Eurovision Song Contest 2011

The 56^th Annual Eurovision Song Contest was held in Düsseldorf (Germany), due to Germany's first place with their singer Lena Meyer-Landrut with her song "Satellite" in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo (Norway). Like previous years, a system of two semi-finals was used: the first on 10 May and the second on 13 May 2011. The final was on the evening of 14 May 2011. The winners were Ell & Nikki with their song Running scared, they represented Azerbaijan.

Eurovision Song Contest 2011
"Feel Your Heart Beat!"
Dates
Semi-final 1	10 May 2011
Semi-final 2	12 May 2011
Final	14 May 2011
Host
Venue	Esprit Arena Düsseldorf, Germany
Presenter(s)	Anke Engelke, Judith Rakers and Stefan Raab
Executive supervisor	Jon Ola Sand
Host broadcaster	ARD/NDR
Website	eurovision.tv/event/dusseldorf-2011
Participants
Number of entries	43
Debuting countries	None
Returning countries	Austria Hungary Italy San Marino
Non-returning countries	None
Vote
Winning song	Azerbaijan "Running Scared"

The Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf

Venue

On 12 October 2010, the German broadcaster, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) announced that the Esprit Arena of Düsseldorf as the venue of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. Germany has already held the Eurovision Song Contest. The first in 1957 in Frankfurt am Main and the second in 1983 in Munich. Since 1998 and the victory of the United Kingdom the year before, it is the first time that a country of the "Big Five" (Germany, France, Spain, United Kingdom & Italy (since 2011)) will held the Eurovision Song Contest.

Bidding Phase

23 cities of Germany participated to the bidding phase of the venue for the 56^th Annual Eurovision Song Contest. Eight cities showed interest of hosting the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 : Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover, Gelsenkirchen, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt, Munich. On 21 August 2010, NDR announced that four of those cities had officially applied to host the 2011 Contest :

• Berlin : In a hangar near the former Tempelhof Airport
• Düsseldorf: Esprit Arena
• Hamburg: Hamburg Exhibition Centre
• Hanover: Hanover Exhibition Centre

Format

The five countries that are part of the "Big Five", along with the host of the contest, automatically qualify for a place in the final. But Germany is both the host of the 2011 edition and a member from the "Big Five". To answer this question of if a country will qualify directly for the final (maybe the second of the 2010 Contest), the EBU held a meeting in Belgrade (Serbia). And it was decided that the existing rules will remain in place, and that the number of participants in the final will simply decreased from twenty-five to twenty-four. On 31 December 2010, the EBU published the official list of the participants for the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest and which stated the return of Italy, Austria, San Marino and Hungary. And thanks to the return of Italy twenty-fiv countries will participate for the final of the 2011 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Hosts

On 16 December 2010, NDR revealed the presenters of the 2011 edition : Anke Engelke, Judith Rakers, and Stefan Raab. It will be the third time that three people have hosted the contest after 1999 and 2010. And the second time in a row.

Pot allocations

To determine the semi-final running orders for the Eurovision Song Contest, participating nations were split into six pots on 17 January 2011. Countries has been drawn from each pot to determine if they will compete in either the first or second semi-final and like in 2010, it will determine in which half of the semi-final they will perform, in order for delegations to know when rehearsals will begin for their respective countries. The draw also determine in which semi-finals the members of the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and Italy) will be able to vote.

Israeli broadcaster IBA requested to take part in the second semi-final due to the Israeli Memorial Day, which will be held during the first semi-final. German broadcaster NDR also requested that they be allowed to vote in the second semi-final for scheduling reasons.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5	Pot 6
Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Macedonia Serbia Slovenia Switzerland	Denmark Estonia Finland Iceland Norway Sweden	Azerbaijan Belarus Georgia Israel Moldova Russia Ukraine	Armenia Belgium Cyprus Greece Netherlands Turkey	Ireland Latvia Lithuania Malta Portugal Romania	Austria Bulgaria Hungary Poland San Marino Slovakia

Participating Countries

  Countries in the first semi-final

  Countries voting in the first semi-final

  Countries in the second semi-final

  Countries voting in the second semi-final

On 31 December 2010, the EBU confirmed the forty-three countries which will be competing fir the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest. The 2011 edition which will mark the returns of Austria, which last participated in 2007, Italy, which last participated in 1997, San Marino, which only took part in 2008, and Hungary, which last participated in 2009.

At a meeting in Belgrade, the EBU decided that the countries has to choose their artists and their songs before 14 March because the running draw for the Eurovision Song Contest will be held on March 15.

Semi-finals

Semi-final 1

• The first semi-final of the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest will take place on 10 May 2011.
• The ten countries which has received the most points, will participate for the final of the contest
• Two members of the "Big Five", Spain and the United Kingdom will vote in this semi-final

Draw	Country	Language	Artist	Song	English translation	Results
01	Poland	Polish	Magdalena Tul	"Jestem"	I am	Out
02	Norway	English, Swahili	Stella Mwangi	"Haba Haba"	Little by little	Out
03	Albania	English, Albanian	Aurela Gaçe	"Feel the Passion"	—	Out
04	Armenia	English	Emmy	"Boom-Boom"	—	Out
05	Turkey	English	Yüksek Sadakat	"Live It Up"	—	Out
06	Serbia	Serbian	Nina Radojčić	"Čaroban" (Чаробан)	Magical	Qualified
07	Russia	English	Alexey Vorobyov	"Get You"	—	Qualified
08	Switzerland	English	Anna Rossinelli	"In Love for a While"	—	Qualified
09	Georgia	English	Eldrine	"One More Day"	—	Qualified
10	Finland	English	Paradise Oskar	"Da Da Dam"	—	Qualified
11	Malta	English	Glen Vella	"One Life"	—	Out
12	San Marino	English	Senit	"Stand By"	—	Out
13	Croatia	English	Daria Kinzer	"Celebrate"	—	Out
14	Iceland	English	Sigurjón's Friends	"Coming Home"	—	Qualified
15	Hungary	English, Hungarian	Kati Wolf	"What About My Dreams?"	—	Qualified
16	Portugal	Portuguese	Homens da Luta	"A luta é alegria"	The struggle is joy	Out
17	Lithuania	English	Evelina Sašenko	"C'est ma vie"	It's my life	Qualified
18	Azerbaijan	English	Eldar Gasimov and Nigar Jamal	"Running Scared"	—	Qualified
19	Greece	English, Greek	Loukas Giorkas feat. Stereo Mike	"Watch My Dance"	—	Qualified

Semi-final 2

• The first semi-final of the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest will take place on 12 May 2011.
• The ten countries which has received the most points, will participate for the final of the contest
• Three members of the "Big Five", France, Germany and the Italy will vote in this semi-final

Draw	Country	Language	Artist	Song	English translation	Results
01	Bosnia and Herzegovina	English, Bosnian	Dino Merlin	"Love in Rewind"	—	Qualified
02	Austria	English	Nadine Beiler	"The Secret Is Love"	—	Qualified
03	Netherlands	English	3JS	"Never Alone"	—	Out
04	Belgium	English	Witloof Bay	"With Love Baby"	—	Out
05	Slovakia	English	TWiiNS	"I'm Still Alive"	—	Out
06	Ukraine	English	Mika Newton	"Angel"	—	Qualified
07	Moldova	English	Zdob şi Zdub	"So Lucky"	—	Qualified
08	Sweden	English	Eric Saade	"Popular"	—	Qualified
09	Cyprus	Greek	Christos Mylordos	I loved you like an angel	—	Out
10	Bulgaria	Bulgarian	Poli Genova	"Na inat" (На инат)	For spite	Out
11	Macedonia	Macedonian	Vlatko Ilievski	"Rusinka" (Русинкa)	Russian Girl	Out
12	Israel	Hebrew, English	Dana International	"Ding Dong"	—	Out
13	Slovenia	English	Maja Keuc	"No One"	—	Qualified
14	Romania	English	Hotel FM	"Change"	—	Qualified
15	Estonia	English	Getter Jaani	"Rockefeller Street"	—	Qualified
16	Belarus	English	Anastasia Vinnikova	"I Love Belarus"	—	Out
17	Latvia	English	Musiqq	"Angel in Disguise"	—	Out
18	Denmark	English	A Friend In London	"New Tomorrow"	—	Qualified
19	Ireland	English	Jedward	"Lipstick"	—	Qualified

Final

• The final of the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest will took place on 14 May 2011.
• Only the countries of the "Big Five" automatically qualify for the final.
• From the two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May 2011, twenty countries qualified for the final, and a total of twenty-five countries will competed in the final.
• The voting system used will be the same as used in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, a 50/50 system, with a combination of televotes and jury votes who will select the winner. Viewers were able to vote during the performances.

Draw	Country	Language	Artist	Song	English translation	Points	Place
01	Finland	English	Paradise Oskar	"Da Da Dam"	—	57	21
02	Bosnia and Herzegovina	English, Bosnian	Dino Merlin	"Love in Rewind"	—	125	06
03	Denmark	English	A Friend In London	"New Tomorrow"	—	134	05
04	Lithuania	English	Evelina Sašenko	"C'est ma vie"	It's my life	63	19
05	Hungary	English, Hungarian	Kati Wolf	"What About My Dreams ?"	—	53	22
06	Ireland	English	Jedward	"Lipstick"	—	119	08
07	Sweden	English	Eric Saade	"Popular"	—	185	03
08	Estonia	English	Getter Jaani	"Rockefeller Street"	—	44	24
09	Greece	English, Greek	Loukas Giorkas feat. Stereo Mike	"Watch My Dance"	—	120	07
10	Russia	English, Russian	Alexey Vorobyov	"Get You"	—	77	16
11	France	Corsican	Amaury Vassili	"Sognu"	Dream	82	15
12	Italy	Italian, English	Raphael Gualazzi	"Madness of Love"	—	189	02
13	Switzerland	English	Anna Rossinelli	"In Love for a While"	—	19	25
14	United Kingdom	English	Blue	"I Can"	—	100	11
15	Moldova	English	Zdob şi Zdub	"So Lucky"	—	97	12
16	Germany	English	Lena Meyer-Landrut	"Taken by a Stranger"	—	107	10
17	Romania	English	Hotel FM	"Change"	—	77	17
18	Austria	English	Nadine Beiler	"The Secret Is Love"	—	64	18
19	Azerbaijan	English	Ell and Nikki	"Running Scared"	—	221	01
20	Slovenia	English	Maja Keuc	"No One"	—	96	13
21	Iceland	English	Sjonni's Friends	"Coming Home"	—	61	20
22	Spain	Spanish	Lucía Pérez	"Que me quiten lo bailao"	They can't take away the good things I've lived	50	23
23	Ukraine	English	Mika Newton	"Angel"	—	159	04
24	Serbia	Serbian	Nina	"Čaroban" (Чаробан)	Magical	85	14
25	Georgia	English	Eldrine	"One More Day"	—	110	09