Slovenia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 with the song "", composed by Robert Pešut, with lyrics by Barbara Pešut, and performed by the drag act Sestre. The Slovene participating broadcaster, (RTVSLO), held the national final 2002 in order to select its entry for the contest. 18 entries competed in the national final which consisted of two shows: a semi-final and a final. Entries were selected to advance from the semi-final based on a public televote and a jury panel. Ten entries qualified to compete in the final where "" performed by Sestre was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from two thematical juries.

Slovenia competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 25 May 2002. Performing during the show in position 22, Slovenia placed thirteenth out of the 24 participating countries, scoring 33 points.

Background

Prior to the 2002 contest, (RTVSLO) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Slovenia seven times since its first entry . Its highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been seventh place, achieved on two occasions: with the song "" performed by Darja Švajger, and with the song "Energy" performed by Nuša Derenda. Its only other top ten result was achieved when "" performed by Tanja Ribič placed tenth.

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, RTVSLO organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster has traditionally selected its entry through a national final entitled (EMA), which has been produced with variable formats. For 2002, RTVSLO opted to organise 2002 (EMA 2002) to select its entry.

Before Eurovision 2002

2002 (EMA 2002) was the seventh edition of the national final format (EMA). The competition was used by RTVSLO to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2002, and consisted of two shows on 15 and 16 February 2002. The broadcaster held both shows of the competition at its Studio 1 in Ljubljana and were broadcast on TV SLO1.

Format The format of the competition consisted of two televised shows: a semi-final held on 15 February 2002 and a final held on 16 February 2002. Eighteen songs competed in the semi-final where a public televote first selected the top five entries to proceed to the final. An expert jury then selected an additional five finalists out of the thirteen remaining songs. Ten songs competed in the final where the winner was selected by two thematical juries. Each jury group assigned points as follows: 1–8, 10 and 12, with the song that received the highest overall score when the votes were combined being determined the winner.

Competing entries Artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster until 25 October 2001. 75 entries were received by the broadcaster during the submission period. An expert committee consisting of Mojmir Sepe (conductor and composer), Aleš Strajnar (musician and composer), Jaka Pucihar (composer), Aleksander Radić (Head of the Slovenian delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest) and Peter Juratovec (television director) selected eighteen artists and songs for the competition from the received submissions. The competing artists were announced on 23 November 2001. Among the competing artists was former Slovenian Eurovision contestant Regina who represented .

Artist Song Songwriter(s) Alenka Šmid-Čena "Plamen v temi" Boštjan Groznik, Alenka Šmid-Čena Ana Dežman "Pelji me, kjer sem doma" Patrik Greblo, Milan Dekleva Andraž Hribar "Moja moja" Andraž Hribar, Milan Hribar Anika "Če ni ljubezni" Matjaž Zupan Botri "Angelina" Franci Zabukovec Damjana Golavšek "Vsako življenje gre svojo pot" Karel Novak, Damjana Golavšek Deja Mušič "Shangri-La" Sewer Nuhi, Deja MušičFaraoni"Imej me vedno s seboj"Enzo Hrovatin Gianni Rijavec "Baby Blue" Gianni Rijavec Irena Vrčkovnik "V ritmu, ki me lovi" Bor Zuljan, Leon Oblak Karmen Stavec "Še in še" Martin Štibernik, Karmen Stavec Katrinas "Ocean" Rok Golob, Marija Trampuž Manca and NORDunk "Zdravilo sveta" Bojan Logar, Branimir Korošec Monika Pučelj "Mi paše" Danilo Kocjančič, Drago Mislej-Mef Polona "Oblaki" Marino Legovič, Damjana Kenda Hussu Regina "Ljubezen daje moč" Aleksander KogojRok 'n' Band"Slika brez pozdrava"Dare Petrič, Rok Ferengja, Mišo Radovančevič, Damjan Kuzmijak Sestre "Samo ljubezen" Robert Pešut, Barbara Pešut

Shows

Semi-final The semi-final of EMA 2002 took place on 15 February 2002, hosted by Andrea F. and former Slovenian Eurovision entrants Darja Švajger ( and ) and Nuša Derenda (). The eighteen competing entries first faced a public televote where the top five proceeded to the final; an additional five qualifiers were then selected out of the remaining thirteen entries by an expert jury.

+ Semi-final – 15 February 2002 Artist Song Televote Place Result 1 Katrinas "Ocean" 2,340 6 2 Irena Vrčkovnik "V ritmu, ki me lovi" 1,607 11 3 Alenka Šmid-Čena "Plamen v temi" 810 17 4 Manca and NORDunk "Zdravilo sveta" 894 16 Qualified 5 Monika Pučelj "Mi paše" 1,949 8 Qualified 6 Gianni Rijavec "Baby Blue" 1,727 10 7 Sestre "Samo ljubezen" 4,085 3 Qualified 8 Deja Mušič "Shangri-La" 463 18 9 Polona "Oblaki" 1,280 13 Qualified 10 Regina "Ljubezen daje moč" 2,260 7 11 Botri "Angelina" 1,253 14 Qualified 12 Damjana Golavšek "Vsako življenje gre svojo pot" 1,117 15 13 Ana Dežman "Pelji me, kjer sem doma" 1,286 12 Qualified 14 Anika "Če ni ljubezni" 1,912 9 15 Karmen Stavec "Še in še" 13,776 1 Qualified 16 Andraž Hribar "Moja moja" 3,639 5 Qualified 17 Rok 'n' Band "Slika brez pozdrava" 3,787 4 Qualified 18 Faraoni "Imej me vedno s seboj" 4,822 2 Qualified

Final The final of EMA 2002 took place on 16 February 2002 and was hosted by Miša Molk and Andrea F. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Ines (who represented ) performed as a guest. The points from two thematical juries selected "Samo ljubezen" performed by Sestre as the winner. The juries consisted of experts and representatives of the entertainment programme of RTVSLO. A public televote was also held during the show and originally had a weighting equal to the votes of a single jury, however its results were announced to have been invalidated in its entirety on 19 February as the voting lines were open for eight minutes instead of five as prescribed. Karmen Stavec was the winner of the televote with 31,944 votes, with Sestre was only ranked sixth by the televote with 8,454 votes.

+ Final – 16 February 2002 Artist Song Juries Total Place Expert RTVSLO 1 Manca and NORDunk "Zdravilo sveta" 8 4 12 6 2 Monika Pučelj "Mi paše" 5 8 13 4 3 Sestre "Samo ljubezen" 12 12 24 1 4 Polona "Oblaki" 10 7 17 2 5 Botri "Angelina" 2 3 5 8 6 Ana Dežman "Pelji me, kjer sem doma" 7 6 13 4 7 Karmen Stavec "Še in še" 6 10 16 3 8 Andraž Hribar "Moja moja" 4 5 9 7 9 Rok 'n' Band "Slika brez pozdrava" 1 1 2 10 10 Faraoni "Imej me vedno s seboj" 3 2 5 8 + Members of the Jury Jury Members Experts Mojmir Sepe Aleš Strajnar Drago IvanušaRTVSLO Simona Tepeš Mira Bučar Anton Natek

Controversy The victory of Sestre at EMA 2002 was heavily criticised in Slovenia, mainly due to the votes from the two juries being sufficient in determining the final winner. A group of Slovenian singers, composers and record labels published a protest letter following the competition threatening to never again appear at any event organised by the entertainment department of RTVSLO, while questions were also raised in the country's parliament regarding the broadcaster's image as the controversy garnered international media attention. A new voting round was planned to be held with the winner being exclusively determined by public televoting, but this did not materialise and Sestre ultimately remained as the Slovenian Eurovision representative.

At Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest 2002 took place at Saku Suurhall in Tallinn, Estonia, on 25 May 2002. The participants list included the previous year's winning country, the "Big Four" countries, consisting of , , , and the , any eligible countries which did not compete in the 2001 contest, and countries which had obtained the highest average points total at the previous year's contest, up to 24 total participants. According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the bottom six countries in the competed in the final. On 9 November 2001, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Slovenia was set to perform in position 22, following the entry from and before the entry from . Slovenia finished in thirteenth place with 33 points.

The show was televised in Slovenia on TV SLO1.

Voting Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Slovenia and awarded by Slovenia in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to in the contest. RTVSLO appointed Nuša Derenda (who represented who represented ) as its spokesperson to announce the Slovenian votes during the show.

+ Points awarded to Slovenia 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 Slovenia Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

References