Slovakia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010


Slovakia participated at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo, Norway with the song Horehronie, which failed to qualify for the final. Slovenská televízia organised the national final to select the Slovak entry for the contest using the Eurosong 2010 format.

Before Eurovision

Eurosong 2010

STV confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest on 28 March 2009. Eurosong 2010 was the national final format developed by STV in order to select Slovakia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010.

Format

The format of the competition consisted of nine shows: six heats held between 22 January and 7 February 2010, two semi-finals on 14 and 21 February 2010 and a final on 27 February 2010. All shows were hosted by Martin Rausch, with Martin Kontúr reporting from the green room. The six heats each featured ten competing entries from which four were selected by a public vote to advance to the semi-finals. The two semi-finals each featured twelve entries from which six were selected to advance to the final based on a 50/50 combination of votes from a three-member jury panel and the public vote, completing the twelve-song lineup in the final. The winning song in the final was selected by the 50/50 combination of votes from the jury panel and the public vote. In the event of a tie, the entry that receives the highest score from the public vote was declared the winner.

Competing entries

Artists and composers were able to submit their entries between 14 July 2009 and 30 October 2009. Songwriters were able to submit more than one song, however each artist could only perform one song in the competition, and all artists were required to have Slovak citizenship. All songs were required to be performed in the Slovak language, however an exception can be made for the chorus, which may be in English. STV received 239 submissions, and a jury panel selected 60 songs for the competition. The list of competing artists and songs were released on 15 December 2009. After the list was released, "Chýrna zem" performed by Gionno & Ján Mitaľ and "Sevilla" performed by Golden Storm withdrew from the competition on 26 January 2010. As a result of this, "Dolina, dolina" performed by Lekra and "Príčina" performed by the Guru Brothers participated in the national selection instead.

Heat 1

The first heat took place on 22 January 2010. Four entries were selected by a public televote to qualify to the semi-finals: "Na strechách domov" performed by Tomáš Bezdeda, "O nás" performed by Michaella, "Taká sa mi páči" performed by Hrdza and "Zlomené krídla" performed by Richard Čanaky & FBI. Profits collected from the votes cast by the public were contributed towards aid for those affected by the 2010 Haiti earthquake. On 28 January 2010, Hrdza were disqualified from the competition due to their song having been performed before 1 October 2009. As a result of this, Horská chata qualified to the semi-finals instead.

Heat 2

The second heat took place on 24 January 2010. Four entries were selected by a public televote to qualify to the semi-finals: "Na strechách domov" performed by Tomáš Bezdeda, "O nás" performed by Michaella, "Taká sa mi páči" performed by Hrdza and "Zlomené krídla" performed by Richard Čanaky & FBI.

Heat 3

The third heat took place on 29 January 2010. Four entries were selected by a public televote to qualify to the semi-finals: "Dúha" performed by Renáta Čonková & Martina Polievková, "Ja viem" performed by Martin Konrád, "Z osnov" performed by Free Voices and "Niečo máš" performed by Robo Opatovský.

Heat 4

The fourth heat took place on 31 January 2010. Four entries were selected by a public televote to qualify to the semi-finals: "Tón" performed by Mayo, "Rosa rosí" performed by Petra Humeňanská, "Strašne mi chýbaš" performed by Alone and "Môžeš ísť" performed by Martina Schindlerová. On 1 February 2010, Barbora Šulíková were disqualified from the competition due to her song having been performed in summer 2009.

Heat 5

The fifth heat took place on 5 February 2010. Four entries were selected by a public televote to qualify to the semi-finals: "Pridaj si ma" performed by Smola a hrušky, "Dážď" performed by Dáška Kostovčik & Peter Bič Project, "Voda a oheň" performed by Róbert Mikla and "Horehronie" performed by Kristina.

Heat 6

The sixth heat took place on 7 February 2010. Four entries were selected by a public televote to qualify to the semi-finals: "Ty tu ticho spíš" performed by Marián Bango, "Skús ma viesť" performed by Soňa, "Bez siedmeho neba" performed by Miro Jaroš and "Do neba volám" performed by Aya.

Semi-final 1

The first semi-final took place on 14 February 2010. Six songs qualified to the final based on a 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote.

Semi-final 2

The second semi-final took place on 21 February 2010. Six songs qualified to the final based on a 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote.

Final

The final was originally scheduled to take place on 28 February 2009, but was later rescheduled to 27 February 2010 after the recent success of the Slovak men's ice hockey team at the 2010 Winter Olympics. The twelve songs that qualified from the preceding two semi-finals competed and the winner was selected based on a 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote. As there was a tie for the first place, where "Emotions" performed by Mista won the jury vote while "Horehronie" performed by Kristina won the televote, the results of the public televote took precedence and led to the victory of "Horehronie" performed by Kristina.
In addition to the performances by the competing artists, guest performances included five-time Maltese national final participant Claudia Faniello and 2001 and 2006 Maltese Eurovision entrant Fabrizio Faniello.

At Eurovision

Slovakia competed in the first semi-final of the contest, on 25 May. They did not manage to qualify for the final on 29 May.

Split results

Semi-final 1

Final

12 points10 points8 points7 points6 points

5 points4 points3 points2 points1 point