Eurovision Song Contest 2011
The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following Lena's win at the 2010 contest in Oslo, Norway with the song "Satellite". It was the third time Germany had hosted the contest, having previously done so in and . Organised by the European Broadcasting Union and host broadcasters Arbeitsgemeinschaft Rundfunkanstalten Deutschland and Norddeutscher Rundfunk, the contest was held at the Esprit Arena and consisted of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May, and the final on 14 May 2011. The three live shows were hosted by Anke Engelke, Judith Rakers and Stefan Raab.
Forty-three countries participated in the contest, equalling the record of the 2008 edition. Four countries returned to the contest this year; Austria returned after their last participation in, Hungary returned after their last participation in, San Marino returned after their very first participation in. Italy also returned to the contest after their last participation fourteen years earlier, in.
The winner was Azerbaijan with the song "Running Scared" performed by Ell & Nikki and written by Stefan Örn, Sandra Bjurman and Iain James Farquharson. This was Azerbaijan's first victory in the contest, after only 4 years of participation, and the first victory for one of the South Caucasus countries. It was also the first male-female duo to win the contest since. Italy, Sweden, Ukraine and Denmark rounded out the top five. Apart from Italy, the only other "Big Five" country to make the top 10 were Germany, finishing tenth. However, the United Kingdom followed closely behind, finishing eleventh. This was the first time since the juries were reintroduced alongside the televoting in 2009 that the winner did not place first in the jury voting; Italy was the jury winner, while Azerbaijan was the televote winner.
The broadcast of the final won the Rose d'Or award for Best Live Event.
Location
The contest took place in Düsseldorf - the seventh-largest city in Germany. This was the first contest to take place outside the host nation's capital city since the 2004 contest in Istanbul. It was also the first Eurovision Song Contest held in Germany since German reunification, with West Germany having previously hosted the contest in 1957 and 1983. Germany was also the first member of the "Big Five" to host the Contest since the implementation of the rule in 2000 that permits the five largest contributors to the EBU – Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy – to qualify automatically for the final alongside the previous year's winner.The Esprit Arena - a multi-functional football stadium - hosted the contest. The stadium acquired a rental period of six weeks, in order to allow construction and dismantling work in relation to the contest to be carried out. The stadium accommodated a capacity of 38,000 for spectators during the Eurovision Song Contest. Düsseldorf offered 23,000 hotel beds and 2,000 additional beds in the Düsseldorf surroundings and on ships on the River Rhine.
Bidding phase
Twenty-three cities submit official bids to the German broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk, in order to be the host city for the 2011 contest. Eight of these cities continued to show interest in hosting the event including Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover, Gelsenkirchen, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt and Munich. NDR announced on 21 August 2010 that four of those cities had officially applied to host the 2011 Contest: Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover, and Düsseldorf.;Berlin
Concerns were raised about Berlin's bid concept which consisted of an inflatable tent to be built on Tempelhof's hangar area. Decision makers at NDR reportedly doubted the venue's ability to provide advantageous acoustic conditions. Berlin's speaker :de:Richard Meng|Richard Meng neither confirmed nor denied that because, he stated, "secrecy about the bid concepts was promised to the NDR".
;Düsseldorf
On 24 September 2010, it was announced that Fortuna Düsseldorf football club had applied to the Deutsche Fußball Liga for permission to move its home matches to the Paul-Janes-Stadion if the Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf was awarded the 2011 Song Contest. This message indicated that talks with Düsseldorf to host the song contest in the Esprit Arena were already at an advanced stage. The club later announced on 6 October 2010 that it had obtained permission to move its games if necessary.
The :de:Neue Ruhr Zeitung|Neue Ruhr Zeitung newspaper reported on 12 December 2010 that Fortuna Düsseldorf were to be moved to the Paul-Janes-Stadion due to the contest. Fortuna Düsseldorf's training venue next to the Esprit Arena would be equipped with mobile stands from a Swiss event construction specialist, Nussli Group, creating 20,000 extra seats. This decision was made because the :de:airberlin world|Arena Sportpark Düsseldorf holds better logistic qualifications.
;Hamburg
On 2 October 2010 the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper announced that Hamburg would be unable to host the 2011 Song Contest, because the city could no longer fulfil the required financial conditions.
Host selection
On 12 October 2010, the German broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk announced, that the Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf had been chosen as the host venue for the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest.Key
Host venue
| City | Venue | Notes |
| Berlin | A large tent on the grounds of Tempelhof Airport | If chosen, the tent would have been located on the field near the hangars. Allegedly only room for 9,000 spectators. |
| Düsseldorf | Esprit Arena | Home of the Fortuna Düsseldorf football club. The stadium can hold up to 50,000 spectators, but will hold up to 38,000 spectators for the contest. |
| Hamburg | Hamburg Messehallen, Hall A1 | Would be staged at Hall A1, but with room for less than 10,000 spectators. |
| Hanover | Hanover Exhibition Centre | — |
Format
The four countries that were part of the Big Four, along with the host of the contest, automatically qualify for a place in the final. Since Germany was both a "Big Four" country and the host for the 2011 contest, there was a vacant spot in the final. At a Reference Group meeting in Belgrade it was decided that the existing rules would remain in place, and that the number of participants in the final would simply be lowered from twenty-five to twenty-four. On 31 December 2010, the official participation list was published by the EBU, which stipulated that with the return of Italy to the contest, this nation would become a member of the "Big Five". This change permitted Italy automatic qualification into the finals, alongside France, Spain, the United Kingdom, and host nation Germany, restoring the number of participants for the final to twenty-five nations.On 30 August 2010 it was announced that Svante Stockselius, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, would be leaving his position on 31 December 2010. On 26 November 2010, EBU reported that Jon Ola Sand would be the new Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Semi-final allocation draw
The draw to determine the semi-final running orders was held on 17 January 2011. All of the participating countries excluding the automatic finalists were split into six pots, based on the voting history of those countries in previous years. From these pots, half competed in the first semi-final on 10 May 2011. The other half in that particular pot competed in the second semi-final on 12 May 2011. This draw doubled as an approximate running order, in order for the delegations from the countries to know when their rehearsals commenced. The draw also determined in which of the semi-finals the automatic finalists would be able to cast their votes.Israeli broadcaster IBA requested to compete in the second semi-final, rather than the first semi-final that was pulled in the draw, due to Israel's Memorial Day coinciding with the first semi-final. German broadcaster NDR also requested that it be allowed to vote in the second semi-final for scheduling reasons.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 | Pot 5 | Pot 6 |
Graphic design
The design of the contest was built around the motto "Feel your heart beat", with the logo and on-screen graphics designed by Turquoise Branding. The postcard introducing each performance included the logo in the colours of the performing country ; then a German place was shown in a toy-like view using tilt-shift photography and a story happened there, whose main characters were people either living in Germany or tourists from that country. The contest's motto, 'Feel your heart beat', was then shown or said in the country's national or native language. For example, in the first postcard shown, the boyfriend drops a piece of paper. The camera then pans down to the paper, to show the Polish phrase "Poczuj bicie serca" handwritten on it. In the second postcard shown, a mountain climber from Norway climbs to the top of a mountain and yells the Norwegian phrase "Kjenn ditt hjerte slå.". Then, the heart appeared once again, and the stage and the crowd could be seen, with heartbeat sounds and pink lights pulsating in rhythm with the heartbeat, before the performance started.The main colours of the letterboxes were black and pink. The scoreboard showed a spokesperson from the country giving their votes on the right, while showing a table of results on the left. The large points were highlighted in pink, whilst the lower points, were in purple. This scoreboard design was used again the following year, with minor changes such as the large points appearing progressively larger in size compared to the lower points and the highlighted colours changed to match the 2012 theme, "Light your fire!"
National host broadcaster
, the European Broadcasting Union member to broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest in Germany, is a joint organisation of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters. The ARD has 10 members. The venues that were in consideration are located in the areas of three different members: Berlin is located within the Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg member area, Hamburg and Hanover within the Norddeutscher Rundfunk area and Düsseldorf within the Westdeutscher Rundfunk broadcasting area. While NDR has been responsible for the transmission of the Eurovision Song Contest in recent years when the final took place in other countries, the financial scope of the three broadcasters seemed to have become a decisive factor in the application procedure for the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest. The Tagesspiegel reported on 7 October 2010 that the costs for hosting this event resulted in a tense discussion about necessary savings on other programme contents made by the three broadcasters.Hosts
On 16 December 2010, NDR announced that Anke Engelke, Judith Rakers, and Stefan Raab were to be the presenters for the contest. It was the third time three people would host the contest, the previous such contests being 1999 and 2010. Raab is known as the German representative in 2000 with "Wadde hadde dudde da?", whereas Engelke is an actress and comedian, and Rakers journalist and television presenter.Event concept and ticket sale
On 13 October 2010 Thomas Schreiber, coordinator at ARD, outlined details of Düsseldorf's event concept. The Esprit Arena was to be split in two parts separated from each other. On one side of the stadium the stage would be installed while the other side would function as background dressing rooms for the artist delegations. An athletics arena next to the Esprit Arena would serve as the press centre for the event. The Esprit Arena offered comfortable seats relatively near to the stage that created an indoor event arena atmosphere rather than a football-stadium ambiance. There were plans to allow the public the chance to attend the dress rehearsals. Altogether, tickets were sold for seven shows.He also said in that interview that tickets for the event were likely to go on sale "within the next four weeks". NDR had already opened a preregistration e-mail-newsletter on its website for all people interested in tickets for the event.
Ticket sales started on 12 December 2010 at 12:12 CET on the website www.dticket.de, the only authorised seller. However, the ticket page opened for sales approximately two hours earlier than originally advertised; this announcement was made by an email newsletter sent to preregistered buyers minutes before opening, giving them a slight benefit in acquiring tickets. The final 32,000 tickets that were put on sale on 12 December sold out in less than six hours. Once camera positions had been determined, a few thousand extra tickets were put on sale.
Tickets for the semi-finals were put on sale in mid-January, when it was known which countries would take part in each semi-final.
Participating countries
On 31 December 2010, the EBU confirmed that 43 countries would compete in the 2011 Contest. The 2011 edition saw the returns of Austria, which had last participated in 2007; Italy, which had last participated in 1997; San Marino, which had only taken part in 2008; and Hungary, which had last participated in 2009. Montenegro had applied to take part in the contest on 4 December, but decided against participation and withdrew on 23 December, two days before 25 December no-strings-attached deadline.Slovakia announced its withdrawal from the 2011 Contest due to financial reasons, despite holding a public poll on the Slovenská televízia website on its Eurovision participation which received an 87.5% positive vote. STV announced that it planned to return in the 2012 contest. However, Slovakia's application remained on the provisional list, leading to Slovakia's continued participation in the 2011 contest. STV announced in January 2011 that Slovakia would yet withdraw from the contest, citing to financial reasons and organisational changes. However the country was listed by the EBU as one of the semi-finalist countries in the semi-final allocation draw on 17 January, and STV later confirmed they would continue their participation to avoid a fine for a late withdrawal.
At a meeting in Belgrade on 28 August 2010, the EBU decided that each country had to choose its artist and song before 14 March 2011. On 15 March 2011, the draw for the running order took place in the host city. The semi-final allocation draw took place on 17 January in Düsseldorf.
Returning artists
Several artists made their return to the Eurovision Song Contest, including Dino Merlin, who had represented Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1999. Gunnar Ólason for Iceland had last appeared in 2001 as part of Two Tricky. Moldova's 2005 entrant Zdob și Zdub also returned. TWiiNS from Slovakia also return, they were backing vocalists for the Czech Republic in 2008. Sophio Toroshelidze, the lead singer of Eldrine from Georgia, was a lead singer for Sofia Nizharadze, Georgia's entry in 2010.Along with those artists, two previous Eurovision winners also returned to the contest: Dana International who won for Israel in 1998, and Lena who won for Germany in 2010 and brought the contest to Düsseldorf. Stefan Raab, who represented Germany in 2000 and appeared as a conductor and backing artist for other German entries, hosted the contest. This was the first time since 1958 and only the second time in the history of the contest that two former winners returned on the same year.
Semi-final 1
The full split jury/televoting results were announced by the EBU in May 2011.- The first semi-final took place in Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf on 10 May 2011.
- The ten countries in this semi-final with the highest scoring points, according to a combination of televotes and jury votes from each voting country, qualified for the final.
- Spain and the United Kingdom voted in this semi-final.
| Draw | Country | Artist | Song | Language | Place | Points |
| 01 | Magdalena Tul | "Jestem" | Polish | 19 | 18 | |
| 02 | Stella Mwangi | "Haba Haba" | English, Swahili | 17 | 30 | |
| 03 | Aurela Gaçe | "Feel the Passion" | English | 14 | 47 | |
| 04 | Emmy | "Boom Boom" | English | 12 | 54 | |
| 05 | Yüksek Sadakat | "Live It Up" | English | 13 | 47 | |
| 06 | Nina | "Čaroban" | Serbian | 8 | 67 | |
| 07 | Alexey Vorobyov | "Get You" | English, Russian | 9 | 64 | |
| 08 | Anna Rossinelli | "In Love for a While" | English | 10 | 55 | |
| 09 | Eldrine | "One More Day" | English | 6 | 74 | |
| 10 | Paradise Oskar | "Da Da Dam" | English | 3 | 103 | |
| 11 | Glen Vella | "One Life" | English | 11 | 54 | |
| 12 | Senit | "Stand By" | English | 16 | 34 | |
| 13 | Daria | "Celebrate" | English | 15 | 41 | |
| 14 | Sjonni's Friends | "Coming Home" | English | 4 | 100 | |
| 15 | Kati Wolf | "What About My Dreams?" | English, Hungarian | 7 | 72 | |
| 16 | Homens da Luta | "A luta é alegria" | Portuguese | 18 | 22 | |
| 17 | Evelina Sašenko | "C'est ma vie" | English | 5 | 81 | |
| 18 | Ell & Nikki | "Running Scared" | English | 2 | 122 | |
| 19 | Loukas Giorkas feat. Stereo Mike | "Watch My Dance" | English, Greek | 1 | 133 |
Semi-final 2
The full split jury/televoting results were announced by the EBU in May 2011.- The second semi-final took place in Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf on 12 May 2011.
- The ten countries in this semi-final with the highest scoring points, according to a combination of televotes and jury votes from each voting country, qualified for the final.
- France, Germany and Italy voted in this semi-final.
| Draw | Country | Artist | Song | Language | Place | Points |
| 01 | Dino Merlin | "Love in Rewind" | English | 5 | 109 | |
| 02 | Nadine Beiler | "The Secret Is Love" | English | 7 | 69 | |
| 03 | 3JS | "Never Alone" | English | 19 | 13 | |
| 04 | Witloof Bay | "With Love Baby" | English | 11 | 53 | |
| 05 | TWiiNS | "I'm Still Alive" | English | 13 | 48 | |
| 06 | Mika Newton | "Angel" | English | 6 | 81 | |
| 07 | Zdob și Zdub | "So Lucky" | English | 10 | 54 | |
| 08 | Eric Saade | "Popular" | English | 1 | 155 | |
| 09 | Christos Mylordos | "San aggelos s'agapisa" | Greek | 18 | 16 | |
| 10 | Poli Genova | "Na inat" | Bulgarian | 12 | 48 | |
| 11 | Vlatko Ilievski | "Rusinka" | Macedonian, English | 16 | 36 | |
| 12 | Dana International | "Ding Dong" | Hebrew, English | 15 | 38 | |
| 13 | Maja Keuc | "No One" | English | 3 | 112 | |
| 14 | Hotel FM | "Change" | English | 4 | 111 | |
| 15 | Getter Jaani | "Rockefeller Street" | English | 9 | 60 | |
| 16 | Anastasia Vinnikova | "I Love Belarus" | English | 14 | 45 | |
| 17 | Musiqq | "Angel in Disguise" | English | 17 | 25 | |
| 18 | A Friend in London | "New Tomorrow" | English | 2 | 135 | |
| 19 | Jedward | "Lipstick" | English | 8 | 68 |
Final
- The final took place on 14 May 2011.
- Only the "Big Five" countries automatically qualified for the final.
- From the two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May 2011, twenty countries qualified for the final. A total of twenty-five countries competed in the final.
- The voting system used was the same as in the 2010 contest, with a combination of televotes and jury votes selecting the winner. Viewers were able to vote during the performances; the voting window ended 15 minutes after the conclusion of the songs.
- Background music for the show included "Wonderful" by Gary Go.
| Draw | Country | Artist | Song | Language | Place | Points |
| 01 | Paradise Oskar | "Da Da Dam" | English | 21 | 57 | |
| 02 | Dino Merlin | "Love in Rewind" | English | 6 | 125 | |
| 03 | A Friend in London | "New Tomorrow" | English | 5 | 134 | |
| 04 | Evelina Sašenko | "C'est ma vie" | English | 19 | 63 | |
| 05 | Kati Wolf | "What About My Dreams?" | English, Hungarian | 22 | 53 | |
| 06 | Jedward | "Lipstick" | English | 8 | 119 | |
| 07 | Eric Saade | "Popular" | English | 3 | 185 | |
| 08 | Getter Jaani | "Rockefeller Street" | English | 24 | 44 | |
| 09 | Loukas Giorkas feat. Stereo Mike | "Watch My Dance" | English, Greek | 7 | 120 | |
| 10 | Alexey Vorobyov | "Get You" | English, Russian | 16 | 77 | |
| 11 | Amaury Vassili | "Sognu" | Corsican | 15 | 82 | |
| 12 | Raphael Gualazzi | "Madness of Love" | Italian, English | 2 | 189 | |
| 13 | Anna Rossinelli | "In Love for a While" | English | 25 | 19 | |
| 14 | Blue | "I Can" | English | 11 | 100 | |
| 15 | Zdob și Zdub | "So Lucky" | English | 12 | 97 | |
| 16 | Lena | "Taken by a Stranger" | English | 10 | 107 | |
| 17 | Hotel FM | "Change" | English | 17 | 77 | |
| 18 | Nadine Beiler | "The Secret Is Love" | English | 18 | 64 | |
| 19 | Ell & Nikki | "Running Scared" | English | 1 | 221 | |
| 20 | Maja Keuc | "No One" | English | 13 | 96 | |
| 21 | Sjonni's Friends | "Coming Home" | English | 20 | 61 | |
| 22 | Lucía Pérez | "Que me quiten lo bailao" | Spanish | 23 | 50 | |
| 23 | Mika Newton | "Angel" | English | 4 | 159 | |
| 24 | Nina | "Čaroban" | Serbian | 14 | 85 | |
| 25 | Eldrine | "One More Day" | English | 9 | 110 |
Scoreboard
The split jury/televoting results were announced by the EBU in May 2011. As in 2010, only the split totals received by each country were given, not the full breakdown, although the BBC revealed the details of the United Kingdom vote on 26 May 2011.Semi-final 1
12 points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the first semi-final:| N. | Contestant | Nation giving 12 points |
| 3 | Finland | Iceland, Norway, Russia |
| 2 | Azerbaijan | Georgia, Turkey |
| 2 | Croatia | Malta, Serbia |
| 2 | Iceland | Hungary, Spain |
| 2 | Lithuania | Poland, United Kingdom |
| 2 | Serbia | Croatia, Switzerland |
| 2 | Turkey | Albania, Azerbaijan |
| 1 | Albania | Greece |
| 1 | Georgia | Lithuania |
| 1 | Greece | Portugal |
| 1 | Hungary | Finland |
| 1 | Malta | San Marino |
| 1 | Russia | Armenia |
| 1 | - | - |
Semi-final 2
12 points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the second semi-final:| N. | Contestant | Nation giving 12 points |
| 7 | Sweden | Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Israel, Netherlands |
| 4 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Austria, Macedonia, Slovakia, Slovenia |
| 4 | Denmark | Bulgaria, Ireland, Latvia, Sweden |
| 2 | Romania | Italy, Moldova |
| 1 | Austria | Germany |
| 1 | Moldova | Romania |
| 1 | Slovakia | Ukraine |
| 1 | Slovenia | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| 1 | Ukraine | Belarus |
Final
12 points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the final:| N. | Contestant | Nation giving 12 points |
| 5 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Austria, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland |
| 4 | Italy | Albania, Latvia, San Marino, Spain |
| 3 | Azerbaijan | Malta, Russia, Turkey |
| 3 | Denmark | Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands |
| 3 | Georgia | Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine |
| 3 | Ireland | Denmark, Sweden, United Kingdom |
| 3 | Ukraine | Armenia, Azerbaijan, Slovakia |
| 2 | France | Belgium, Greece |
| 2 | Lithuania | Georgia, Poland |
| 2 | Romania | Italy, Moldova |
| 2 | Slovenia | Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia |
| 2 | Spain | France, Portugal |
| 2 | Sweden | Estonia, Israel |
| 1 | Austria | Germany |
| 1 | Finland | Norway |
| 1 | Greece | Cyprus |
| 1 | Hungary | Finland |
| 1 | Iceland | Hungary |
| 1 | Moldova | Romania |
| 1 | United Kingdom | Bulgaria |
A record number of 20 countries received at least one set of 12 points during the final. The only five countries not to receive full marks were Estonia, Russia, Switzerland, Germany and Serbia. Estonia was the only country without any 8, 10 or 12 point scores, and thus its name was never said out loud during the voting.
Other awards
Marcel Bezençon Awards
The Marcel Bezençon Awards were first handed out during the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia honouringthe best competing songs in the final. Founded by Christer Björkman and Richard Herrey, the awards are named after the creator of the annual competition, Marcel Bezençon. The awards are divided into three categories: Press Award; Artistic Award; and Composer Award.
| Category | Country | Song | Performer | Composer |
| Artists Award | "Lipstick" | Jedward | Dan Priddy, Lars Halvor Jensen, Martin M. Larsson | |
| Composer Award | "Sognu" | Amaury Vassili | Daniel Moyne, Quentin Bachelet, Jean-Pierre Marcellesi, and Julie Miller | |
| Press Award | "Da Da Dam" | Paradise Oskar | Axel Ehnström |
OGAE
Organisation Générale des Amateurs de l'Eurovision is an international organisation that was founded in 1984 in Savonlinna, Finland by Jari-Pekka Koikkalainen. The organisation consists of a network of 40 Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, and is a non-governmental, non-political, and non-profitable company. In what has become an annual tradition for the OGAE fan clubs, a voting poll was opened allowing members from the respective clubs to vote for their favourite songs of the 2011 contest. Below are the top five overall results, after all the votes had been cast.| Country | Song | Performer | OGAE result |
| "What About My Dreams?" | Kati Wolf | 277 | |
| "Sognu" | Amaury Vassili | 270 | |
| "I Can" | Blue | 253 | |
| "Popular" | Eric Saade | 238 | |
| "Rockefeller Street" | Getter Jaani | 183 |
Barbara Dex Award
The Barbara Dex Award has been annually awarded by the fan website House of Eurovision since 1997, and is a humorous award given to the worst dressed artist each year in the contest. It is named after the Belgian artist, Barbara Dex, who came last in the 1993 contest, in which she wore her own self designed dress.| Place | Country | Performer | Votes |
| 1 | Eldrine | 133 | |
| 2 | Jedward | 81 | |
| 3 | Zdob și Zdub | 66 | |
| 4 | Yüksek Sadakat | 61 | |
| 5 | Homens da Luta | 59 |
International broadcasts and voting
Incidents
During the first semi-final, many broadcasters lost contact with their commentators due to a technical glitch. Dropouts in the multichannel sound connections were the cause of this fault, which was corrected, with a second backup system put into place, and tested extensively before the second semi-final.Voting and spokespersons
Unlike previous years, the voting order was not drawn with the order of presentation of songs. Rather, the voting order was calculated just before the event, to reduce the likelihood of there being an outright winner from the start. Countries revealed their votes in the following order:Commentators
Most countries sent commentators to Düsseldorf or commentated from their own country, in order to add insight to the participants and, if necessary, the provision of voting information.;Participating countries
The commentators of the 43 participating countries are as follows:
| Country | SF1 / SF2 / Final | Commentator |
| All | Leon Menkshi | |
| All | Artak Vardanyan | |
| All | Andi Knoll | |
| All | Martin Blumenau | |
| Final | Benny Hörtnagl | |
| All | Leyla Aliyeva | |
| All | Denis Kurian | |
| All | Jean-Pierre Hautier | |
| All | Jean-Louis Lahaye | |
| All | André Vermeulen | |
| All | Sven Pichal | |
| All | Dejan Kukrić | |
| All | Elena Rosberg | |
| All | Georgi Kushvaliev | |
| All | Duško Čurlić | |
| All | Melina Karageorgiou | |
| All | Ole Tøpholm | |
| All | Marko Reikop | |
| All | Tarja Närhi | |
| All | Asko Murtomäki | |
| All | Sanna Kojo | |
| All | Jorma Hietamäki | |
| All | Eva Frantz | |
| All | Johan Lindroos | |
| SF2 | Audrey Chauveau | |
| SF2 | Bruno Berberes | |
| Final | Laurent Boyer | |
| Final | Catherine Lara | |
| Final | Fred Musa | |
| Final | Éric Mazet | |
| All | Sopho Altunishvili | |
| All | Peter Urban | |
| All | Thomas Mohr, Steffi Neu and Tim Frühling | |
| SF1 | Steven Gätjen | |
| All | Maria Kozakou | |
| All | Gábor Gundel Takács | |
| All | Hrafnhildur Halldorsdóttir | |
| All | Marty Whelan | |
| All | Shay Byrne and Zbyszek Zalinski | |
| All | No commentator | |
| SF2 & Final | Raffaella Carrà | |
| SF2 & Final | Bob Sinclar | |
| All | Valters Frīdenbergs, Uģis Joksts | |
| All | Darius Užkuraitis | |
| All | Eli Tanaskovska | |
| All | Eileen Montesin | |
| All | Marcel Spătari | |
| All | Jan Smit | |
| All | Daniël Dekker | |
| All | Olav Viksmo-Slettan | |
| All | Artur Orzech | |
| All | Sílvia Alberto | |
| All | Liana Stanciu | |
| All | Bogdan Pavlică | |
| All | Yana Churikova | |
| All | Yuriy Aksyuta | |
| Final | Kirill Nabutov | |
| All | Lia Fiorio | |
| All | Gigi Restivo | |
| SF1 | Marina Nikolić | |
| SF2 | Dragan Ilić | |
| Final | Duška Vučinić-Lučić | |
| All | Tanja Zeljković | |
| All | Roman Bomboš, Dvojka ) | |
| All | Andrej Hofer | |
| All | José María Íñigo, | |
| All | Hélène Benno | |
| All | Edward af Sillén | |
| German | Sven Epiney | |
| French | Jean-Marc Richard, Henri Dès & Nicolas Tanner | |
| Italian | Jonathan Tedesco | |
| All | Bülend Özveren | |
| All | Erhan Konuk | |
| All | Timur Miroshnychenko | |
| All | Tetiana Terekhova | |
| All | Olena Zelinchenko | |
| Semi-finals | Scott Mills | |
| Semi-finals | Sara Cox | |
| Final | Graham Norton | |
| Final | Ken Bruce |
;Non-participating countries
The commentators of the non-participating countries are:
| Country | SF1/SF2/Final | Commentator |
 Australia | All | Julia Zemiro |
| Australia | All | Sam Pang |
 China | Final | No commentators |
Broadcasting
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on ARM 1.
- – Even though Australia is not eligible to enter, the contest was broadcast on SBS One and SBS HD, with the first semi-final on 13 May, the second semi-final on 14 May and final on 15 May.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on ORF eins.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on İctimai TV.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on Belteleradio First Channel.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on RTBF and VRT.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on BHT1, division of BHRT.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on BNT.
- – As a non-participating country, the final was broadcast on CCTV-15 on 24 January 2014. The final was shortened into two hours, and the voting details and interval acts were ignored and edited as montages.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on HRT and Croatian Radio.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on DR and DR HD.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on ETV, Raadio 2 and online.
- – Although not eligible to take part as an independent region, the semi-finals and the final were broadcast on timeshift on Kringvarp Føroya with Danish commentary from DR.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on YLE TV2 and YLE HD.
- – The second semi-final was broadcast on France Ô, with the final on France 3 and France Bleu.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on 1 TV GPB.
- – Host broadcaster, NDR, produced the programme for ARD. Einsfestival and ProSieben broadcast the first semi-final, while Das Erste and Das Erste HD broadcast the second semi-final and the final. The final was also broadcast on NDR Radio 2, WDR 1LIVE and hr3 for Deutschlandfunk.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on NET and ERT HD.
- – Although not eligible to take part as an independent region, The semi-finals and the final were broadcast on timeshift on KNR.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on m1.
- – The semi-finals were broadcast live on RTÉ Two, with the final broadcast live on RTÉ One. RTÉ Radio 1 also broadcast the second semi-final and the final.
- – The second semi-final and the final were broadcast live on IBA. The first semi-final was broadcast on IBA on 12 May 12.
- – The second semi-final was broadcast on Rai 5 and Rai Radio 2, the final on Rai 2.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on LTV.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on LRT.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on MTV 1.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on TVM.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on Moldova 1.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on Nederland 1 for TROS.
- – Despite not being eligible to take part, the contest was broadcast on Stratos, with the first semi-final on 11 May, the second semi-final on 13 May, and the final on 15 May.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on NRK1 and NRK1 HD.
- – The first semi-final and the final were broadcast live and semi-final 2 on delay on RTP1, RTP HD and RTP Internacional.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on TVR1, TVR International and TVR HD.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on Channel One.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on RTS1, RTS Digital, RTS HD, RTS SAT and Radio Belgrade 1.
- – As in 2008, the whole event was broadcast live on San Marino RTV.
- – The first semi-final and the final were broadcast live by Slovenská televízia on Jednotka and the second semi-final on Dvojka. The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on Rádio FM.
- – The semi-finals were broadcast live on RTV SLO 2 and the final was broadcast live on RTV SLO 1, both channels from Slovenian national television.
- – Both semi-finals were broadcast live on La 2, and the final was broadcast live on La 1 and TVE Internacional and deferred on TVE HD.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on SVT1 and SVT1 HD.
- – For the French-speaking part of the country, TSR 2 broadcast the first semi-final and the final; SF zwei broadcast the first semi-final and the final for the German-speaking regions; for the Italian-speaking regions RSI La 2 broadcast the first semi-final while RSI La 1 broadcast the final. HD Suisse also broadcast the final, but with no commentary. The second semi-final was not broadcast by Swiss channels.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on TRT 1, TRT HD, TRT Avaz, TRT Müzik and TRT Radyo 3.
- – The semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on NTU First National Channel, as well as on UR1 and UR2 channels of National Radio.
- – The semi-finals were broadcast on BBC Three and BBC HD while the final was broadcast on BBC One, BBC One HD and on BBC Radio 2.
Official album