Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011
Croatia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany, selecting their entry through the national selection Dora 2011 - Let's go to Eurovision!, organised by Croatian broadcaster Hrvatska radiotelevizija.
Before Eurovision
Dora 2011 - Let's go to Eurovision!
Dora 2011 was the nineteenth edition of the Croatian national selection Dora, which selected Croatia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. The competition took place at the capital Zagreb instead of its traditional home in Opatija, a small town on the Adriatic Coast, due to a Dora in Zagreb being a lot less expensive to hold. Having observed this year's winner from Germany, HRT has decided to choose a representative in the same way that the Germans chose Lena Meyer-Landrut.Format
Dora 2011 consisted of 32 acts competing over seven live shows between 22 January and 26 February 2011. In the first two shows, twelve acts participated with the bottom six being eliminated. In the third show, the twelve participants that advanced from the first two shows competed, with the bottom seven being eliminated. In the fourth show, six acts competed, with the bottom two being eliminated. In both the fifth and sixth programme, one act will be eliminated, determining the two finalists. For the first five shows, a wildcard was also awarded to one of the eliminated acts. Both the qualifiers for the first six shows and the wildcard acts for the first five shows were determined exclusively by a public televote.The final took place on 5 March 2010, featuring the two finalists performing three entries written by famous Croatian composers invited by HRT for the competition. The winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the song for each finalist was determined by a 50/50 combination of points awarded by a three-member jury and from the public televote. In the second round, the final winner was selected exclusively by the public televote.
All shows were held at the Studio 10 Anton Marti in Zagreb, hosted by Aleksandar Kostadinov, Leona Paraminski and Monika Lelas.
Competing artists
HRT stressed that the contest is open to unknown acts as well as big names from the Croatian showbiz scene. 150 applications were received by the broadcaster. Twenty-four artists and two backups were selected for the competition from the received applications. The competing participants were announced on 21 December 2010, which were:- Ana Eškinja
- Artemija Stanić
- Damir Kedžo
- Daria Kinzer
- Diana Heraković
- Dora Benc
- Doris Teur
- Filip Dizdar
- Ivana Brkašić
- Jacques Houdek
- Jelena Vanjek
- Katica Marinović
- Maksim Hozić
- Manuela Svorcan
- Marija Rubčić
- Marina Đurović
- Mario Sambrailo
- Mijo Lešina
- Mila Soldatić
- :de:Mirko Švenda Žiga|Mirko Švenda-Žiga
- Miro Tomić
- Renata Holi
- Sabrina Hebiri
- Saša Lozar
- Tina Vukov
- Valentina Briški
Elimination chart
Heat 1 (22 January 2011)
- Celebrity judges: Gabi Novak, Dino Jelusić and Milana Vlaović
- In a press conference soon after the first heat, it was announced that the votes were incorrectly analyzed and that Jelena Vanjek had qualified rather than Damir Kedžo.
| Draw | Artist | Song | Place | Result |
| 1 | Damir Kedžo | "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" | — | Eliminated |
| 2 | Ivana Brkašić | "Iznad oblaka" | — | Eliminated |
| 3 | Artemija Stanić | "Believe" | — | Eliminated |
| 4 | Miro Tomić | "Sjećam se provog poljupca" | — | Safe |
| 5 | Mila Soldatić | "Wuthering Heights" | — | Eliminated |
| 6 | Tina Vukov | "S vremena na vrijeme" | — | Wildcard |
| 7 | Mario Sambrailo | "Sway" | — | Eliminated |
| 8 | Sabrina Hebiri | "Tempera" | — | Safe |
| 9 | Dora Benc | "This Is the Life" | — | Safe |
| 10 | Jelena Vanjek | "Gdje Dunav ljubi nebo" | — | Safe |
| 11 | Valentina Briški | "Monday Morning" | — | Safe |
| 12 | Jacques Houdek | "Molitva" | 1 | Safe |
Heat 2 (29 January 2011)
- Celebrity judges: Vanna, Luka Nižetić and Sandra Bagarić
| Draw | Artist | Song | Televote | Place | Result |
| 1 | Renata Holi | "Ja za ljubav neću moliti" | — | — | Eliminated |
| 2 | Mijo Lešina | "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" | — | — | Eliminated |
| 3 | Manuela Svorcan | "Da smo se voljeli manje" | — | — | Eliminated |
| 4 | Daria Kinzer | "A New Day Has Come" | — | — | Wildcard |
| 5 | Doris Teur | "Stop" | — | — | Safe |
| 6 | Diana Heraković | "Respect" | — | — | Eliminated |
| 7 | :de:Mirko Švenda Žiga|Mirko Švenda | "Da li znaš da te volim" | 2,969 | 1 | Safe |
| 8 | Katica Marinović | "I'm Outta Love" | — | — | Safe |
| 9 | Ana Eškinja | "Kao da me nema tu" | — | — | Safe |
| 10 | Marija Rubčić | "If I Ain't Got You" | — | — | Eliminated |
| 11 | Filip Dizdar | "Nebo iznad nas" | — | — | Eliminated |
| 12 | Saša Lozar | "Billie Jean" | — | — | Safe |
Heat 3 (5 February 2011)
- Celebrity judges: Tereza Kesovija, Maja Blagdan and Hari Varešanović
| Draw | Artist | Song | Televote | Place | Result |
| 1 | :de:Mirko Švenda Žiga|Mirko Švenda | "I'm Still Standing" | 3,978 | 1 | Safe |
| 2 | Doris Teur | "Tako lako" | — | — | Wildcard |
| 3 | Saša Lozar | "Stars" | — | — | Eliminated |
| 4 | Dora Benc | "Mjesec" | — | — | Eliminated |
| 5 | Sabrina Hebiri | "Mercy" | — | — | Eliminated |
| 6 | Miro Tomić | "Nitko kao ti" | — | — | Eliminated |
| 7 | Jacques Houdek | "Right Here Waiting" | — | — | Safe |
| 8 | Katica Marinović | "Vatra i led" | — | — | Safe |
| 9 | Tina Vukov | "Cry Cry" | — | — | Eliminated |
| 10 | Jelena Vanjek | "Valerie" | — | — | Eliminated |
| 11 | Ana Eškinja | "Alejandro" | — | — | Safe |
| 12 | Daria Kinzer | "Ugasi me" | — | — | Safe |
Heat 4 (12 February 2011)
- Celebrity judges: Ivana Banfić, Mirjana Bohanec and Tomislav Bralić
| Draw | Artist | Song | Place | Result |
| 1 | Katica Marinović | "Tvoja ljubav" | — | Wildcard |
| 2 | Jacques Houdek | "Oprosti" | — | Safe |
| 3 | Ana Eškinja | "Čarobno jutro" | — | Eliminated |
| 4 | :de:Mirko Švenda Žiga|Mirko Švenda | "U ljubav vjere nemam" | 1 | Safe |
| 5 | Daria Kinzer | "Da ti nisam bila dovoljna" | — | Safe |
| 6 | Doris Teur | "Danas sam luda" | — | Eliminated |
Quarter-final (19 February 2011)
- Celebrity judges: Danijela Martinović, Miran Hadživeljković and :hr:Ivanka Boljkovac|Ivanka Boljkovac
| Artist | Draw | Song | Draw | Song | Televote | Place | Result |
| Katica Marinović | 1 | "Idem tamo gdje je sve po mom" | 5 | "I'm So Excited" | — | — | Eliminated |
| Daria Kinzer | 2 | "If I Could Turn Back Time" | 6 | "Kao rijeka" | — | — | Wildcard |
| :de:Mirko Švenda Žiga|Mirko Švenda | 3 | "Svi tvoji poljupci" | 7 | "Help!" | 6,707 | 1 | Safe |
| Jacques Houdek | 4 | "Kiss" | 8 | "Nek' ti bude ljubav sva" | — | 2 | Safe |
Semi-final (26 February 2011)
- Celebrity judges: Josipa Lisac, Emilija Kokić and :hr:Klapa Maslina|Branko Bubica
| Artist | Draw | Song | Draw | Song | Televote | Place | Result |
| Daria Kinzer | 1 | "Žena za sva vremena" | 4 | "The Best" | 11,844 | 1 | Finalist |
| Jacques Houdek | 2 | "Dvije duše" | 5 | "You Raise Me Up" | 8,937 | 2 | Finalist |
| :de:Mirko Švenda Žiga|Mirko Švenda | 3 | "You Raise Me Up" | 6 | "Bitanga i Princeza" | — | 3 | Eliminated |
Final (5 March 2011)
The final took place on 5 March 2011. The two finalists, Jacques Houdek and Daria Kinzer, performed a total of three songs: "Lahor", "Stotinama godina" and "Još ima nas". The winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the song for each finalist was determined based on the 50/50 combination of points awarded by the three-member celebrity judges and from the public televote. In the second round, the final winner was selected exclusively by the public televote.In the jury were Hrvoje Hegedušić, Hrid Matić, Branka Muvrin, Zvonimir Bučević, Želimir Babogredac and Željen Klašterka.
- Celebrity judges: Tonči Huljić, Severina and Andrej Babić
- Interval acts: Feminnem, Boris Novković and Petar Grašo
At Eurovision
Split results
- In the Semi-final 1 Croatia came 15th with 41 points: the public awarded Croatia 16th place with 32 points and the jury awarded 14th place with 49 points.
Points awarded by Croatia
Semi-final 1
Final
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |