Finland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany and selected their entry through Euroviisut 2011, organised by Finnish broadcaster Yleisradio (Yle). The final was broadcast Full HD 1080p via the Yle HD channel.
Euroviisut 2011 was the national final that selected Finland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. The competition consisted of four shows that commenced with the first of three semi-finals on 14 January 2011 and concluded with a final on 12 February 2011. The four shows were hosted by Jaana Pelkonen and Tom Nylund. All shows were broadcast on Yle TV2 and online at yle.fi.[1]
Format[]
The format of the competition consisted of four shows: three semi-finals and a final. Five songs competed in each semi-final and the top three entries from each semi-final alongside a wildcard entry selected by a jury from the remaining entries qualified to complete the ten-song lineup in the final. The results for the semi-finals and the final were determined exclusively by a public vote. Public voting included the options of telephone and SMS voting.[2]
Competing entries[]
Twelve artists, including the 2010 winner of the Finnish tango contest Tangomarkkinat Marko Maunuksela, were directly invited by Yle for the national final in consultation with record companies.[3] A submission period was also opened by Yle which lasted between 6 June 2010 and 31 August 2010. At least one of the writers and the lead singer(s) had to hold Finnish citizenship or live in Finland permanently in order for the entry to qualify to compete.[4] A panel of experts appointed by Yle selected twelve entries for an online vote from the 277 received submissions.[5] The invited artists and the competing entries for the online vote were presented on 30 September 2010.[2] For the online vote, the public was able to vote through SMS until 15 October 2010 and the top three from the twelve competing entries qualified to the national final. "Rapture in Time" performed by Cardiant, "Good Enough" performed by Father McKenzie and "Blessed with Love" performed by Saara Aalto qualified to the national final.[6]
Three semi-finals took place on 14, 21 and 28 January 2011, held at the YLE Studios in Helsinki. In each semi-final the top three from the five competing entries qualified to the final based on the results of a public vote. An additional wildcard was awarded by a jury to one of the eliminated acts, which also qualified to the final.
The final took place on 12 February 2011 at the Holiday Club Caribia in Turku where the nine entries that qualified from the preceding three semi-finals and the jury wildcard competed.[7] The winner was selected over two rounds of public voting through telephone and SMS voting. In the first round, the top three entries qualified to the second round, the superfinal, where "Da Da Dam" performed by Paradise Oskar was selected as the winner.
Finland competed tenth on the first semi-final of the contest, on 10 May, and qualified for the final, placing third with 103 points.[8] In the final, on 14 May, Finland competed first and placed twenty-first with 57 points.[9]
Finland
