Broadcasters from forty-three countries participated in the contest, equalling the record for the2008 edition. Four countries returned to the contest this year;Austria returned after their last participationin 2007,Hungary returned after their last participationin 2009,San Marino returned after their first participationin 2008.Italy also returned to the contest after their last participation fourteen years earlier,in 1997.
The winner wasAzerbaijan with the song "Running Scared", performed byEll andNikki, and written byStefan Örn, Sandra Bjurman, andIain James Farquharson. This was Azerbaijan's first victory in the contest, after only four years of participation. It was also the first male-female duo to win the contest since1963. Azerbaijan won the televote and combined vote, whileItaly won the jury vote and came second overall.Sweden,Ukraine, andDenmark rounded out the top five. Apart from Italy, the only other "Big Five" country to make the top 10 was host nation Germany, finishing tenth. The United Kingdom followed closely behind, finishing eleventh. This was the first time since the juries were reintroduced alongside the televoting in 2009 that the winner did not place first in the jury voting; Italy was the jury winner, while Azerbaijan was the televote winner. Georgia, finishing ninth, equalled its best result from2010. For the first time since the introduction of semi-finals in2004, Turkey failed to qualify for the final. Additionally, Armenia failed to qualify for the final for the first time since its debut in2006.
The broadcast of the final won theRose d'Or award for Best Live Event.[2]
The contest took place inDüsseldorf, the seventh-largest city in Germany. This was the first contest to take place outside the host nation's capital city since the2004 contest inIstanbul. It was also the first Eurovision Song Contest held in Germany sinceGerman reunification, with West Germany having previously hosted the contest in1957[3] and1983.[4] Germany was also the first country of the "Big Five" to host the contest since the implementation of the rule in 2000 that permits the five countries whose broadcasters are the largest contributors to the EBU –Germany,France, theUnited Kingdom,Spain, andItaly – to qualify automatically for the final alongside the previous year's winner.
TheDüsseldorf Arena, a multi-functional football stadium, hosted the contest. The stadium acquired a rental period of six weeks, in order to allow construction and dismantling work in relation to the contest to be carried out.[5] The arena accommodated 35,000 spectators during the contest.[6] Düsseldorf offered 23,000 hotel beds and 2,000 additional beds in the Düsseldorf surroundings and on ships on the RiverRhine.[7]
Twenty-three cities submit official bids toNorddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), in order to be the host city for the 2011 contest.[8] Eight of these cities continued to show interest in hosting the event including Berlin, Hamburg,Hanover,Gelsenkirchen,[9]Düsseldorf,Cologne, Frankfurt, andMunich.[10] NDR announced on 21 August 2010 that four of those cities had officially applied to host the 2011 contest: Berlin, Hamburg,Hanover, andDüsseldorf.[11] On 2 October 2010 theHamburger Abendblatt newspaper announced that Hamburg would be unable to host the 2011 Song Contest, because the city could no longer fulfil the required financial conditions.[12]
Locations of the candidate cities: the chosen host city is marked in blue. The cities that officially applied to host are marked in green, while the cities that showed interest but pulled out are marked in red.
Concerns were raised about Berlin's bid concept which consisted of an inflatable tent to be built onTempelhof's hangar area. Decision makers at NDR reportedly doubted the venue's ability to provide advantageous acoustic conditions. Berlin's speakerRichard Meng neither confirmed nor denied that because, he stated, "secrecy about the bid concepts was promised to the NDR".[13]
On 24 September 2010, it was announced thatFortuna Düsseldorf football club had applied to theDeutsche Fußball Liga for permission to move its home matches to thePaul-Janes-Stadion if the Düsseldorf Arena was awarded the Song Contest. This message indicated that talks with Düsseldorf to host the song contest in the Düsseldorf Arena were already at an advanced stage.[14] The club later announced on 6 October 2010 that it had obtained permission to move its games if necessary.[15] TheNeue Ruhr Zeitung newspaper reported on 12 December 2010 that Fortuna Düsseldorf were to be moved to thePaul-Janes-Stadion due to the contest, however it was later decided Fortuna Düsseldorf's training venue next to the Düsseldorf Arena would be equipped with mobile stands from a Swiss event construction specialist,Nussli Group, creating 20,000 extra seats,[16] the decision being made for logistical purposes. The stadium would be named theLena-Arena and host the remaining 3 home games of Fortuna Düsseldorf's2. Bundesliga campaign.
On 12 October 2010, NDR announced that the Düsseldorf Arena had been chosen as the host venue for the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest.[17][18]
On 31 December 2010, it was confirmed that 43 countries would compete in the 2011 contest.[21] The 2011 edition saw the returns ofAustria, which had last participatedin 2007;Italy, which had last participatedin 1997;San Marino, which had only taken partin 2008; andHungary, which had last participatedin 2009.[21]Montenegro had applied to take part in the contest on 4 December, but decided against participation and withdrew on 23 December, two days before 25 December no-strings-attached deadline.[22]
Slovenská televízia (STV) announced its withdrawal from the 2011 contest due to financial reasons, despite holding a public poll on its website on its Eurovision participation which received an 87.5% positive vote. STV announced that it planned to return in the 2012 contest.[23][24] However,Slovakia's application remained on the provisional list, leading to its participation in the 2011 contest.[21] STV announced in January 2011 that it would yet withdraw from the contest, citing to financial reasons and organisational changes.[25] However it was listed by the EBU as one of the semi-finalist countries in the semi-final allocation draw on 17 January, and STV later confirmed it would continue its participation to avoid a fine for a late withdrawal.[26][27]
At a meeting in Belgrade on 28 August 2010, the EBU decided that each country had to choose its artist and song before 14 March 2011. On 15 March 2011, the draw for the running order took place in the host city.[28] The semi-final allocation draw took place on 17 January in Düsseldorf.[21]
Along with those artists, two previousEurovision winners also returned to the contest:Dana International who won the contest forIsrael in 1998, andLena[1] who won forGermany in 2010 and brought the contest to Düsseldorf.Stefan Raab, who representedGermany in 2000 and appeared as a conductor and backing artist for other German entries, hosted the contest. This was the first time since1958 and only the second time in the history of the contest that two former winners returned on the same year.
The four countries that were part of the "Big Four", along with the host of the contest, automatically qualify for a place in the grand final. Since Germany was both a "Big Four" country and the host for the 2011 contest, there was a vacant spot in the grand final. At a Reference Group meeting inBelgrade it was decided that the existing rules would remain in place, and that the number of participants in the grand final would simply be lowered from twenty-five to twenty-four.[36] On 31 December 2010, the official participation list was published by the EBU, which stipulated that with the return of Italy to the contest, the nation would become a member of the newly expanded "Big Five". This change permitted Italy automatic qualification into the grand final, alongside France, Spain, the United Kingdom and host nation Germany, restoring the number of participants for the grand final to twenty-five nations.[21]
On 30 August 2010, it was announced thatSvante Stockselius, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, would be leaving his position on 31 December 2010.[37] On 26 November 2010, the EBU announced thatJon Ola Sand would succeed Stockselius as Executive Supervisor.[38]
Pre-qualified for the final but also voting in the first semi-final
Participating countries in the second semi-final
Pre-qualified for the final but also voting in the second semi-final
The draw to determine the semi-final running orders was held on 17 January 2011. All of the participating countries excluding the automatic finalists were split into six pots, based on the voting history of those countries in previous years. From these pots, half (or as close to half as was possible) competed in the first semi-final on 10 May 2011. The other half in that particular pot competed in the second semi-final on 12 May 2011. This draw doubled as an approximate running order, in order for the delegations from the countries to know when their rehearsals commenced. The draw also determined in which of the semi-finals the automatic finalists would be able to cast their votes.[26]
Israeli broadcaster IBA requested to compete in the second semi-final, rather than the first semi-final that was pulled in the draw, due toIsrael's Memorial Day coinciding with the first semi-final. German broadcaster NDR also requested that it be allowed to vote in the second semi-final for scheduling reasons.[26]
Ell and Nikki of Azerbaijan, during their performance
The design of the contest was built around the slogan "Feel Your Heart Beat", with the logo and on-screen graphics designed by Turquoise Branding.[39] The postcard introducing each performance included the logo in the colours of the performing country (e.g. the United Kingdom in red, white and blue); then a German place was shown ina toy-like view usingtilt-shift photography and a story happened there, whose main characters were people either living in Germany or tourists from that country. The contest's motto, 'Feel your heart beat', was then shown or said in the country's national or native language.[40] For example, in the first postcard shown (Poland's), the boyfriend drops a piece of paper. The camera then pans down to the paper, to show the Polish phrase "Poczuj bicie serca" handwritten on it. In the second postcard shown (Norway's), a mountain climber from Norway climbs to the top of a mountain and yells the Norwegian phrase "Kjenn ditt hjerte slå.". Then, the heart appeared once again, and the stage and the crowd could be seen, with heartbeat sounds and pink lights pulsating in rhythm with the heartbeat, before the performance started.
The main colours of the letterboxes were black and pink. The scoreboard showed a spokesperson from the country giving their votes on the right, while showing a table of results on the left. The large points (8, 10 and 12) were highlighted in pink, whilst the lower points, (1–7) were in purple.[41] This scoreboard design was used again the following year, with minor changes such as the large points appearing progressively larger in size compared to the lower points and the highlighted colours changed to match the2012 theme, "Light your fire!"[42]
ARD[a], the German participating broadcaster in the Eurovision Song Contest, is a joint organisation of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters. The ARD has10 members. The venues that were in consideration are located in the areas of three different members: Berlin is located within theRundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) member area, Hamburg and Hanover within theNorddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) area and Düsseldorf within theWestdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) broadcasting area. While ARD has delegated its participation in the contest to NDR in recent years, the financial scope of the three broadcasters seemed to have become a decisive factor in the application procedure for the 2011 contest. TheTagesspiegel reported on 7 October 2010 that the costs for hosting this event resulted in a tense discussion about necessary savings on other programme contents made by the three broadcasters.
On 16 December 2010, NDR announced thatAnke Engelke,Judith Rakers, andStefan Raab were to be the presenters for the contest. It was the third time three people would host the contest, the previous such contests being1999 and2010.[43] Raab had represented Germany in 2000 with "Wadde hadde dudde da?", whereas Engelke is an actress and comedian, and Rakers journalist and television presenter.
On 13 October 2010 Thomas Schreiber, coordinator at ARD, outlined details of Düsseldorf's event concept. The Düsseldorf Arena was to be split in two parts separated from each other. On one side of the stadium the stage would be installed while the other side would function as background dressing rooms for the artist delegations. An athletics arena next to the Düsseldorf Arena would serve as the press centre for the event. The Düsseldorf Arena offered comfortable seats relatively near to the stage that created an indoor event arena atmosphere rather than a football-stadium ambiance. There were plans to allow the public the chance to attend the dress rehearsals.[44] Altogether, tickets were sold for seven shows (the grand final, two semi-finals and four dress rehearsals).[45]
He also said in that interview that tickets for the event were likely to go on sale "within the next four weeks" (by mid-November 2010). NDR had already opened a preregistration e-mail-newsletter on its website for all people interested in tickets for the event.[46]
Ticket sales started on 12 December 2010 at 12:12CET on the website www.dticket.de, the only authorised seller.[47] However, the ticket page opened for sales approximately two hours earlier than originally advertised; this announcement was made by an email newsletter sent to preregistered buyers minutes before opening, giving them a slight benefit in acquiring tickets. The grand final 32,000 tickets that were put on sale on 12 December sold out in less than six hours. Once camera positions had been determined, a few thousand extra tickets were put on sale.
Tickets for the semi-finals were put on sale in mid-January, when it was known which countries would take part in each semi-final.[48]
The first semi-final took place on 10 May 2011 at 21:00CEST. The ten countries in this semi-final with the highest scoring points, according to a combination of televotes and jury votes from each voting country, qualified for the grand final.[49] Spain and the United Kingdom voted in this semi-final.
Multiple broadcasters lost contact with their commentators during this semi-final due to a technical glitch. Dropouts in the multi-channel sound connections were the cause of this fault, which was corrected with a backup system put in place and tested extensively before the second semi-final.[50] Some commentators phoned their broadcaster to get their voice on television and radio broadcasts during the semi-final.
Qualifiers
Results of the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011[51]
The second semi-final took place on 12 May 2011 at 21:00CEST. The ten countries in this semi-final with the highest scoring points, according to a combination of televotes and jury votes from each voting country, qualified for the grand final.[49] France, Germany and Italy voted in this semi-final.
Qualifiers
Results of the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011[52]
The final took place on 14 May 2011 at 21:00CEST and was won by Azerbaijan. Only the "Big Five" countries automatically qualified for the grand final. From the two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May 2011, twenty countries qualified for the grand final. A total of twenty-five countries competed in the grand final.[28] The voting system used was the same as in the 2010 contest, with a combination of televotes and jury votes selecting the winner. Viewers were able to vote during the performances; the voting window ended 15 minutes after the conclusion of the songs.[49]
Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing, in English or French, the votes for its respective country. Unlike previous years, the voting order was not drawn with the order of presentation of songs. Rather, the voting order was calculated just before the event, to reduce the likelihood of there being an outright winner from the start. Countries revealed their votes in the following order:
The split jury/televoting results were announced by the EBU after the final. As in 2010, only the split totals received by each country were given, not the full breakdown.[76]
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the grand final:
A record number of 20 countries received at least one set of 12 points during the grand final. The only countries not to receive full marks were Estonia, Russia, Switzerland, Germany and Serbia.
Most countries sent commentators toDüsseldorf or commentated from their own country, in order to add insight to the participants and, if necessary, the provision of voting information.
Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
In addition to the main winner's trophy, theMarcel Bezençon Awards and theBarbara Dex Award were contested during the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest. TheOGAE, "General Organisation of Eurovision Fans" voting poll also took place before the contest.
TheMarcel Bezençon Awards, organised since 2002 by Sweden's then-Head of Delegation and 1992 representativeChrister Björkman, and 1984 winnerRichard Herrey, honours songs in the contest's final.[143] The awards are divided into three categories: Artistic Award, Composers Award, and Press Award.[144]
OGAE, an organisation of over forty Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, conducts an annual voting poll first held in 2002 as the Marcel Bezençon Fan Award. After all votes were cast, the top-ranked entry in the 2011 poll was Hungary's "What About My Dreams?" performed byKati Wolf; the top five results are shown below.[145][146][147]
TheBarbara Dex Award is a humorous fan award given to the worst dressed artist each year. Named afterBelgium's representative who came last in the 1993 contest, wearing her self-designed dress, the award was handed by the fansite House of Eurovision from 1997 to 2016 and is being carried out by the fansite songfestival.be since 2017.[148]
Eurovision Song Contest: Düsseldorf 2011 was the official compilation album of the 2011 contest, put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released byEMI Records andCMC International on 15 April 2011. The album featured all 43 songs that entered in the 2011 contest, including the semi-finalists that failed to qualify into the grand final.[149]
^abcArbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
^On behalf of the German public broadcasting consortiumARD[35]
^abDespite finishing with the same number of points as Armenia, Malta is deemed to have finished in eleventh place due to receiving points from a greater number of countries.
^abDespite finishing with the same number of points as Albania, Turkey is deemed to have finished in thirteenth place due to receiving points from a greater number of countries.
^abDespite finishing with the same number of points as Slovakia, Bulgaria is deemed to have finished in thirteenth place due to receiving points from a greater number of countries.
^abDespite finishing with the same number of points as Romania, Russia is deemed to have finished in sixteenth place due to receiving points from a greater number of countries.
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