Croatia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with the song "You Are the Only One", composed by Ivan Mikulić, with lyris by Vedran Ostojić and Duško Gruborović, and performed by Mikulić himself. The Croatian participating broadcaster, (HRT), organised the national final Dora 2004 to select its entry for the contest. Twenty-four entries competed in the national final which consisted of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. Six entries qualified from each semi-final on 12 and 13 March 2004 to compete in the final on 14 March 2004. In the final, "" performed by Ivan Mikulić was selected as the winner following a regional televote. The song was later translated from Croatian to English for Eurovision and was titled "You Are the Only One".

Croatia competed in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2004. Performing during the show in position 18, "You Are the Only One" was announced among the top 10 entries of the semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 15 May. It was later revealed that Croatia placed ninth out of the 22 participating countries in the semi-final with 72 points. In the final, Croatia performed in position 11 and placed twelfth out of the 24 participating countries, scoring 50 points.

Background

Prior to the 2004 contest, (HRT) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Croatia eleven times since its first entry in . Its best result in the contest was fourth, achieved on two occasions: in with the song "" performed by Maja Blagdan and in with the song "Marija Magdalena" performed by Doris Dragović. In , "" performed by Claudia Beni placed fifteenth.

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, HRT organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Since 1993, HRT organised the national final Dora in order to select its entry for the contest, a method that was continued for its 2004 participation.

Before Eurovision Dora 2004 Dora 2004 was the twelfth edition of the Croatian national selection Dora organised by HRT to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004. The competition consisted of two semi-finals on 12 and 13 March 2004 and a final on 14 March 2004, all taking place at the Hotel Kvarner in Opatija and broadcast on HTV1 as well as online via the broadcaster's website hrt.hr.

Format Twenty-four songs competed in Dora 2004 which consisted of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. Twelve songs competed in each semi-final with the top six proceeding to complete the twelve-song lineup in the final. The results of all shows were determined solely by public televoting. Votes cast via landline were divided into five telephone regions in Croatia, each of them which created an overall ranking from which points from 1 (lowest) to 12 (highest) were assigned to the competing songs. An additional set of points from 1 to 12 was assigned based on the votes cast via mobiles, which included options for telephone and SMS voting. Ties in all shows were decided in favour of the entry that received the higher number of high-scoring points.

Dora 2004 televoting regions A: Slavonia B: Dalmatia C: Istria, Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Lika D: Northwest and Central Croatia E: District and City of Zagreb

Competing entries On 3 December 2003, HRT opened a submission period where artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster with the deadline on 17 January 2004. 297 entries were received by the broadcaster during the submission period. A seven-member expert committee consisting of representatives of HRT: Željko Mesar, Aleksandar Kostadinov, Željen Klašterka, Tomislav Štengl, Zoran Brajša, Marin Margetić and Dubravko Češnjak reviewed the received submissions and selected twenty-four artists and songs for the competition. HRT announced the competing entries on 24 January 2004. Artist Song Songwriter(s) Alen Nižetić "Pala si sa neba" Daniel Hojsak, Marina Ergotić Andrea "Noah" Tonči Huljić, Vjekoslava Huljić Andrea Čubrić "Diva" Davor Devčić, Mirza Tetarić Angie "Umrla bih ja na tvojim rukama" Neno Ninčević, Miro Buljan Azzuro "Trebam te" Davor Devčić, Borivoj Vincetić Chanté "Zašto pitaš" Vanda Jirasek, David Vurdelja En Face "Tvoje lice" Sandro Bastiančić, Miroslav Vidović Ibrica Jusić "Još samo ovaj put" Mario Vukelić Ina "Ti si moja nesreća" Zrinko Tutić Ivan Mikulić "Daješ mi krila" Ivan Mikulić, Vedran Ostojić, Duško Gruborović Ivana Kindl "Strastvena žena" Ivana Kindl, Silvio Pasarić, Igor Mazul Jacques Houdek "Nema razloga" Jacques Houdek, Boris Đurđević Karma "Malo pomalo" Josip Miani, Nenad Čirjak, Darko Duvnjak-Darus Lana "Prava istina" Milana Vlaović Magnetic "Iluzija" Daniel Hojsak, Marina Ergotić Merita's and Massimo "Odjednom ti" Meri Jaman, Anita Valo, Ines Prajo, Arijana Kunštek Mladen Grdović "Ljubav moja si ti" Mladen Grdović P'eggy "Sve" Predrag Martinjak, Ante Pecotić Petra Kosalec "Ostani" Petra Kosalec Renata Holi "Nosiš mi proljeće" Marko Tomasović, Nevia Korpar Rivers "Kiša ljubavi" Elvis Stanić Sandra "Gdje snovi počinju" Darko Juranović, Sandra Berković Tina Vukov and Matija Dedić Trio "Tuga dolazi kasnije" Robert Funčić Vladimir Bodegrajac "Ne plači" Vladimir Bodegrajac

Shows

Semi-finals The two semi-finals took place on 12 and 13 March 2004, hosted by Duško Ćurlić who was joined by Tihana Zrnić in the first semi-final and Barbara Radulović in the second semi-final. The six qualifiers for the final from each semi-final were determined by a public televote divided into regional and mobile phone votes. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Ruslana (who won Eurovision for ) performed as the interval act during the first semi-final. + Semi-final 1 – 12 March 2004ArtistSongTelevoting RegionsMobilesTotalPlace 1 Chanté "Zašto pitaš"545595 33 8 2 Sandra "Gdje snovi počinju"132421 13 10 3 Angie "Umrla bih ja na tvojim rukama"311313 12 12 4 Azzuro "Trebam te"223132 13 11 5 Renata Holi "Nosiš mi proljeće"1166656 40 7 6 Karma "Malo pomalo"1091212811 62 3 7 Andrea Čubrić "Diva"454244 23 9 8 Andrea "Noah"91111101110 62 2 9 Mladen Grdović "Ljubav moja si ti"61210968 51 4 10 Alen Nižetić "Pala si sa neba"877777 43 6 11 Merita's and Massimo "Odjednom ti"7888109 50 5 12 Jacques Houdek "Nema razloga"12109111212 66 1 + Semi-final 2 – 13 March 2004ArtistSongTelevoting RegionsMobilesTotalPlace 1 Rivers "Kiša ljubavi"367544 28 9 2 Petra Kosalec "Ostani"684788 41 5 3 Vladimir Bodegrajac "Ne plači"722223 18 11 4 Magnetic "Iluzija"1055857 40 6 5 Tina Vukov and Matija Dedić Trio "Tuga dolazi kasnije"278336 29 8 6 Ivana Kindl "Strastvena žena"996999 51 4 7 Ina "Ti si moja nesreća"533472 24 10 8 P'eggy "Sve"111111 6 12 9 Lana "Prava istina"11109111011 62 2 10 En Face "Tvoje lice"4411665 36 7 11 Ibrica Jusić "Još samo ovaj put"81110101110 60 3 12 Ivan Mikulić "Daješ mi krila"121212121212 72 1

Final The final took place on 14 March 2004, hosted by Duško Ćurlić, Tihana Zrnić and Barbara Radulović. The winner, "" performed by Ivan Mikulić, was determined by a public televote divided into regional and mobile phone votes. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Maksim Mrvica, Ana Rucner, Laura Vadjon, Lana Kos and Claudia Beni (who represented ) performed as the interval acts during the show.

+ Final – 14 March 2004ArtistSongTelevoting RegionsMobilesTotalPlace 1 Magnetic "Iluzija"72223 319 10 2 Petra Kosalec "Ostani"11115 211 12 3 Alen Nizetic "Pala si sa neba"44332 117 11 4 Merita's and Massimo "Odjednom ti"35756 632 7 5 Ivana Kindl "Strastvena žena"53464 527 8 6 Mladen Grdović "Ljubav moja si ti"27641 424 9 7 Ibrica Jusić "Još samo ovaj put"610889 849 5 8 Lana "Prava istina"86577 740 6 9 Andrea "Noah"1111111111 1267 2 10 Karma "Malo pomalo"10810108 1056 3 11 Jacques Houdek "Nema razloga"999910 955 4 12 Ivan Mikulić "Daješ mi krila"1212121212 1171 1

At Eurovision It was announced that the competition's format would be expanded to include a semi-final in 2004. According to the 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 12 May 2004 in order to compete for the final on 15 May 2004; the top ten countries from the semi-final progress to the final. On 23 March 2004, a special allocation draw was held which determined the running order for the semi-final and Croatia was set to perform in position 19, following the entry from and before the entry from . Ivan Mikulić performed the English version of "" at the contest, titled "You Are the Only One" (formerly "You Were My Only Love"). At the end of the semi-final, Croatia was announced as having finished in the top 10 and consequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Croatia placed ninth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 72 points. 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 Croatia was drawn to perform in position 11, following the entry from and before the entry from . Croatia placed twelfth in the final, scoring 50 points.

Both the semi-final and the final were broadcast in Croatia on HRT with commentary by Aleksandar Kostadinov. HRT appointed Barbara Kolar as its spokesperson to announce the Croatian votes during the final.

Voting Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Croatia and awarded by Croatia in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to in the semi-final and the final of the contest.

Following the release of the televoting figures by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that a total of 61,070 televotes were cast in Croatia during the two shows: 20,850 votes during the semi-final and 40,220 votes during the final.

Points awarded to Croatia

+ Points awarded to Croatia (Semi-final) Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

+ Points awarded to Croatia (Final) Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

Points awarded by Croatia

+ Points awarded by Croatia (Semi-final) Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

+ Points awarded by Croatia (Final) Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

References