Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007

Prior to the 2007 contest, Macedonian Radio Television (MRT) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Macedonia six times since its first entry . Its best result in the contest to this point was twelfth, achieved with the song "Ninanajna" performed by Elena Risteska. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the , Macedonia had featured in every final. As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, MRT organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster had previously selected its entry for the contest through both national finals and internal selections. MRT confirmed its intentions to participate at the 2007 contest on 9 November 2006. Since 1996, MRT selected its entries using a national final, a procedure that continued for its 2007 entry. ==Before Eurovision==

was the national final organised by MRT that selected its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. Fifteen entries participated in the competition which took place on 24 February 2007 at the Universal Hall in Skopje, hosted by Milanka Rašić, Živkica Gjurčinovska and Igor Džambazov and was broadcast on MTV 1 and MTV Sat. Competing entries A submission period was opened for interested artists and composers to submit their songs between 20 November 2006 and 20 December 2006. MRT received 150 submissions at the closing of the deadline. Twelve entries were selected from the open submissions, while an additional three entries were wildcards submitted by well-known artists directly invited by MRT for the competition. The twelve selected songs from the open submissions were announced on 6 January 2007, while their artists were announced on 24 January 2007 along with the three wildcard entries. Among the competing artists was Karolina Gočeva who represented . Among the competing composers, Elena Risteska represented . Final The final took place on 24 February 2007. All fifteen competing entries were accompanied by the MRT orchestra, conducted by Kire Kostov, and regional televoting selected "" performed by Karolina Gočeva as the winner. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the competition featured guest performances by Boris Novković (who represented ), Elena Risteska (who represented Macedonia in 2006), and Dmitry Koldun (who would represent ). Preparation On 25 March, Karolina filmed the official music video for "". The music video, directed by the production company Tomato Production, was released on 3 April along with the English version of the song. MRT originally intended for "" to be performed solely in Macedonian at the Eurovision Song Contest, but it was later decided together with Karolina that the song would be performed in a mixture of English and Macedonian at the contest. Promotion Karolina made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "" as the Macedonian Eurovision entry. On 5 March, Karolina performed "" during the presentation show of the , BH Eurosong Show 2007. Karolina also performed the song during the final of the , Beovizija 2007, on 8 March. In addition to her international appearances, on 26 April, Karolina held a pre-contest concert at the Metropolis Arena in Skopje. ==At Eurovision==

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) and the ten highest placed finishers in the are required to qualify from the semi-final on 10 May 2007 in order to compete for the final on 12 May 2007. On 12 March 2007, a special allocation draw was held which determined the running order for the semi-final and Macedonia was set to perform in position 18, following the entry from and before the entry from . The semi-final and final were broadcast in Macedonia on MTV 1 and MTV Sat with commentary by Milanka Rašić. MRT appointed Elena Risteska, who represented Macedonia in 2006, as its spokesperson to announce the Macedonian votes during the final. Semi-final Karolina took part in technical rehearsals on 4 and 6 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 9 and 10 May. The Macedonian performance featured Karolina performing in a short green dress together with a ballerina, a dancer and three backing vocalists which began the song seated on chairs. The background LED screens displayed a starry sky and the performance also featured the use of a wind machine and pyrotechnics. The five backing performers that joined Karolina on stage were Ana Kostova Kostadinovska, Andrijana Janevska, Boban Kovačevski, Sara Projkovska Nikolovska and Stevo Cjepinovski. At the end of the show, Macedonia was announced as having finished in the top ten and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Macedonia placed ninth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 97 points. Final The draw for the running order for the final was done by the presenters during the announcement of the ten qualifying countries during the semi-final and Macedonia was drawn to perform in position 6, following the entry from and before the entry from . Karolina once again took part in dress rehearsals on 11 and 12 May before the final and performed a repeat of her semi-final performance during the final on 12 May. Macedonia placed fourteenth in the final, scoring 73 points. Voting Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Macedonia and awarded by Macedonia in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Serbia in the semi-final and the final of the contest. Points awarded to Macedonia Points awarded by Macedonia ==Notes==