The
Eurovision Song Contest is an internationally televised songwriting competition, organised annually by the
European Broadcasting Union (EBU) between members of the union who participate representing their countries. Each participating broadcaster submits an original song to be performed by a chosen artist, and cast votes for the other countries' songs to determine a winner. Originally held in with seven competing countries, the contest quickly began to grow as more broadcasters became interested in participating, and by the early 1990s entries from over 20 countries were regularly featured in each year's event. By 1992, an increasing number of broadcasters had begun expressing an interest in participating in the contest for the first time. This was a result of
revolutions leading to the fall of communist regimes in Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s and the formation of new countries due to the collapse of
the Soviet Union and
Yugoslavia. With the admission into the EBU of the broadcasters of the countries that emerged from the breakup of Yugoslavia, and the merger of the EBU with its Eastern European counterpart, the
International Radio and Television Organisation (OIRT), the number of broadcasters eligible to participate in the contest increased significantly. To accommodate these new broadcasters, the EBU expanded the maximum number of participants for the to twenty-five, with entries from three new countries joining twenty-two of the twenty-three countries which had participated in the . was unable to participate after its EBU member broadcaster (JRT) was disbanded in 1992 and its successor organisations (RTS) and (RTCG) were barred from joining the union due to
sanctions against the country as part of the
Yugoslav Wars. In order to determine which countries would progress to the contest proper, a preselection round was held for the first time in the contest's history, with the top three countries in this round progressing to compete in the
Eurovision Song Contest 1993 held in
Millstreet, Ireland. This contest, , took place in
Ljubljana, Slovenia, and was produced by the Slovenian public broadcaster (RTVSLO). and
Mojmir Sepe served as joint musical directors and were responsible for leading the during the event; a separate musical director could be appointed by each participating broadcaster to
conduct the orchestra during the performance of its entry. On behalf of the EBU, the event was overseen by Frank Naef as
scrutineer. == Participating countries ==