San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

San Marino participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The Sammarinese broadcaster San Marino RTV (SMRTV) confirmed that a season of 1in360 would not take place this year as it had been discussed. On 21 January 2019, it was announced that Serhat had been internally selected to represent San Marino in the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel.[1] Serhat represented San Marino back in 2016 but failed to qualify for the final. He performed the 2019 entry "Say Na Na Na" in the first semi-final on 14 May 2019, in Tel Aviv, in which he finished at 8th place with 150 points, advancing to the Grand Final, being the second time San Marino qualifies after their 2014 entry. Serhat performed at the Grand Final on 18 May and finished 19th with 77 points, giving San Marino its best result to date.

Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Country	San Marino
National selection
Selection process	Internal Selection
Selection date(s)	Artist: 21 January 2019 Song: 7 March 2019
Selected entrant	Serhat
Selected song	"Say Na Na Na"
Selected songwriter(s)	Serhat Mary Susan Applegate
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Qualified (8th, 150 points)
Final result	19th, 77 points
San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2018 • 2019 • 2020►

Background

Main article: San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2018 contest, San Marino had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eight times since its first entry in 2008.[2] Their debut entry in 2008, "Complice" performed by Miodio, failed to qualify to the final and placed last in the semi-final it competed in. San Marino subsequently withdrew from the contest in 2009 and 2010, returning in 2011 with Italian singer Senit performing "Stand By", which also failed to take the nation to the final. Between 2012 and 2014, San Marino sent Valentina Monetta to the contest on three consecutive occasions, which made her the first singer to participate in three consecutive contests since Udo Jürgens, who competed in 1964, 1965 and 1966 for Austria. Her entries in 2012 ("The Social Network Song") and 2013 ("Crisalide (Vola)") also failed to qualify San Marino to the final. However, in 2014, Monetta managed to bring San Marino to the final for the first time where she placed 24th with the song "Maybe". In 2015, the nation once again failed to qualify to the final with the song "Chain of Lights" performed by Anita Simoncini and Michele Perniola. In 2016, San Marino failed to qualify with "I Didn't Know" sung by Turkish performer Serhat. In 2017 San Marino sent Valentina Monetta again, but this time she performed together with an American singer Jimmie Wilson. Their song "Spirit of the Night" failed to qualify and placed last in their semifinal scoring just 1 point.

The Sammarinese national broadcaster, San Marino RTV (SMRTV), broadcasts the event within San Marino and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. SMRTV confirmed San Marino's participation at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest on 17 October 2017.[3]

Before Eurovision

On 21 January 2019, the Sammarinese broadcaster announced that Serhat was selected internally to represent San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, in Tel Aviv, Israel. Serhat participated again for San Marino, in the 2016 contest held in Stockholm, Sweden. He performed the song "I Didn't Know" and failed to qualify for the final receiving 68 points. The Sammarinese broadcaster announced that Serhat's song for the 2019 participation will be released on 7 March 2019.[4]

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. San Marino 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.[5]

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. San Marino was set to perform in position 17, following the entry from Greece.[6]

Semi-Final

San Marino performed seventeenth and last in the first semi-final, following the entry from Greece. At the end of the night, San Marino was announced as one of the ten countries to have qualified for the grand final, making it only the second time they reached the final and their first qualification since 2014. After the show, Serhat appeared at a press conference with the other nine finalists to draw which half of the final he would participate in. San Marino was drawn to perform in the first half of the final. It was later revealed that San Marino placed eighth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 150 points: 124 points from the televoting and 26 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.[7]

Points awarded to San Marino

Points awarded to San Marino (Semi-final 1)
Televote
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
Czech Republic  Georgia  Hungary	Estonia  Montenegro	Cyprus  Spain	Belarus	Australia  Poland  Portugal
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
Israel  Serbia	Finland  Greece  Iceland	Slovenia	Belgium
Jury
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
	Montenegro
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
		Belarus  Estonia  Greece	Cyprus  Iceland  Israel	Australia

Points awarded to San Marino (final)
Televote
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
	Albania  Azerbaijan  Georgia	Moldova  Montenegro  North Macedonia		Hungary
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
			Croatia	Belarus  Iceland  Serbia
Jury
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
				Greece
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
Russia				Malta

Points awarded by San Marino

Semi-final 1 Score Televote Jury 12 points  Greece  Greece 10 points  Cyprus  Montenegro 8 points  Estonia  Cyprus 7 points  Iceland  Iceland 6 points  Australia  Australia 5 points  Poland  Serbia 4 points  Czech Republic  Slovenia 3 points  Slovenia  Czech Republic 2 points  Serbia  Belgium 1 point  Georgia  Belarus

Final Score Televote Jury 12 points  Russia  Italy 10 points  Greece  Russia 8 points  Italy  Greece 7 points  Cyprus  Albania 6 points  Netherlands  Iceland 5 points   Switzerland  Cyprus 4 points  Azerbaijan  Azerbaijan 3 points  Norway  Netherlands 2 points  Iceland   Switzerland 1 point  Israel  North Macedonia

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Sanmarinese jury:[7]

• Paolo Rondelli – Chairperson – cultural and communication manager
• Danilo Berardi – Head of Production and Head of Live events services San Marino RTV
• Sabrina Minguzzi – choreographer, teacher, dancer
• Ella Gasperoni – radio DJ
• Marilia Reffi – cultural promoter

Split voting results from San Marino (Semi-final 1)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		P. Rondelli	D. Berardi	S. Minguzzi	E. Gasperoni	M. Reffi	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Cyprus	2	7	4	3	2	3	8	2	10
02	Montenegro	3	4	2	1	1	2	10	16
03	Finland	15	16	16	10	15	16		15
04	Poland	13	15	14	11	9	14		6	5
05	Slovenia	11	2	15	9	8	7	4	8	3
06	Czech Republic	6	6	8	8	11	8	3	7	4
07	Hungary	10	11	9	7	7	11		13
08	Belarus	14	14	11	5	5	10	1	11
09	Serbia	7	9	5	13	4	6	5	9	2
10	Belgium	5	12	3	16	13	9	2	14
11	Georgia	9	10	7	12	14	12		10	1
12	Australia	4	3	10	14	10	5	6	5	6
13	Iceland	8	5	6	4	6	4	7	4	7
14	Estonia	12	13	12	6	16	13		3	8
15	Portugal	16	8	13	15	12	15		12
16	Greece	1	1	1	2	3	1	12	1	12
17	San Marino

Split voting results from San Marino (final)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		P. Rondelli	D. Berardi	S. Minguzzi	E. Gasperoni	M. Reffi	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Malta	14	22	18	15	16	22		22
02	Albania	8	6	3	4	6	4	7	16
03	Czech Republic	12	21	19	9	11	16		20
04	Germany	22	24	21	16	25	23		25
05	Russia	3	1	2	2	2	2	10	1	12
06	Denmark	23	25	20	25	17	25		19
07	San Marino
08	North Macedonia	11	4	8	24	14	10	1	15
09	Sweden	15	9	14	6	18	13		12
10	Slovenia	10	20	16	23	3	12		21
11	Cyprus	9	7	5	8	13	6	5	4	7
12	Netherlands	2	10	10	22	19	8	3	5	6
13	Greece	1	2	4	3	5	3	8	2	10
14	Israel	19	15	17	11	21	20		10	1
15	Norway	20	19	22	10	22	21		8	3
16	United Kingdom	17	16	24	14	12	19		24
17	Iceland	7	12	15	7	4	5	6	9	2
18	Estonia	25	23	23	21	8	18		17
19	Belarus	21	18	13	5	20	14		23
20	Azerbaijan	5	8	6	20	10	7	4	7	4
21	France	24	17	25	19	23	24		14
22	Italy	4	3	1	1	1	1	12	3	8
23	Serbia	16	14	11	18	24	17		18
24	Switzerland	13	5	9	17	7	9	2	6	5
25	Australia	18	13	7	13	15	15		11
26	Spain	6	11	12	12	9	11		13

References

1. Zwart, Josianne. "Serhat is back for San Marino!". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
2. "San Marino Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
3. Jiandani, Sanjay (Sergio) (17 October 2017). "San Marino: SMRTV confirms participation in Eurovision 2018". esctoday.com. Esctoday. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
4. Galagher, Robyn. "Serhat is back! SMRTV confirms the Turkish crooner will again represent San Marino at Eurovision". wiwibloggs. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
5. Jordan, Paul (28 January 2019). "Eurovision 2019: Which country takes part in which Semi-Final?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
6. "Exclusive: This is the Eurovision 2019 Semi-Final running order!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
7. 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.