Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

Greece participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The Greek national broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) announced that they will have an internal selection.[1] Katerine Duska was selected internally to represent Greece at the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel with the song "Better Love" written by herself, Leon of Athens, David Sneddon and Phil Cook.

Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Country Greece
National selection
Selection processInternal selection
Selection date(s)Artist: 14 February 2019
Song: 6 March 2019
Selected entrantKaterine Duska
Selected song"Better Love"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Semi-final resultQualified (5th, 185 points)
Final result21st, 74 points
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2018 • 2019 • 2020►

Background
Main article: Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2018 contest, Greece had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-eight times since their debut in 1974.[2] The nation has won the contest on one occasion in 2005 with the song "My Number One" performed by Helena Paparizou. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Greece has managed to thus far qualify to the final with each of their entries. Between 2004 and 2011, the nation achieved eight consecutive top ten placements in the final. To this point, Greece in 2016 with Argo's "Utopian Land" failed to qualify from the semi-finals for the first time ever, being absent from the final for the first time since 2000. This was Greece's worst result at the contest. However, Greece returned to the final in 2017 with Demy's song "This Is Love". In the 2018 contest, Greece failed to qualify for the second time with Yianna Terzi and the song "Oniro mou" finishing 14th in the semi-final.

The Greek national broadcaster, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), broadcasts the event within Greece and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. ERT had been in charge of Greece's participation in the contest since their debut in 1974 until 2013 when the broadcaster was shut down by a government directive and replaced with the interim Dimosia Tileorasi (DT) and then later by the New Hellenic Radio, Internet and Television (NERIT) broadcaster.[3][4] Following the January 2015 Greek legislative election, a draft proposal was initiated to reinstate ERT as the public Greek broadcaster. On 28 April 2015, the draft was approved and signed into law by the Hellenic Parliament, resulting in the renaming of NERIT to ERT; ERT began broadcasting once again on 11 June 2015.[5][6] ERT confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest on 28 August 2015.[7] The Greek broadcaster has used various methods to select the Greek entry in the past, such as internal selections and televised national finals to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. Since 2010, the Greek entry has been selected via a national final that featured a competition among several artists and songs with the votes of an expert jury and a public televote deciding the Greek Eurovision entry.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

On January, the Greek broadcaster ERT announced its provisional plans on Eurovision 2019, declaring that a national final show would not be held this year. Later on January, the channel revealed the names of the people who would consist the six-members jury panel which would be involved in the artist’s selection.[8] The jury consisted of:

  • Dimitris Papadimitriou – Music composer – ERT Board Member (President)
  • Fotis Apergis – Journalist
  • Petros Adam – Music producer
  • Maria Koufopoulou – ERT Director of International Relations
  • Sofia Dranidou – ERT Head of European & International Affairs – International Relations
  • Yiannis Petridis – Music producer

On 14 February 2019, ERT announced Katerine Duska as the Greek representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The song was released on 6 March 2019.[9]

Promotion

Katerine Duska made several appearances across Europe to promote "Better Love" as the Greek Eurovision entry. She performed at Eurovision in Concert on 6 April 2019 at the AFAS Live venue in Amsterdam, hosted by Cornald Maas and Marlayne, to over 4500 spectators,[10] as well as the Eurovision Pre-Party Madrid on 20 April.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Greece was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[11]

Once all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Greece was set to perform in position 16, following the entry from Portugal and preceding the entry from San Marino.[12]

Semi-final

Greece performed sixteenth in the first semi-final, following Portugal and preceding San Marino. At the end of the show, Greece was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Greece placed fifth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 185 points: 54 points from the televoting and 131 points from the juries.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member, as well as the nation's televoting results, were released shortly after the grand final.[13]

Points awarded to Greece
Points awarded to Greece (Semi-final 1)
Televote
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Jury
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Points awarded to Greece (final)
Televote
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Jury
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

Points awarded by Greece

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Greek jury:[13]

  • Nikolaos Nikolakopoulos – Chairperson – programme director radio station
  • Eirini Karagianni – opera singer
  • Manolis Pantelidakis – costume and set designer
  • Styliani Tyraki – singer, vocal coach
  • Athanasios Alevras – actor, performer
Split voting results from Greece (Semi-final 1)
Draw Country Jury Televote
N. Nikolakopoulos E. Karagianni M. Pantelidakis S. Tyraki A. Alevras Average Rank Points Rank Points
01 Cyprus11111112112
02 Montenegro5761356516
03 Finland241512127415
04 Poland7911981213
05 Slovenia1315831010165
06 Czech Republic321641338101
07 Hungary16161415141614
08 Belarus8103744792
09 Serbia41110825656
10 Belgium613416161312
11 Georgia1461311915210
12 Australia101222321038
13 Iceland1187679247
14 Estonia121495111483
15 Portugal931210151111
16 Greece
17 San Marino15551468374
Split voting results from Greece (final)
Draw Country Jury Televote
N. Nikolakopoulos E. Karagianni M. Pantelidakis S. Tyraki A. Alevras Average Rank Points Rank Points
01 Malta1338966522
02 Albania11777148365
03 Czech Republic2217317211320
04 Germany23121424242324
05 Russia2211221038
06 Denmark25222323252519
07 San Marino5962145621
08 North Macedonia1651281110115
09 Sweden7232411191818
10 Slovenia20189457413
11 Cyprus11221112112
12 Netherlands6111010171256
13 Greece
14 Israel1513422161423
15 Norway17251819102211
16 United Kingdom14202516232425
17 Iceland1816226151792
18 Estonia21241612132116
19 Belarus1919131371617
20 Azerbaijan4855123812
21 France12421202215101
22 Italy3101514347210
23 Serbia24141118182014
24  Switzerland9211915201947
25 Australia101520399283
26 Spain86172581174
gollark: The WSL?
gollark: ⣅⢮⡫⡓⠓⢙⣭⢖⣒⡯⡝⣻⣐⢫⢀⠑⣻⡞⢏⠰⣷⣖⢪⡰⣌⡂⡒⢣⣠⡇⡔⡷⡩⣲⡹⡕⡐⣡⢛⣐⢌⠗⡤⣮⠁⢋⡠⠷
gollark: You would say that, you're in on the conspiracy.
gollark: I can't help but wonder if this is a ploy by sascha.
gollark: Fascinating.

References
  1. https://escxtra.com/2019/01/06/greece-2019-internal-selection/
  2. "Greece | Country profile | Eurovision Song Contest". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  3. Savaricas, Nathalie (11 July 2013). "Greece's state-run TV service resumes with a blast from the past". independent.co.uk. The Independent. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  4. "Greece's replacement public broadcaster launched". dw.com. Deutsche Welle. 4 May 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  5. Maltezou, Renee (28 April 2015). "In symbolic move, Greece to reopen shuttered state broadcaster". reuters.com. Reuters. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  6. "Greece's state broadcaster ERT back on air after two years". bbc.com. BBC News. 11 June 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  7. "Συμφωνία ΕΡΤ - Forthnet για τα στιγμιότυπα της Super League". enimerosi24.gr (in Greek). Enimerosi24. 28 August 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  8. Agadellis, Stratos. "Greece: Katerine Duska to Tel Aviv!". esctoday.com. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  9. https://www.esc-plus.com/katerine-duska-to-represent-greece-at-eurovision-2019/
  10. "This was Eurovision in Concert 2019 in Amsterdam". Eurovision.tv. 6 April 2019.
  11. Jordan, Paul (28 January 2019). "Eurovision 2019: Which country takes part in which Semi-Final?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  12. "Exclusive: This is the Eurovision 2019 Semi-Final running order!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  13. Groot, Evert (30 April 2019). "Exclusive: They are the judges who will vote in Eurovision 2019!". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
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