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Croatia entered the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time as an independent country in 1993. The country's first entry was by Put with the song "Don't Ever Cry".
Croatia first entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993, having previously competed as a part of Yugoslavia from 1961 to 1991. SR Croatia was the most successful republic of Yugoslavia at Eurovision, with 11 of the 27 entries that won the Yugoslavian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest being Croatian.[1]
Croatia's former sub-national broadcaster RTV Zagreb became the country's national broadcaster, renamed Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT). The broadcaster first attempted to enter the Eurovision Song Contest as an independent nation in 1992, holding a national contest to select a song. However, as the broadcaster was not a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) at the time they were refused entry to the contest. The winner of the contest was Magazin with the song "Hallelujah".[5] The broadcaster became a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) on 1 January 1993, allowing it to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time as an independent nation in 1993.
Before Eurovision[]
Dora 1993[]
HRT held a national final to select the first independent Croatian entry at Eurovision. Dora 1993 was held at the Crystal Ballroom of Hotel Kvarner in Opatija on 28 February, hosted by Sanja Doležal (the lead singer of Novi fosili, the Yugoslav entry for 1987) and Frano Lasić. 15 entries competed, and the winner was decided by 11 regional juries. The winning song was "Don't Ever Cry", performed by the band Put.
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the disintegration of Yugoslavia many newly independent countries were formed who became interested in competing in the Eurovision Song Contest. With this large influx of countries the European Broadcasting Union were forced to create a new measure to counter overcrowding in the contest. For the 1993 Contest the EBU decided to hold a one-off countest to select three countries to join the 22 countries already competing in the Eurovision Song Contest.
The Kvalifikacija za Millstreet (Qualification for Millstreet) contest was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 3 April at the TV studios of Slovene broadcaster Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV SLO). Seven countries in total competed, including Croatia, for a place in the final on 15 May 1993. Put performed second, following Bosnia and Herzegovina and preceding Estonia. The band received 51 points, placing 3rd, qualifying to the Eurovision Song Contest final alongside Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.[6]
Put performed 21st at the Eurovision Song Contest 1993 in Millstreet, Ireland, following the Netherlands and preceding Spain. Despite being a favourite to win the contest, the group received only 31 points, placing 15th of the 25 competing countries.[7] The Croatian jury awarded its 12 points to Norway.
^ abcRoxburgh, Gordon (2020). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Volume Four: The 1990s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 131–135. ISBN978-1-84583-163-9. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
Croatia
