Song contest 2007
Eurovision Song Contest 2007
The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It was won by Serbia and was held at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland from 10 May to 12 May. The host broadcaster was YLE.
Finland earned the right to host the event after heavy metal band Lordi's victory at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. It was the first time the Contest had been held in Finland. A budget of €13 million was presented for arranging the contest. Other bids to host the contest came from Espoo, Turku and Tampere. The hosts were Finnish television personality Jaana Pelkonen and Finnish musician, stage performer and actor Mikko Leppilampi. Krisse Salminen acted as guest host in the green room, and reported from the crowds at the Senate Square.
A record number of 42 countries participated. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) put aside its limit of 40 countries, which would have meant excluding some countries using a ranking order scheme.
Visual design
The official logo of the contest remained the same as 2006; the flag in the centre of the heart was changed to the Finnish flag. The European Broadcasting Union and YLE announced that the theme for the 2007 contest would be "True Fantasy", which embraced Finland and "Finnishness" in terms of the polarities associated with the country. The design agency Dog Design was responsible for the design of the visual theme of the contest which incorporated vibrant kaleidoscopic patterns formed from various symbols including exclamation marks and the letter F. The stage was in the shape of a kantele, a traditional Finnish instrument. On 20 February 2007 a reworked official website for the contest was launched marking the first public exhibition of this year's theme. An official CD and DVD were released (but no HD DVD or Blu-ray, despite the event being broadcast in high definition for the first time). An official fan book was also released.Format
On 12 March 2007, the draws for the running order for the semi-final, final and voting procedure took place. A new feature allowed five wild-card countries from the semi-final and three countries from the final to choose their starting position. The heads of delegation went on stage and chose the number they would take. In the semi-final, Austria, Andorra, Turkey, Slovenia and Latvia were able to choose their positions. In the final, Armenia, Ukraine and Germany were able to exercise this privilege. All countries opted for spots in the second half of both evenings. Shortly after the draw, the entries were approved by the EBU, ending the possibility of disqualification for the Israeli song. The United Kingdom chose their entry after the deadline because they were granted special dispensation from the EBU.
The contest saw some minor changes to the voting time-frame. The compilation summary video of all entries including phone numbers was shown twice. The voting process was the same as 2006 except there was fifteen minutes to vote, an increase of five on the 2006 Contest. In the final, the results from each country were once again shown from one to seven points automatically on screen and only eight, ten and twelve were read by the spokespeople. For the first time, the winner was awarded a promotion tour around Europe, visiting Denmark, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Greece and Germany. The tour was held between 16 May and 21 May. The event was sponsored by European communications group TeliaSonera, and — as with several previous contests — Nobel Biocare.
Individual Entries
Participating countries
Participating countries in a Eurovision Song Contest must be active members of the EBU.
42 countries submitted preliminary applications. Although in previous years the maximum number of participating countries was 40, the EBU allowed all 42 to participate in 2007. The Czech Republic, Serbia, Montenegro and Georgia all entered the contest for the first time in 2007. Monaco announced its withdrawal on 12 December 2006, and the EBU announced the final lineup of 42 countries on 15 December 2006.
Final
The finalists were:- the four automatic qualifiers France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom;
- the top 10 countries from the 2006 final (other than the automatic qualifiers);
- the top 10 countries from the 2007 semi-final.
The final was held on 12 May 2007 at 21:00 (CET).
Semi-final
The semi-final was held on 10 May 2007 at 21:00 (CET). 28 countries performed and all 42 participants voted.Shaded countries qualified for the Eurovision Final
Other involved countries
Australia : Although Australia is not itself eligible to enter, the semi-final and final were broadcast the event on SBS. As is the case each year, they were not broadcast live due to the difference in Australian time zones. Australia aired the United Kingdom's broadcast, including commentary from Paddy O'Connell, Sarah Cawood and Terry Wogan. Before the broadcasts, viewers were told by an SBS host that the Eurovision Song Contest was one of their most popular programmes. The final rated an estimated 436,000 viewers, and was ranked number 20 on the broadcasters top rating programs of the 2006/2007 financial year.
Azerbaijan : Azerbaijan were willing to enter the contest but since AzTV applied for active EBU membership but was denied on 18 June 2007, they missed the contest and have to wait until they're accepted. Another Azerbaijan broadcaster, OTV, broadcast the contest. It is a passive EBU member, and has broadcast it for the last two years. It was the only non-participating broadcaster this year to send its own commentators to the contest. Italy: Italian television has not entered since 1997. National broadcaster RAI is in strong competition with commercial TV stations and believes that Eurovision would not be a popular show in Italy, although the 1991 edition was followed by 6 million people. They have not broadcast the contest in recent years, although an independent Italian channel for the gay community has shown the show. Monaco: Monaco broadcast the final on TMC after having withdrawn from this competition in December 2006, opening the possibility of returning for the 2008 contest. However TMC did not return in 2008. Worldwide : A live broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast worldwide by satellite through Eurovision streams such as Channel One Russia, ERT World, TVE Internacional, TVP Polonia, RTP Internacional and TVR i. The official Eurovision Song Contest website also provided a live stream without commentary using the peer to peer transport Octoshape. Possible broadcasts : Japan, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands Antilles, Suriname and Vietnam may have broadcast as well, as they have also broadcast the contest in the past. While Liechtenstein has no television broadcaster of its own, Liechtensteiners could watch the contest on Swiss, Austrian or German television. Gibraltar: Gibraltar screened only the final.
High-definition broadcast
YLE produced the event in 1080i HD and 5.1 Surround Sound. This was the first year that the event was broadcast live in HD. The BBC in the United Kingdom broadcast the final in high definition on BBC HD. Swedish broadcaster SVT broadcast both the semi-final and the final on their HD-channel SVT HD. However the event is only available to buy on standard-definition DVD, with no HD DVD or Blu-ray version available in high definition.Score sheet
All countries participating in the contest were required to use televoting and/or SMS voting during both evenings of the contest. In the event of technical difficulties, or if the votes of the country did not meet the EBU threshold, then a back-up jury's results were to be used. Albania and Andorra were the only countries that used juries. A draw was held in Helsinki to establish the order in which the countries presented their votes during the final.| Televoting Results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bosnia-Herzegovina | 106 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Spain | 43 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Belarus | 145 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | ||
| Ireland | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Finland | 53 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| FYR Macedonia | 73 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Slovenia | 66 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||
| Hungary | 128 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Lithuania | 28 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| Greece | 139 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 12 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 10 | |||
| Georgia | 97 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 0 | |||
| Sweden | 51 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | ||
| France | 19 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Latvia | 54 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| Russia | 207 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 6 | ||
| Germany | 49 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Serbia | 268 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 0 | ||
| Ukraine | 235 | 0 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | ||
| United Kingdom | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Romania | 84 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Bulgaria | 157 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 5 | ||
| Turkey | 163 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 12 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 1 | 12 | ||
| Armenia | 138 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 12 | 5 | 0 | ||
| Moldova | 109 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | ||
The Semi-Final scoreboard can be found at "External Links" further down.
12 Points
Below is a summary of all 12 point in the final:Commentators
- - Meri Picart & Josep Lluís Trabal
- - Gohar Gasparian
- - Andi Knoll
- - Denis Kurian & Alexander Tikhanovich
- - Jean-Pierre Hautier & Jean-Louis Lahaye (RTBF) / André Vermeulen & Anja Daems (VRT)
- - Dejan Kukrić
- - Georgi Kushvaliev & Elena Rosberg
- - Duško Čurlić
- - Vasso Komninou
- - Kateřina Kristelová
- - Søren Nystrøm Rasted & Adam Duvå Hall
- - Marko Reikop
- - Heikki Paasonen & Ellen Jokikunnas & Asko Murtomäki (fi) / Thomas Lundin (sv)
- - Julien Lepers & Tex
- FYR Macedonia - Milanka Rašić
- - Peter Urban
- - Fotis Sergoulopoulos & Maria Bakodimou
- - Gábor Gundel Takács
- - Sigmar Guðmundsson
- - Marty Whelan
- - Kārlis Streips
- - Darius Užkuraitis
- - Antonia Micallef
- - Dražen Bauković, Tamara Ivanković
- - Cornald Maas (both evenings) & Paul de Leeuw (final only)
- - Per Sundnes
- - Artur Orzech
- - Isabel Angelino and Jorge Gabriel
- - Andreea Demirgian
- - Yuri Aksyuta and Yelena Batinova
- - Duška Vučinić-Lučić
- - Mojca Mavec
- - Bernhard Thurnheer (SF), Jean-Marc Richard (TSR), Claudio Lazzarino and Sandy Altermatt (RTSI)
- - Beatriz Pécker
- - Kristian Luuk and Josef Sterzenbach
- - Hakan Urganci
- - Tymur Miroshnychenko
- - Paddy O'Connell & Sarah Cawood (semi-final) & Terry Wogan (final) (BBC TV), Ken Bruce (BBC Radio 2)
Spokespersons
Announcing the votes.- - Leon Menkshi
- - Marian van de Wal
- - Sirusho (will represent Armenia in Eurovision Song Contest 2008)
- - Eva Pölzl
- - Juliana
- - Maureen Louys
- - Vesna Andree Zaimović
- - Mira Dobreva
- - Barbara Kolar
- - Giannis Charalampous
- - Andrea Savane
- - Susanne Georgi
- - Laura Põldvere
- - Laura Voutilainen
- - Vanessa Dolmen
- FYR Macedonia - Elena Risteska (singer for this country in ESC 2006)
- - Neli Agirba
- - Thomas Hermanns
- - Alexis Kostalas
- - Éva Novodomszky
- - Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir
- - Linda Martin
- - Jason Danino-Holt
- - Janis Šipkevics
- - Lavija Šurnaitė
- - Mireille Bonello
- - Andrei Porubin
- - Vidak Latković
- - Paul de Leeuw (the 12 points were announced by Edsilia Rombley, who performed twice at ESC, in 1998 and 2007)
- - Synnøve Svabø
- - Maciej Orłoś
- - Francisco Mendes
- - Andreea Marin Bănică
- - Yana Churikova
- - Maja Nikolić
- - Peter Poles
- - Ainhoa Arbizu
- - André Pops
- - Sven Epiney
- - Meltem Ersan Yazgan
- - Katya Osadchaya
- - Fearne Cotton
Maps
Participation
Controversy
Some countries have protested against the voting system following the 2007 contest. Robert Abela, in charge of Malta's contingent, suggested many results were "not based solely on the public vote", while also admitting the 12 points Malta gave United Kingdom were fixed deliberately in protest of bloc-voting. "The way the voting is processed in the EBU is wrong, and needs updating", say many Eurovision fans.German newspaper Bild commented on the irony that Western European countries pay the largest amount for a competition where they apparently have no chance of winning. Germany's sole winner, Nicole, was also quoted as saying "It is obvious that Eastern European countries engage in dirty trade with points every year. Germany should withdraw from the competition". The voting was also brought up in the Parliament of the United Kingdom by Liberal Democrat MP Richard Younger-Ross who suggested the current voting system is "harmful to the relationship between the peoples of Europe".
In contrast, both EBU and many papers in the same West European countries hit back strongly at this criticism, saying that it was more about racism and discrimination being displayed in some West European countries than actual concern for the competition. The fact that the results would have remained more or less the same, with the same winner, even if only West European votes had been counted was also brought forward as evidence for the criticism being more about negative feelings towards East European countries rather than any actual bias in the competition. In Finland, the organising country, the bad reactions in some countries even became the topic of the leader page in papers, Hufvudstadsbladet accusing those who still divide Europe into a Western and an Eastern part for being stuck in history, and encouraging all Europeans not to let "envious bad losers destroy a nice and all-European spectacle". The Swedish paper Expressen wrote about feeling "shame" over the reactions in many west European nations and claimed that the Eurovision Song Contest had never been better. Calling the Serbian winner a "worthy, historic winner", it went on to call the proposals for a separate contest "incredibly pathetic".
Gallery
References
External links
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Saturday October 11, 2008 at 06:03:44 PDT (GMT -0700)
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