentage of her runner-up.
Semi-final 2
The second semi-final was held on 21 February.
Mista won the semi-final, getting maximum points from the televoting with 14.2%, and coming second in the jury vote to Aya.
Final
The final of Eurosong 2010 was held on 27 February. The date of the final was pushed forward from 28 February after the recent success of the Slovak men's ice hockey team at the 2010 Winter Olympics. The 12 semi-final qualifiers will perform again, and a mix of jury and televoting will select the winner.
Guest performers during the final were Maltese singers Claudia and Fabrizio Faniello, with Fabrizio a two-time participant for Malta at the Contest (in 2001 and 2006), and Claudia a five-time national final participant since 2006.
The song "Horehronie" by Kristina was declared the winner of the competition gaining 37.6 percent of the public vote, which translated into 12 points, with the addition of 11 points from the jury panel. Second place went to "Emotions" by Mista, who scored the maximum 12 points from the jury panel and was awarded with the second highest amount of public votes, however despite tying for first place, the votes of the public took precedence.
At Eurovision
Slovakia competed in the first semi-final of the contest, on 25 May. They did not manage to qualify for the final on 29 May.