Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest

Austria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 48 times since its debut in 1957. The country has won twice, in 1966, with the song "Merci Chérie" by Udo Jürgens, and in 2014, with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst. Austria currently holds the record for longest gap between wins, with forty-eight years between victories.

Austria finished last at its first attempt in the contest in 1957, before Liane Augustin gave the country its first top five result in 1958, with fifth. Having finished sixth in 1964 and fourth in 1965, Udo Jürgens won the contest at his third attempt in 1966. This would be Austria's only top three result of 20th century. The country's best result over the next forty-six years (1967–2013) would be fifth place, which it achieved with Milestones in 1972, Waterloo & Robinson in 1976 and Thomas Forstner in 1989. Austria has finished last in the final a total of eight times, in 1957, 1961, 1962, 1979, 1984, 1988, 1991 and 2015. The country also finished last in the semi-final in 2012.

After a three-year absence, ORF announced on 28 July 2010 that Austria would return to the contest in 2011.^[1][2] Austria's previous best result of the 21st century was sixth, achieved by Alf Poier in 2003, until the 2014 contest in Copenhagen where Austria achieved its second victory in the contest, with Conchita Wurst placing first with 290 points.^[3] In a complete reversal of fortunes from 2014, following a tie-break rule Austria was placed 26th and scored nul points along with Germany (27th), they became the first countries since the United Kingdom in 2003 to score nul points at the final. Because of this, Austria became the first host country to receive nul points.

Absences

Austria has opted out of participation in several Contests. The first of these was the 1969 Contest, which was staged in Madrid. As Spain was ruled at that time by Francisco Franco, Austria chose to boycott the Contest. Contest historian John Kennedy O'Connor points out, however, that Austria had given Spain two points in the previous event and since Spain only won by one point, the political protest was perhaps disingenuous.^[4]

The following year, Austria was again absent. This was due to the unprecedented result in 1969 in which four songs tied for first place, a result which prompted several other countries to opt out as well.^[4]

From 1973 to 1975, Austria stayed away as well. The exact reason for this is unclear, however the scoring system in use at one of these Contests - allowing all entrants a guaranteed number of points - may have been a factor.

The country was ineligible to compete in 1998 and 2001, as it had not achieved sufficiently high placings in the five previous years.^[4]

Prior to the 2006 contest, Austria announced that they would not enter a performer in protest at their poor results in previous years, arguing that the musical talent of the performers was no longer the determining factor in Contest success.^[5][6] They returned for the 2007 contest in Helsinki, but came second to last in the semi-final. National broadcaster ORF cited the 2007 result, as well as declining interest in the Contest among Austrian viewers, as the reason Austria would not return to the contest in 2008. ORF programme director Wolfgang Lorenz also hinted that Austria may withdraw from the contest indefinitely, stating "ORF has no desire to send more talent out of Austria to a competition where they have no chances...Should the situation change, we'll be happy to take part again". ^[7] Despite withdrawing, the final of the 2008 contest was screened on ORF.^[8]

However, Edgar Böhm, director of entertainment for ORF, said that the semi-final format "still incorporates a mix of countries who will be politically favoured in the voting process" and "that, unless a clear guideline as to how the semifinals are organised is made by the EBU, Austria will not be taking part in Moscow 2009".^[9][10] ORF decided not to participate in the 2009 contest, but did broadcast the final as in 2008.^[11] The EBU announced that they would work harder to bring Austria back to the contest in 2010, along with former participants Monaco and Italy.^[12] It was, however, confirmed that Austria would not participate in the 2010 Contest in Oslo. In July 2010, the chairman of ORF, Alexander Wrabetz, stated that Austria would return for the 2011 contest, due to it being held in its neighbour Germany.^[1][2][13] In 2011, Austria reached the final for the first time since 2004.

Contestants

Table key

NOTES:

1. ^ Specifically Styrian, a Southern Bavarian dialect spoken in Styria.

2. ^ Specifically Mühlviertlerisch, a Central Bavarian dialect spoken in Upper Austria.

3. ^ While Austria received "Nul Points" along with Germany in 2015, they didn't come in last place due to the tiebreaker rule that favors the song performed earliest in the running order (Austria performed 14th while Germany performed 17th).^[15]

4. If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition, back in 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the countries who placed 11th and 12th were advanced to the following year's grand final along with the rest of the top ten countries.

Voting history

As of 2015, Austria's voting history is as follows:

Most points given in the grand finals only Rank Country Points 1  United Kingdom 188 2  Ireland 164 3  Sweden 150 4  France 135 5  Germany 126 Most points received in the grand finals only Rank Country Points 1  United Kingdom 111 2  Belgium 95 3  Ireland 90 4  Spain 80 5  Sweden 79

Most points given in the semis and finals Rank Country Points 1  United Kingdom 188 2  Ireland 176 3  Sweden 160 4  France 135 5   Switzerland 134 Most points received in the semis and finals Rank Country Points 1  United Kingdom 124 2  Ireland 134 3  Belgium 100 4  Italy 93 5  Germany 90

Hostings

Awards received

Marcel Bezençon Awards

The Marcel Bezençon Awards were first handed out during the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia, honouring the best competing songs in the final. Founded by Christer Björkman (Sweden's representative in the 1992 Eurovision Song Contest and the current Head of Delegation for Sweden) and Richard Herrey (a member of the Herreys and the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 winner from Sweden), 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.^[16]

OGAE

Organisation Générale des Amateurs de l'Eurovision (more commonly known as OGAE) is an international organisation that was founded in 1984 in Savonlinna, Finland by Jari-Pekka Koikkalainen.^[17] 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-profit company.^[18]

Commentators

Between the 1970 Contest and the 1998 Contest every contest was commentated by Austrian radio journalist and actor Ernst Grissemann, with the exception of the 1979 Contest and the 1990 Contest. Grissemann admitted to future German commentator Peter Urban in 1995 that he only stayed for the dress rehearsal and then provided the Austrian commentary live from the ORF studios.^[20] After 1998 Grissemann stepped down from the commentary and was replaced by Andi Knoll. Austria has also broadcast the contests where it was not competing, except for the 2010 contest.

Photogallery

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  Liane Augustin performing "Die ganze Welt braucht Liebe" at Hilversum (1958)

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  Udo Jürgens performing "Sag ihr, ich lass sie grüßen" at Naples (1965)

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  Tie Break performing "Du bist" at Istanbul (2004)

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  Eric Papilaya performing "Get a Life – Get Alive" at Helsinki (2007)

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  Natália Kelly performing "Shine" at Malmö (2013)

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  Conchita Wurst performing "Rise Like a Phoenix" at Copenhagen (2014)

See also

• Austria in the Eurovision Dance Contest
• Austria in the Eurovision Young Dancers
• Austria in the Eurovision Young Musicians

References

External links

• Independent Eurovision Song Contest site from Austria
• Lyrics for all Austrian entries
• Points to and from Austria eurovisioncovers.co.uk

Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest   Participation 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 to 1970 1971 1972 1973 to 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 to 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016   Artists 1950s 1956 Bob Martin Liane Augustin Ferry Graf 1960s Harry Winter Jimmy Makulis Eleonore Schwarz Carmela Corren Udo Jürgens Udo Jürgens Udo Jürgens Peter Horton Karel Gott 1969 1970s 1970 Marianne Mendt Milestones 1973 to 1975 Waterloo & Robinson Schmetterlinge Springtime Christina Simon 1980s Blue Danube Marty Brem Mess Westend Anita Gary Lux Timna Brauer Gary Lux Wilfried Thomas Forstner 1990s Simone Thomas Forstner Tony Wegas Tony Wegas Petra Frey Stella Jones George Nussbaumer Bettina Soriat 1998 Bobbie Singer 2000s The Rounder Girls 2001 Manuel Ortega Alf Poier Tie Break Global Kryner 2006 Eric Papilaya 2008 to 2009 2010s 2010 Nadine Beiler Trackshittaz Natália Kelly Conchita Wurst The Makemakes Zoë   Songs 1950s 1956 "Wohin, kleines Pony?" "Die ganze Welt braucht Liebe" "Der K und K Kalypso aus Wien" 1960s "Du hast mich so fasziniert" "Sehnsucht" "Nur in der Wiener Luft" "Vielleicht geschieht ein Wunder" "Warum nur warum?" "Sag ihr, ich lass sie grüßen" "Merci, Chérie" "Warum es hunderttausend Sterne gibt" "Tausend Fenster" 1969 1970s 1970 "Musik" "Falter im Wind" 1973 to 1975 "My Little World" "Boom Boom Boomerang" "Mrs. Caroline Robinson" "Heute in Jerusalem" 1980s "Du bist Musik" "Wenn du da bist" "Sonntag (song)" "Hurricane" "Einfach weg" "Kinder dieser Welt" "Die Zeit ist einsam" "Nur noch Gefühl" "Lisa Mona Lisa" "Nur ein Lied" 1990s "Keine Mauern mehr" "Venedig im Regen" "Zusammen geh'n" "Maria Magdalena" "Für den Frieden der Welt" "Die Welt dreht sich verkehrt" "Weil's dr guat got" "One Step" 1998 "Reflection" 2000s "All To You" 2001 "Say a Word" "Weil der Mensch zählt" "Du bist" "Y así" 2006 "Get a Life - Get Alive" 2008 to 2009 2010s 2010 "The Secret Is Love" "Woki mit deim Popo" "Shine" "Rise Like a Phoenix" "I Am Yours" "Loin d'ici" (Note: Entries scored out are when Austria did not compete)