This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: – ···scholar·JSTOR(April 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Croatia competed in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999, held in Jerusalem. The Croatian entry for the contest was Doris Dragović with the song "Marija Magdalena".
The Croatian broadcaster Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT) held a national final, Dora, to select the Croatian entry for the contest.
The 1999 edition of Dora was held on 7 March at the HRT TV studios in Zagreb, hosted by Oliver Mlakar and Vlatka Pokos. 24 songs competed, with the winner decided by 21 juries, 20 regional juries and a 21st jury made up of televoting results.
The winner of the contest was Doris Dragović with "Marija Magdalena". Dragović had previously represented Croatia, then part of Yugoslavia, at the 1986 contest with the song "Željo moja".
On the night of the contest Dragović performed 4th, following Spain and preceding the United Kingdom. The song received 118 points at the close of the voting (12 points from Slovenia and Spain) , placing Croatia 4th of 23 countries competing.[1] This was, and still is as of 2021, Croatia's joint-best placing at the contest, sharing with Croatia's 1996 entry, "Sveta ljubav" with Maja Blagdan. Only Denmark, Norway and the United Kingdom failed to award the song any points at all.
After the contest, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organizers of the contest, were forced to reduce Croatia's score to 79 for the calculation of the country's five-year average score, used to relegate countries from the next contest. This was due to the use of synthesised male vocals on the backing track, which the EBU said broke the "spirit of the rule" in which no live vocals could be featured on backing tracks. However, overall, the original score remained the same.
Croatia
