1.
Croatia
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Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a sovereign state between Central Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean. Its capital city is Zagreb, which one of the countrys primary subdivisions. Croatia covers 56,594 square kilometres and has diverse, mostly continental, Croatias Adriatic Sea coast contains more than a thousand islands. The countrys population is 4.28 million, most of whom are Croats, the Croats arrived in the area of present-day Croatia during the early part of the 7th century AD. They organised the state into two duchies by the 9th century, tomislav became the first king by 925, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia retained its sovereignty for nearly two centuries, reaching its peak during the rule of Kings Petar Krešimir IV and Dmitar Zvonimir, Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest, the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne. In 1918, after World War I, Croatia was included in the unrecognized State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs which seceded from Austria-Hungary, a fascist Croatian puppet state backed by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany existed during World War II. After the war, Croatia became a member and a federal constituent of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. On 25 June 1991 Croatia declared independence, which came wholly into effect on 8 October of the same year, the Croatian War of Independence was fought successfully during the four years following the declaration. A unitary state, Croatia is a republic governed under a parliamentary system, the International Monetary Fund classified Croatia as an emerging and developing economy, and the World Bank identified it as a high-income economy. Croatia is a member of the European Union, United Nations, the Council of Europe, NATO, the World Trade Organization, the service sector dominates Croatias economy, followed by the industrial sector and agriculture. Tourism is a significant source of revenue during the summer, with Croatia ranked the 18th most popular tourist destination in the world, the state controls a part of the economy, with substantial government expenditure. The European Union is Croatias most important trading partner, since 2000, the Croatian government constantly invests in infrastructure, especially transport routes and facilities along the Pan-European corridors. Internal sources produce a significant portion of energy in Croatia, the rest is imported, the origin of the name is uncertain, but is thought to be a Gothic or Indo-Aryan term assigned to a Slavic tribe. The oldest preserved record of the Croatian ethnonym *xъrvatъ is of variable stem, the first attestation of the Latin term is attributed to a charter of Duke Trpimir from the year 852. The original is lost, and just a 1568 copy is preserved—leading to doubts over the authenticity of the claim, the oldest preserved stone inscription is the 9th-century Branimir Inscription, where Duke Branimir is styled as Dux Cruatorvm. The inscription is not believed to be dated accurately, but is likely to be from during the period of 879–892, the area known as Croatia today was inhabited throughout the prehistoric period
2.
Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Croatia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 22 times since making its debut at the 1993 contest. Between 1993 and 2011, the Croatian entrant was selected at the Dora pop festival, Croatias best result in the contest is fourth-place finishes in 1996 and 1999. Croatia first reached the top ten in 1995, when Magazin & Lidija Horvat-Dunjko finished sixth and this would be the first of six top ten results in seven years. Maja Blagdan was fourth in 1996, Danijela Martinović was fifth in 1998, Doris Dragović was fourth in 1999, Goran Karan was ninth in 2000, since then, Croatia has failed to reach the top ten. Since the introduction of the round in 2004, Croatia has failed to reach the final on five occasions. Croatia then withdrew from the contest in 2014 and 2015, on its return in 2016, Croatia reached the final for the first time in seven years. Croatia participated at Eurovision ten times as part of Yugoslavia, in 1963,1968,1969,1971,1972,1986,1987,1988,1989 and 1990. Apart from being the most successful Yugoslav republic in the contest, it gave the socialist republic its only win, Rock Me, sung by Riva in 1989, the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was held in Zagreb as a result. After the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991, the Croatian national public broadcaster Croatian Radiotelevision had organised a festival to select a Croatian representative for the 1992 Contest. If HRT had been a member of the EBU in time for the contest, Croatias first entry as an independent state was in 1993 with the band Put, performing Dont Ever Cry which was, despite the English title, also partially performed in Croatian. The song came third in the Qualification for Millstreet, which allowed their participation in the 1993 contest, Croatias best position, as of 2016, has been with Maja Blagdans 1996 entry Sveta ljubav and Doris Dragovićs 1999 entry Marija Magdalena. Along with Malta and Cyprus and Portugal, Croatia was never relegated in the 1990s, the last time Croatia qualified for the grand final was in 2009. However, on 5 May 2015, HRT announced that it wont broadcast the 2015 contest and it was the first time since 1992 for HRT to not broadcast the contest. On 26 November 2015, it was announced that Croatia would return to the contest in 2016, nina Kraljić with the song Lighthouse qualified to the final, making it that Croatia qualified for the first time since 2009. After the successful return in 2016, Croatian national broadcaster Croatian Radiotelevision confirmed on 17 September 2016 that they would participate in 2017. Yugoslavian entries in 1963,1968,1969,1971,1972,1986,1987,1988,1989 and 1990 are Croatian entries that competed for Yugoslavia, ^ Spain originally gave its 12 points to Israel and 10 to Norway. After the broadcast it was announced that Spanish broadcaster wrongly tallied the votes and Germany should have got the top mark -12 points - instead of being snubbed, the mistake was corrected and so Germany was placed 7th over Norway. ^ In 2009, Croatia qualified through the back-up jury selection, if a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year
3.
Croatian Radiotelevision
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Croatian Radiotelevision is a Croatian public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite, Croatian Radiotelevision has three organizational units, three sister companies - the Croatian Radio, the Croatian Television and Music Production. Croatian Radiotelevision is the successor of the Radio station Zagreb that started broadcasting on 15 May 1926 under its first director and co-founder. During the first 14 years of its existence the Zagreb Radio station was owned by a private corporation, Radio Zagreb was nationalized on 1 May 1940. During the Independent State of Croatia, the station was known as Hrvatski krugoval, after World War II it began to operate as a state-owned radio station. Zagreb Radio station was the first public broadcasting facility in the southeast European area, at the end of the first year of operation, Radio Zagreb company had a little over four thousand subscribers. On the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Zagreb Radio station, on 15 May 1956, for the next two years this was the only TV broadcasting service in the southeast European area. This was the first TV station in Yugoslavia and would become a color station in 1972. In June 1990, the Croatian Parliament renamed the company from Radiotelevizija Zagreb to Hrvatska radiotelevizija, on 1 January 1993, HRT was admitted as a full active member of the European Broadcasting Union. The television channels were aired under the name Croatian Television, Hrvatska televizija between 1990 and 1993, since then, the current name is used. The radio broadcast unit is referred to as Croatian Radio, Hrvatski radio, HRT1 - HRTs first TV channel, previously known as TVZ1. This is a generalist channel with daily news around the world, documentaries, HRT2 - HRTs second channel, previously known as TVZ2. It is primarily used for broadcasts and entertainment programmes. The channel is known for its footage of vintage films. HRT3 - HRTs third channel, primarily used for culture, films and it was popular during the late 90s, and taken off-air in 2004. It returned to air in September 2012, HRT4 - HRTs fourth channel, broadcasting news programmes, started airing in December 2012. In the 1980s there was a channel called Z3 and later HTV Z3. It was taken off air on 16 September 1991 when its main transmitter, on 7 November 1994 the channel came back on air, this time called HRT3
4.
Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Macedonia, presented in the contest as Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 16 times since its official debut in 1998. The country had attempted to participate in 1996, but failed to qualify from the qualifying round. Macedonia is one of the most unsuccessful countries in the contest, Macedonias best result in the contest is Elena Risteskas 12th place finish in 2006. Macedonia has failed to qualify from the round in eight of the last nine contests, the exception being Kaliopi. Macedonias first appearance in the contest was in 1998, the countrys best result was in 2006, when Elena Risteska sang Ninanajna in Athens, Greece and came 12th. Macedonia is the country to have qualified from every semi-final from 2004 to 2007. Since then, only in 2012 Macedonia have made the final, also, Macedonian composers wrote songs for candidates from other parts of Yugoslavia. However, the Macedonian entries never managed to win, and the SR Macedonia was the federal state never to send a Yugoslav entry to the Eurovision Song Contest. ^ Macedonia unsuccessfully attempted to participate in 1996, when there was an audio-only pre-qualifying round for all countries, the official Eurovision site does not count 1996 in Macedonias list of appearances. Macedonia did not progress to the final in either year, in 2008 Sweden beat Macedonia to the final, if a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. The other reason being that back in 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. co. uk Eurovision Macedonia
5.
Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Switzerland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 57 times since making its debut at the first contest in 1956, missing only four contests, in 1995,1999,2001 and 2003. Switzerland hosted the first contest in 1956, and won it themselves, Switzerland won the contest again in 1988. Lys Assia won the very first contest in Lugano in 1956 with the song Refrain and she returned to place second in 1958. In 1993, Annie Cotton gave the country its eighth top three result, when she placed third, in the 21st century, Switzerland has only once reached the top ten, in 2005 with the girl band Vanilla Ninja finishing eighth. Since the introduction of the round in 2004, Switzerland has failed to qualify for the final nine times. At the 2014 contest, Sebalter gave the country its second best result of the century, Switzerland had been absent from Eurovision four times since their participation began in the first contest. These absences, in 1995,1999,2001 and 2003 were caused by poor results in previous contests that relegated Switzerland from the contest, Switzerland has four official languages, French, German, Italian, and Romansh. For decades, the requirements stated that the song had to be performed in a national language. Out of their 55 appearances in the Contest, Switzerland has sent 52 songs,24 of which were in French,12 in German, nine in Italian, nine in English, both of Switzerlands winning songs have been sung in French. ^ The full results for the first contest in 1956 are unknown, the official Eurovision site lists all the other songs as being placed second. If a country had won the 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, as of 2016, Switzerlands voting history is as follows, Over the years Switzerland has broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest on three television stations, SRF, RTS and RSI. Table key Points to and from Switzerland eurovisioncovers. co. uk
6.
Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Austria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 49 times since its debut in 1957. The country has won twice, in 1966, with the song Merci Chérie by Udo Jürgens, Austria currently holds the record for longest gap between wins, with 48 years between victories. Austria finished last at its first attempt in the contest in 1957, before Liane Augustin gave the country its first top five result in 1958, having finished sixth in 1964 and fourth in 1965, Udo Jürgens won the contest at his third attempt in 1966. This would be Austrias only top three result of 20th century, the countrys best result over the next 46 years would be fifth place, which it achieved with Milestones in 1972, Waterloo & Robinson in 1976 and Thomas Forstner in 1989. Austria has finished last in the final a total of seven times, the country also finished last in the semi-final in 2012. After a three-year absence, ORF announced on 28 July 2010 that Austria would return to the contest in 2011, because of this, Austria became the first host country to receive nul points. Austria has opted out of participation in several Contests, the first of these was the 1969 Contest, which was staged in Madrid. As Spain was ruled at that time by Francisco Franco, Austria chose to boycott the Contest, the following year, Austria was again absent. This was due to the result in 1969 in which four songs tied for first place. From 1973 to 1975, Austria stayed away as well, the exact reason for this is unclear, however the scoring system in use at one of these Contests - allowing all entrants a guaranteed number of points - may have been a factor. The country was ineligible to compete in 1998 and 2001, as it had not achieved high placings in the five previous years. They returned for the 2007 contest in Helsinki, but came second to last in the semi-final, despite withdrawing, the final of the 2008 contest was screened on ORF. ORF decided not to participate in the 2009 contest, but did broadcast the final as in 2008, the EBU announced that they would work harder to bring Austria back to the contest in 2010, along with former participants Monaco and Italy. It was, however, confirmed that Austria would not participate in the 2010 Contest in Oslo, in July 2010, the chairman of ORF, Alexander Wrabetz, stated that Austria would return for the 2011 contest, due to it being held in its neighbour Germany. In 2011, Austria reached the final for the first time since 2004, ^ Specifically Styrian, a Southern Bavarian dialect spoken in Styria. ^ Specifically Mühlviertlerisch, a Central Bavarian dialect spoken in Upper Austria, ^ While Austria and Germany both finished with no points, Austria is listed as finishing ahead of Germany due to the tiebreaker rule that favours the song performed earliest in the running order. Therefore, Germany finished in 27th place, with Austria in 26th, if a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition, back in 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the finals the following year
7.
Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Armenia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 10 times since making its debut in 2006, and has reached the top 10 on seven occasions. Armenias best result in the contest is two fourth-place finishes, achieved by Sirusho in 2008 with the song Qélé, Qélé,2011 is the only year that Armenia has failed to advance from the semi-final round. This was followed by the country withdrawing from the 2012 contest due to security concerns, Armenia debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006 with the song Without Your Love performed by André. Armenia had never entered the competition before, therefore it had to compete in the semi final, André was the first performer of the semi-finals. The song reached the final of the contest on 20 May 2006, Armenia was one of only three countries that had always placed in the top ten since the introduction of the semi-finals. This record was broken at the 2011 contest, when Emmy, on 7 March 2012, Armenia announced that it would be withdrawing from the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, because of security concerns. Despite their 2012 withdrawal, Armenia confirmed participation in the 2013 contest in Sweden, in 2014 Armenia reached the top 10 after 4 years, represented by Aram Mp3 with the song Not Alone placed 4th. This is the best place that Armenia ever got alongside with Sirusho with the song Qélé, Qélé in 2008, table key NOTE, 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, founded by Christer Björkman and Richard Herrey, the awards are named after the creator of the annual competition, Marcel Bezençon. The awards are divided into three categories, Press Award, Artistic Award, and Composer Award. co. uk
8.
Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Belarus has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 13 times since making its debut in 2004. Dmitry Koldun became the countrys first entrant to reach the final at the 2007 contest and this remains Belarus only top ten placement. Belarus also qualified for the final in 2010,2013 and 2014, Belarus entered the contest in the same year that semi-finals began to be used to determine who would compete in the final. Belarus has so far managed to qualify for the four times, in 2007 with Dmitry Koldun, in 2010 with band 3+2, in 2013 with Alyona Lanskaya. After the 2009 edition, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, said that it was necessary to replace the current working team behind Belarus Eurovision entry. Lukashenko pointed out his frustrations over divisions within the team, Alexander Rybak, the winner of the 2009 contest representing Norway, expressed an interest in composing an entry for his birth country Belarus. An attempt to compose a song for Belarus materialized in 2015, despite being the favourite to win the national final that year, it only got a 4th place. The member of OGAE International Network
9.
Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Lithuania has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 17 times since its debut in 1994, where Ovidijus Vyšniauskas finished last, receiving nul points. Lithuania then withdrew from the contest, not returning until 1999, LT Uniteds sixth place in 2006 with the song We Are the Winners is Lithuanias best result in the contest. The country reached the top ten for a time in 2016. Having been relegated from the 2000 contest the country returned in 2001 with Skamp and You Got Style and they received 35 points, placing 13th. However the following year, Aivaras could only manage to come second last with 12 points, since the semi-finals were introduced Lithuania again came last with Laura and the Lovers and Little by Little. The following year the Lithuanian broadcaster Lietuvos Nacionalinis Radijas ir Televizija sent LT United to the 2006 contest with the football chant-like song We Are the Winners. They took Lithuania to the final for the first time since 2002, coming sixth in the final with 162 points, Lithuanias best placing as of 2016. The following year Lithuania automatically qualified for the final, however 4Fun could not replicate LT Uniteds success, in 2008 Jeronimas Milius failed to reach the final, coming 16th of 19 competing nations in the second semi-final. Lithuania threatened to boycott the 2009 contest if Russia continues to showcase power, the statement was made in reaction to the Russias actions in the 2008 South Ossetia war. Culture Minister Jonas Jucas stated that it was too early to discuss the boycott since spontaneous decisions might aggravate the efforts of diplomats and thus make the situation worse. At the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, Lithuania qualified from the finals and at the end of the voting in the final had received 23 points. LRT announced in December 2009 that, due to a lack of necessary funds, however, in the event that the necessary funds of 300,000 litas would be found the broadcaster announced that they would attempt to continue the countrys participation. Ultimately, private company TEO LT provided the funding and Lithuania participated in Bærum. In 2011 Lithuania participated in the first Semi Final on the 10 May 2011 and after coming 5th, in the final, Lithuania performed 4th and at the end of the voting had received 63 points putting them 19th. ^ Includes two phrases in French, ^ Includes two phrases in French. American Sign Language was also used during the televised performance. If a country had won the 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
10.
Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Bulgaria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 10 times since making its debut at the 2005 contest in Kiev. The countrys best result is a finish for Poli Genova at the 2016 contest. Prior to 2016, Bulgarias only entry to reach the final was Elitsa & Stoyan, Bulgaria first competed at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005, represented by the jazz-inspired band Kaffe with their song Lorraine. Receiving only 49 points, they placed 19th in the semi-final and they were succeeded by Mariana Popova with Let Me Cry, however she also failed to qualify for the final, coming 17th with 36 points in the semi-final. Bulgarias first qualification for the final came in 2007 when Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankoulov performed the song Water and this was the first Bulgarian language song to compete in the contest, placing 6th in the semi-final with 146 points. Todorova and Yankulov repeated their song in the final and received 157 points, in previous years, if a country placed in the top 10 countries in the final they automatically qualified to the final of the next contest. Had this rule remained for the 2008 contest, Bulgaria would have qualified for the final. As such, Bulgaria were forced to compete in one of the two semi-finals of the 2008 contest in Serbia, at the 2008 contest, Bulgaria were represented by Deep Zone & Balthazar with the song DJ, Take Me Away. They, however, could not repeat Todorova and Yankulovs result and received only 56 points, Bulgaria competed in the 2009 contest in Russia. Bulgaria was the first country to begin their selection for the fifth Bulgarian entry to Eurovision, with Be A Star, the winner was Krassimir Avramov with his Popera song Illusion. It failed to qualify for the final in Moscow coming 16th out of 18 participants in the first semifinal, in October 2009, BNT announced that Miroslav Kostadinov would represent Bulgaria at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo, Norway. He sang the song Angel si ti and it was the first song since 2007 to be sung in Bulgarian. However, for the third year, Bulgarias entry failed to qualify for the final. In 2011, Bulgaria was represented by Poli Genova, and the entry was sung in Bulgarian for the third consecutive year. In that year she competed with 18 more singers in the final of EuroBGvision and this was her fourth time in which she took part in the EuroBGvision and her first win. The singer Sofi Marinova represented Bulgaria in the 2012 Eurovision contest in Baku with a song called Love Unlimited and her song was mainly in Bulgarian but it also contains the phrase I Love You in 12 other languages including Turkish, Greek, Spanish, French and Serbian and others. In 2013, Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankoulov were chosen through a selection to represent Bulgaria for a second time. Their song, Samo shampioni, placed sixth in the second semifinals televoting results, the duo placed twelfth, with 45 points, thereby excluding Bulgaria from the final yet again
11.
Czech Republic in the Eurovision Song Contest
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The Czech Republic has competed at the Eurovision Song Contest five times, first taking part in 2007. On their first four attempts the country failed to qualify to the final from the semi-finals, in 2016, the Czech Republic got its first qualification to the final in their Eurovision history, leaving Andorra as the only country to have never performed in the final. After receiving nul points at the 2009 Contest and a lack of interest from the Czech public, five years later ČT announced their return to the contest in 2015, with an internal selection being used to select their fourth Eurovision entry. During the time of Czechoslovakia, Československá televize is known to have broadcast a number of editions of the Contest in Czechoslovakia during the 1960s and 1970s. After the dissolution of the state in 1993 the Czech Republics partner Slovakia immediately attempted to enter the Contest, Czech broadcaster Česká televize had originally planned to send an entry to the 2005 Contest, held in Kiev, Ukraine. However, this did not materialise for various reasons, ČT again looked at sending an entry to the 2006 Contest in Athens, Greece, but failed to do so after having doubts that the country would qualify for the final. In April 2006 ČT officially confirmed their presence at the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, ČT held a national final to select the first Czech entry. Eurosong 2007 featured 10 songs, with the voting for the winner through SMS voting. However one song was withdrawn before the show began, leaving only 9 songs to compete, the winner was rock band Kabát with the song Malá dáma. At the contests semi-final on 10 May 2007 the Czech Republic performed 16th in the semi-final, for the 2008 Contest in Belgrade, Serbia, ČT again held a national final to select the entry for the country. 10 acts again competed for the chance to represent the Czech Republic in Serbia, despite placing in the bottom two twice, ČT confirmed that they would participate at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia. ČT decided to hold a selection for the artist who would represent the country at the contest in Russia. The broadcaster chose Romani band Gipsy. cz in January 2009 to compete in Moscow – the band had previously competed in the two national finals, coming both times in the top three. Two songs were presented to the Czech public to vote on, Aven Romale, after voting had concluded after 14 days, the final winner was Aven Romale, which featured lead singer Radoslav Banga dressing-up as a super-hero character, Super Gypsy. The group performed 2nd on the night of the first semi-final of the contest, however the group managed to receive nul points from the 20 countries voting in the semi-final, becoming the 16th entry to achieve this result since the current voting method was introduced in 1975. On 22 July 2009 ČT officially announced their withdrawal from the 2010 Contest, stating a lack of interest from the Czech public to the contest, the song however failed to qualify from the semi-final. However it did give the Czech Republic their best score and placed 13th with 33 points, on 31 August 2015, ČT announced that it would participate in the 2016 edition, in-which they qualified to final for the first time in Czech Republics Eurovision history. The placement in the final was 25 out of 26 countries, the televoting gave Czech Republic zero points and the juries 41 points
12.
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Ireland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 50 times since making its debut at the 1965 Contest in Naples. Since then, they have missed only two contests, in 1983 in Munich and 2002 in Tallinn, Ireland is the most successful country in the contest, with a total of seven wins. Raidió Teilifís Éireann is Irelands representative broadcaster at the contest, the semi-finals are broadcast on RTÉ Two, All of the Irish entries have been performed in English with the exception of the 1972 entry, Ceol an Ghrá, which was sung in Irish. Sean Dunphy finished second at the 1967 contest, behind Sandie Shaw, before Dana gave Ireland its first victory in 1970, the countrys next best result of the 1970s was in 1977, when The Swarbriggs plus two finished third. Johnny Logan gave Ireland a second victory in 1980, with Whats Another Year, Logan then wrote the 1984 entry Terminal 3, which finished second, performed by Linda Martin. In 1987, Logan became the first and only performer to win the contest twice, Irelands most successful decade to date in the contest is the 1990s, which began with Liam Reilly finishing joint second in 1990. Ireland then achieved a three consecutive victories in the contest. In 1992,1984 runner-up Linda Martin returned to win with another Johnny Logan composition and this was followed up by Niamh Kavanaghs victory over Sonia in 1993 with In Your Eyes and Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan winning in 1994 with Rock n Roll Kids. The decade saw yet another victory in 1996 when Eimear Quinn won with The Voice, Ireland also finished second in 1997 with Marc Roberts. In the 21st century, Ireland has fared well, only reaching the top 10 on three occasions, with Eamonn Toal sixth in 2000, Brian Kennedy tenth in 2006 and Jedward eighth in 2011. Ireland finished last in the final for the first time in 2007, since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Ireland has failed to reach the final six times, in 2005,2008,2009,2014,2015 and 2016. 2016 marked the first time that Ireland failed to qualify in three consecutive years, Ireland has competed in the Contest almost continuously since the countrys debut in 1965. In 1983 a strike at the national broadcaster RTÉ meant that the station lacked the resources to send a participant so RTÉ broadcast the Contest with the BBC commentary feed. In 2002 Ireland was relegated from the Contest, in keeping with the EBU rules, RTÉ broadcast that years event as they intended to return in 2003, and a TV commentator was sent to the host city, Tallinn. Ireland has sent 50 entries to the Eurovision Song Contest, of these seven have won, Ireland has been relegated once, in 2001 Gary OShaughnessy finished twenty-first with Without Your Love. In addition, six Irish entries have featured in the semi-final of the Contest, in 2005, Donna & Joe finished fourteenth in the pre-qualifier, failing to qualify for the final. In 2006, Brian Kennedy finished ninth in the semi-final, ensuring an Irish presence in the Athens final, Kennedy finished tenth in the final. Ireland also featured in the first semi-final in 2008 and in the second semi-final in 2009, Irelands recent results in the Contest have been poor in comparison to the 1990s, coming last in 2007 and 2013
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