Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

Prior to the 2009 contest, Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Serbia as an independent nation twice since its first entry , winning the contest with their debut entry "Molitva" performed by Marija Šerifović. Since then, all two of Serbia's entries have featured in the final. In , "Oro" performed by Jelena Tomašević placed sixth in the final as the host country. As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, RTS organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster confirmed its intentions to participate at the 2009 contest on 29 November 2008. Since 2007, RTS used the Beovizija national final in order to select its entry and along with its participation confirmation, the broadcaster announced the organization of Beovizija 2009 in order to select its 2009 entry. == Before Eurovision ==

Beovizija 2009 Beovizija 2009 was the seventh edition of the Beovizija national final organised by RTS in order to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The selection consisted of a semi-final featuring twenty songs and a final featuring eleven songs to be held on 7 and 8 March 2009, respectively, at the Sava Centar in Belgrade. Both shows were hosted by Jovana Janković, Milena Vasić and Srđan Timarov. The two shows were broadcast on RTS 1, RTS Sat, in Bosnia and Herzegovina on RTRS, via radio on Radio Belgrade as well as streamed online via the broadcaster's website rts.rs. Competing entries Artists and songwriters were able to submit their entries between 24 December 2008 and 24 January 2009. Both artists and songwriters were required to be Serb citizens, while songs were required to be submitted in Serbian. At the closing of the deadline, 90 submissions were received. A selection committee reviewed the submissions and selected twenty entries to proceed to the national final. The selection committee consisted of RTS music editors Jelena Ilić, Ana Milićević and Jelena Vlahović. The selected competing entries were announced on 30 January 2009. On 11 February 2009, Nataša Bekvalac announced her withdrawal from the national final due to scheduled performances and private obligations. Her song "Bili smo najlepši" was performed by Ana Nikolić instead. Shows Semi-final The semi-final took place on 7 March 2009 where twenty songs competed. The ten qualifiers for the final were decided by a combination of votes from a jury panel consisting of Jelena Jovičić (actress), Jovan Maljoković (musician and composer) and Ivan Ivačković (rock critic), and the Serbian public via SMS voting. Eurovision contestants Regina, Igor Cukrov and Andrea, Next Time, Andrea Demirović, and Quartissimo and Martina, which would represent Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovenia in 2009, respectively, were featured as guest performers during the show. Following the semi-final, RTS announced that Ana Nikolić and Ivana Selakov, who were both originally announced as non-qualifiers during the show, would be reinstated to the final due to technical errors in the public vote, where only votes cast during the first five minutes of the 10 minute voting period were counted. Only Selakov ultimately agreed to participate in the final. Final The final took place on 8 March 2009. Former Eurovision contestants Sirusho, who represented Armenia in 2008, Boaz Ma'uda, who represented Israel in 2008, and Jelena Tomašević, who represented Serbia in 2008, were featured as guest performers during the show, performing together "Time to Pray", composed by Israeli President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres. Controversy Following the final of Beovizija 2009, controversy arose as the televoters' favourite, OT Bend, only came second despite taking in more votes than all ten remaining finalists combined. The announcement of Marko Kon and Milan Nikolić as the winners was met with booing by the audience in the venue, while OGAE Serbia published an online letter after the competition in which they questioned the "almost diametrically opposed" jury results between the semi-final and final, alongside the votes of final juror Željko Joksimović who awarded the least points to OT Bend in comparison with the other two members. Joksimović subsequently responded that he had voted, according to his conscience, in favour of a song that "no one lobbied for", adding that people have different tastes and that performers have their fans (the members of OT Bend consisted of contestants from the reality talent show Operacija trijumf). ==At Eurovision==

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top nine songs from each semi-final as determined by televoting progress to the final, and a tenth was determined by back-up juries. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 30 January 2009, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals. Serbia was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2009. The running order for the semi-finals was decided through another draw on 16 March 2009 and Serbia was set to perform in position 4, following the entry from Latvia and before the entry from Poland. The two semi-finals and the final were broadcast in Serbia on RTS 1 and RTS Sat with commentary for the first semi-final by Dragan Ilić and commentary for the second semi-final and final by Duška Vučinić-Lučić. The Serbian spokesperson, who announced the Serbian votes during the final, was co-presenter of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest Jovana Janković. Semi-final Marko Kon and Milaan took part in technical rehearsals on 4 and 7 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 11 and 12 May. The Serbian performance featured Marko Kon in a yellow jacket and Milaan in a black leather costume performing together with three male pantomimes and a female dancer in a white tulle dress, who was lifted up in the air and dropped to the floor during the performance. The background LED screens displayed pixelated sketches of the performers' faces. The director of the Serbian performance was Mojca Horvat and the choreography was completed by Milan Gromilić. The three pantomimes that joined Marko Kon and Milaan on stage were: Ljubiša Dinčić, Igor Knežević and Jovan Sejnjanović. The female dancer was Katarina Gromilić. At the end of the show, Serbia was not announced among the 10 qualifying entries in the second semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. This marked the first time that Serbia failed to qualify to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest from a semi-final since its first entry in 2007. It was later revealed that Serbia placed tenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 60 points; and whilist it would have been enough to qualify in previous years, in 2008 and 2009 only the top nine places qualified automatically and the tenth place was decided based on the votes of the backup juries, and this time, juries chose Croatia to qualify over Serbia. Voting Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Serbia and awarded by Serbia in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows: Points awarded to Serbia Points awarded by Serbia Detailed voting results The following members comprised the Serbian jury: • Bilja Krstić – musician • Jelena Tomašević – singer, represented Serbia in the 2008 contest • Aleksandar Sedlar – musician • Marko Đorđević – musician • Vlada Maričić – musician ==References==