North_Macedonia_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest

North Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest

North Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest

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North Macedonia[lower-alpha 1] has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 21 times since its official debut in 1998. The country had attempted to participate in 1996, but failed to qualify from the audio-only qualifying round. The current Head of Delegation is Meri Popova.

For the most recent participation, see North Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.
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Prior to 2019, North Macedonia's best result was a 12th-place finish with Elena Risteska in 2006. Having qualified from the semi-final round only once in ten of the previous eleven contests (2008–18), North Macedonia achieved its best result to date in 2019, when Tamara Todevska qualified and finished in seventh place in the final after winning the jury vote.

History

Prior to declaring independence in 1991, as a constituent country of SFR Yugoslavia, the Socialist Republic of Macedonia participated in the Yugoslav pre-selection called among the other Yugoslav federal units.[1] Also, Macedonian composers wrote songs for candidates from other parts of Yugoslavia.[2] However, the Macedonian entries never managed to win, and the SR Macedonia was the only federal state never to send a Yugoslav entry to the Eurovision Song Contest. An exception occurred when Maja Odžaklievska won the Yugoslav competition in 1980,[1] but she did not perform in the Eurovision Song Contest 1980 due to the Yugoslavian decision not to participate that year.

The country submitted its first entry, "Samo ti" (Само ти) sung by Kaliopi, for the 1996 edition. However, the country failed to qualify through the non-broadcast pre-selection round. Its efforts to enter the contest were again hindered in 1997, when another new system was introduced where countries with the lowest average scores over the previous four years were excluded from participating. The country made its debut in 1998, with Vlado Janevski's "Ne zori, zoro".

The country's best result before 2019 (and the best result with its old name) was in 2006, when Elena Risteska sang "Ninanajna" (Нинанајна) in Athens, Greece and came 12th. It is the only country to have qualified from every semi-final from 2004 to 2007 (other countries have qualified for every final but due to them finishing in the top 10 the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-final). Despite never finishing in the top 10, their record of qualifying for every final was broken in 2008, when the jury vote used in the semi-final chose Sweden as a finalist, despite Tamara, Vrčak and Adrian having come 10th in the televote.

Macedonian Radio Television (MRT), which broadcasts the event, has intermittently used the Skopje Fest to select the national entry since the country's debut, although it made several changes in the national final format, so the 2004, 2005 and 2006 national finals were organised outside the Skopje Fest.

For 2019, the country competed for the first time under the name North Macedonia.[3] MRT selected Tamara Todevska as their act of choice, performing the song "Proud". The song managed to qualify through the second semi-final, and reached seventh place in the final, winning the jury vote. This is the first top ten placing as well as the highest placing ever for North Macedonia in the history of the contest.

Following two non-qualifications in 2021 and 2022, MRT confirmed its absence in the 2023 contest, citing financial constraints.[4] However, MRT still broadcast the 2023 contest with a view to return in 2024.[5] The broadcaster's intention to return was stated in a budget plan published in September 2023.[6][7] However, in late October 2023, the programme planning chair of MRT, Smilka Janeska Sarkanjac, clarified that a decision was yet to be made and the plan was still awaiting the approval of the government.[8] North Macedonia ultimately did not appear on the final list of participants.[9]

Participation overview

For contestants prior to 1996, see Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Table key
2 Second place
X Entry selected but did not compete
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Awards

Barbara Dex Award

Further information: Barbara Dex Award
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Commentators and spokespersons

More information Year, Commentator ...

Photogallery

See also

Notes and references

Notes

  1. Presented until 2018 as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (F.Y.R. Macedonia).
  2. In order to reduce the number of participating countries at the 1996 event a qualifying round was held among all countries except the hosts. Macedonia failed to progress from this round; entries which failed to progress have subsequently been discounted by the EBU and do not feature as part of the countries' list of appearances.
  3. In 2008 and 2009 the top nine countries in each semi-final as determined by televoting qualified automatically, with the tenth place determined based on the votes of the back-up juries among the remaining countries. This resulted in Sweden and Finland advancing to the final instead of Macedonia in 2008 and 2009 respectively.
  4. The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

  1. [1]
    Opatijo, oh Fabulous - Yugoslavian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest - statistics by year Archived 2008-02-26 at the Wayback Machine, Eurodalmatia official ESC fan club, Dalmatia, Croatia
  2. [2]
    Official Site of OGAE Macedonia, see section: Jugovizija.
  3. [3]
    Herbert, Emily (6 March 2019). "North Macedonia: EBU Confirms Name Change". Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  4. [4]
    Milenkovska, Vesna (14 October 2022). "(Видео) Дали ќе има струја да ја гледаме, а не да одиме на евровизија - Македонија го откажа учеството на Евросонг 2023. во Ливерпул". MMS (in Macedonian). Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  5. [5]
    Farren, Neil (14 October 2022). "North Macedonia: MRT Withdraws From Eurovision 2023". Eurovoix. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  6. [6]
    "Предлог годишна програма" [Proposed annual program] (PDF) (in Macedonian). MRT. 15 September 2023. Retrieved 16 September 2023. Програмата на Македонската Радио Телевизија во 2024 година ќе биде одбележана и со учеството на Изборот за песна на Евровизија 2024 година каде што ќе бидат презентирани македонските музички вредности преку песната - учесничка на овој фестивал. [The program of the Macedonian Radio Television in 2024 will also be marked by the participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, where Macedonian musical values will be presented through the song competing in this festival.]
  7. [7]
    Sturtridge, Isaac (17 September 2023). "North Macedonia to return to Eurovision 2024". ESCXTRA. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  8. [8]
    Papadopoulos, Giorgos (29 October 2023). "North Macedonia: Discussions are underway for its return to the competition!". Eurovisionfun. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
  9. [9]
    "Eurovision 2024: 37 broadcasters head to Malmö". Eurovision.tv. EBU. 5 December 2023. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  10. [10]
    Adams, William Lee (9 July 2015). "Poll: Who was the worst dressed Barbara Dex Award winner?". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  11. [11]
    van Rossem, Aline (20 May 2018). "Barbara Dex Award 2018: F.Y.R Macedonia's Eye Cue win Eurovision's Worst Dressed". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  12. [12]
    Granger, Anthony (8 April 2018). "FYR Macedonia: Karolina Petkovska Returns To Commentary Booth for Tenth Eurovision Song Contest". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  13. [13]
    "Macedonian Radio Television – Organisation". MRT. Archived from the original on 25 May 2006. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  14. [14]
    "Мартин и Стефан во љубов со сестрите Инге и Ануш од Ерменија?". Vest (in Macedonian). 8 May 2009. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  15. [15]
    Roxburgh, Gordon (26 May 2012). "Running order for the voting tonight". eurovision.tv. EBU. Archived from the original on 18 June 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  16. [16]
    Roxburgh, Gordon (18 May 2013). ""Good evening Malmö" - Voting order revealed". eurovision.tv. EBU. Archived from the original on 19 May 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  17. [17]
    Granger, Anthony (10 May 2014). "ESC'14: Voting Order Announced". eurovoix.com. Archived from the original on 6 October 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  18. [18]
    Roxburgh, Gordon (23 May 2015). ""Good evening Vienna" - Voting order revealed". eurovision.tv. EBU. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  19. [19]
    Roxburgh, Gordon (14 May 2016). "The 42 spokespersons for the 2016 Grand Final". eurovision.tv. EBU. Archived from the original on 15 May 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  20. [20]
    Jensen, Charlotte (13 May 2017). "Voting order and spokespeople for Grand Final 2017". eurovisionary.com. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  21. [21]
    Farren, Neil (11 May 2018). "FYR Macedonia: Jana Burceska Announced as Spokesperson". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  22. [22]
    Taušanska, Marija (20 May 2019). "Тамара со "Proud" ни го донесе најдобриот евровизиски пласман досега". Nova Makedonija.
  23. [23]
    "Eurovision 2019 Spokespersons – Who will announce the points?". eurovisionworld.com. 18 May 2019. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  24. [24]
    "ТВ Програма • TvProfil". tvprofil.com. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  25. [25]
    "ТВ Програма • TvProfil". tvprofil.com. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  26. [26]
    Farren, Neil (12 May 2022). "North Macedonia: Jana Burčeska Spokesperson For Eurovision 2022". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  27. [27]
    Farren, Neil (14 October 2022). "North Macedonia: MRT Withdraws From Eurovision 2023". Eurovoix. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  28. [28]
    van Waarden, Franciska (3 May 2023). "🇲🇰 North Macedonia: MRT Broadcasting Eurovision 2023". Eurovoix. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  29. [29]
    Jiandani, Sanjay (5 December 2023). "North Macedonia: MKRTV confirms non participation at Eurovision 2024". ESCToday. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
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