Estonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Estonian entry was selected through Eesti Laul 2012, a national selection that consisted of two semifinals and a final, organised by the Estonian broadcaster ERR. Ott Lepland represented Estonia with the song "Kuula", which qualified from the second semi-final and went on to place 6th in the final, scoring 120 points.
Eesti Laul 2012
Eesti Laul 2012 was the fourth edition of the Estonian national selection to select the Estonian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. On 26 September2011, ERR opened the submission period for Estonian nationals to submit their entries. The submission period came to a close on 12 December 2011 with 159 entries being received. On 15 December 2011 a selection committee of 11 music experts selected 20 songs from the submissions to participate in the semi-finals of Eesti Laul 2012. The semi-finalists were announced by the executive producer of Eesti Laul, Heidy Purga, during the daily entertainment program Ringvaade. The selection committee consisted of Owe Petersell, Toomas Puna, Erik Morna, Iiris Vesik, Valner Valme, Siim Nestor, Henry Kõrvits, Olavi Paide, Koit Raudsepp, Ingrid Kohtla.
Semi-final 1
The first semifinal of Eesti Laul 2012 took place on 18 February 2012 at ERR Studios and was hosted by Piret Järvis. The live portion of the show included all competing artists awaiting the results in the green room while the actual performances were pre-recorded earlier. Ten songs competed for five spots in the final with the outcome decided by combining the votes of a jury panel and a televote which registered 17,858 votes. The five qualifiers were August Hunt, Loss Paranoias, Ott Lepland, Liis Lemsalu and POP Maniacs. The jury panel for the first semi-final consisted of: Ines, Owe Petersell, Erik Morna, Tõnis Kahu, Els Himma, Mart Niineste, Jalmar Vabarna, Sven Grünberg, Olav Osolin, Veronika Portsmuth and Valner Valme.
Semi-final 2
The second semifinal of Eesti Laul 2012 took place on 25 February 2012 at ERR Studios and was hosted by Piret Järvis. The live portion of the show included all competing artists awaiting the results in the green room while the actual performances were pre-recorded earlier. Ten songs competed for five spots in the final with the outcome decided by combining the votes of a jury panel and a televote which registered 14,839 votes. The five qualifiers were Traffic, Teele Viira, Lenna, Birgit Õigemeel and Violina and Tenfold Rabbit. The jury panel for the first semi-final consisted of: Ines, Owe Petersell, Erik Morna, Tõnis Kahu, Els Himma, Mart Niineste, Jalmar Vabarna, Sven Grünberg, Olav Osolin, Veronika Portsmuth and Valner Valme.
Final
The final of Eesti Laul 2012 took place on 3 March 2012 at the Nokia Concert Hall in Tallinn, hosted by Piret Järvis, Taavi Teplenkov and Tiit Sukk. On 27 February, the draw for the running order occurred and was hosted by Piret Järvis at the Solaris Centre in Tallinn. Five songs from each semifinal, all together 10 songs, competed in the first round of the competition where a jury and public televote decided the top 2 - Lenna and Ott Lepland, who proceeded to the super final. The public vote in the first round registered 48,995 votes. Ott Lepland and the song "Kuula" was the winner in the super final, a result determined exclusively by a public vote between the two finalists which registered 46,670 votes. The jury panel for the final was composed of: Ivo Linna, Hanna-Liina Võsa, Toomas Puna, Siim Nestor, Ines, Ewert Sundja, Heini Vaikmaa, Helen Sildna, Madis Aesma, Owe Petersell and Koit Toome. The show featured an opening performance from 2011 Estonian representative Getter Jaani performing "NYC Taxi" and interval acts 3 Pead and Bonzo performing "Prostituudi laul", Marten Kuningas and HU? performing "Areen" and Kosmikud and Laine performing "Rändaja õhtulaul".
At Eurovision
Estonia competed in the second half of the second semi-final, on 24 May 2012, following Turkey and preceding Slovakia. Ott Lepland received 100 points and placed 4th, thus qualifying for the final on 26 May. In the final, Estonia was drawn to perform 11th, following Italy and preceding Norway. The Estonian entry scored a total of 120 points and placed 6th in the final.
Split results
In the Semi-final Estonia came 4th with 100 points: the public awarded Estonia 5th place with 88 points and the jury awarded 4th place with 102 points.
In the Final Estonia came 6th with 120 points: the public awarded Estonia 12th place with 78 points and the jury awarded 6th place with 152 points.
