# Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

Slovenia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "Mr Nobody", composed by Matjaž Vlašić, with lyrics by Urša Vlašić, and performed by Anžej Dežan. The Slovene participating broadcaster, Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTVSLO), organised the national final Evrovizijska Melodija 2006 in order to select its entry for the contest. Fourteen entries competed in the national final where "Plan B" performed by Anžej Dežan was selected following the combination of votes from a five-member jury panel and a public televote. The song was later translated from Slovene to English for Eurovision and was titled "Mr Nobody".
Slovenia competed in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 18 May 2006. Performing during the show in position 3, "Mr Nobody" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Slovenia placed sixteenth out of the 23 participating countries in the semi-final with 49 points.

## Background

Prior to the 2006 contest, Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTVSLO) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Slovenia eleven times since its first entry in 1993. Its highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been seventh place, achieved on two occasions: in 1995 with the song "Prisluhni mi" performed by Darja Švajger, and in 2001 with the song "Energy" performed by Nuša Derenda. Its only other top ten result was achieved in 1997 when "Zbudi se" performed by Tanja Ribič placed tenth. In 2005, "Stop" performed by Omar Naber failed to qualify to the final.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, RTVSLO organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster confirmed its participation in the 2006 contest on 18 September 2005. The broadcaster has traditionally selected its entry through a national final entitled Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA), which has been produced with variable formats. For 2006, RTVSLO opted to organise Evrovizijska Melodija 2006 (EMA 2006) to select its entry.

## Before Eurovision
### Evrovizijska Melodija 2006

Evrovizijska Melodija 2006 (EMA 2006) was the 11th edition of the national final format Evrovizijska Melodija, organised by RTVSLO to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. The competition took place at the RTVSLO Studio 1 in Ljubljana, hosted by Janez Škof, Aljoša Ternovšek and Boris Koba and was broadcast on TV SLO1, Radio Val 202 and online via the broadcaster's website rtvslo.si.

#### Format

Fourteen songs competed in a televised show where the combination of points from a five-member expert jury and a public televote determined the winner. The televote was divided into two groups: votes cast via landline phones and mobile phones, and each group assigned points as follows: 1–8, 10 and 12. The expert jury also assigned points from 1-8, 10 and 12, and the song that received the highest overall score when the votes were combined was the winner.
The jury that voted during the final consisted of:
* Martin Žvelc – music producer
* Nataša Assejev – editor for RTVSLO
* Cole Moretti – represented Slovenia in 1993 as member of 1X Band
* Dragan Trivič – musician, Head of the RTVSLO legal department
* Črt Sojar Voglar – composer

#### Competing entries

Artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster between 29 September 2005 and 20 November 2005. 107 entries were received by the broadcaster during the submission period. An expert committee consisting of Jaka Pucihar (composer), Rok Lopatič (music producer), Jernej Vene (music editor for Radio Val 202), Mitja Ciuha (Eurovision expert) and Mario Galunič (television presenter) selected fourteen artists and songs for the competition from the received submissions. The competing artists were announced on 28 November 2005.
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
| Alenka Godec | "Hočem stran" | Anja Rupel, Alenka Godec, Aleš Klinar |
| Andraž Hribar | "Rapad tepe ipi mapam" | Milan Hribar, Andraž Hriba |
| Anžej Dežan | "Plan B" | Urša Vlašić, Matjaž Vlašić |
| Atomik Harmonik | "Polkaholik" | Dare Kaurič |
| Katrinas | "Najdi me" | Katarina Habe |
| Maja Slatinšek | "Vihar" | Maja Slatinšek, Gregor Sulejmanovič |
| Marijan Novina | "V mojih dlaneh" | Marijan Novina, Bojan Vojnovič |
| Monika Pučelj | "Ostani z mano" | Anja Rupel, Aleš Klinar |
| Natalija Verboten | "SOS" | Urša Vlašič, Matjaž Vlašič |
| Nuška Drašček | "Nora sem, da te ljubim" | Rudolf Gas |
| Rebeka Dremelj and Domen Kumer | "Noro se ujameva" | Natka Geržina, Borut Lipavec |
| Saša Lendero | "Mandoline" | Andrej Babić, Saša Lendero |
| Sergeja | "Tu da du" | Franco Zabukovec |
| Ylenia | "Hokus pokus" | Damjana Kenda-Hussu, Marino Legovič |

#### Final

EMA 2006 took place on 29 January 2006. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Alya and Nuša Derenda (who represented Slovenia in 2001) performed as guests. The combination of points from a five-member jury panel (1/3) and a public televote split into votes cast via landline phones (1/3) and mobile phones (1/3) selected "Plan B" performed by Anžej Dežan as the winner.
Final – 29 January 2006 :
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Televote | Televote | Televote | Total | Place |
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Landlines | Landlines | Mobiles | Mobiles | | Total | Place |
| 1 | Nuška Drašček | "Nora sem, da te ljubim" | 8 | 1,326 | 0 | 1,725 | 3 | 11 | 9 |
| 2 | Natalija Verboten | "SOS" | 1 | 5,616 | 6 | 3,794 | 6 | 13 | 6 |
| 3 | Rebeka Dremelj and Domen Kumer | "Noro se ujameva" | 2 | 9,280 | 8 | 8,475 | 8 | 18 | 4 |
| 4 | Sergeja | "Tu da du" | 0 | 600 | 0 | 777 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 5 | Saša Lendero | "Mandoline" | 0 | 12,164 | 12 | 11,567 | 12 | 24 | 2 |
| 6 | Andraž Hribar | "Rapad tepe ipi mapam" | 7 | 702 | 0 | 610 | 0 | 7 | 11 |
| 7 | Marijan Novina | "V mojih dlaneh" | 0 | 720 | 0 | 547 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 8 | Atomik Harmonik | "Polkaholik" | 0 | 9,736 | 10 | 9,688 | 10 | 20 | 3 |
| 9 | Maja Slatinšek | "Vihar" | 5 | 1,473 | 1 | 1,551 | 2 | 8 | 10 |
| 10 | Ylenia | "Hokus pokus" | 10 | 1,526 | 2 | 1,084 | 0 | 12 | 7 |
| 11 | Anžej Dežan | "Plan B" | 12 | 6,377 | 7 | 4,474 | 7 | 26 | 1 |
| 12 | Katrinas | "Najdi me" | 4 | 2,509 | 4 | 1,947 | 4 | 12 | 7 |
| 13 | Monika Pučelj | "Ostani z mano" | 6 | 3,849 | 5 | 2,807 | 5 | 16 | 5 |
| 14 | Alenka Godec | "Hočem stran" | 3 | 2,004 | 3 | 1,525 | 1 | 7 | 11 |

### Controversy

The results of EMA 2006 caused controversy as Saša Lendero who won both televoting groups ultimately placed second due to the jury awarding her zero points, marking the fifth time in six years that the jury expelled the televoting winner from their votes. "Plan B" was also accused of plagiarising the song "Santa Maria" by Austrian singer Simone, however the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) allowed the song to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest as they did not see it as a plagiarism. A new version of "Plan B" was later created with the song being translated to English for the contest titled "Mr Nobody".

### Promotion

Anžej Dežan made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Mr Nobody" as the Slovenian Eurovision entry. On 4 February, Dežan performed "Mr Nobody" during the Maltese Eurovision national final Malta Song for Europe 2006. Dežan also performed the song during the third elimination show of the Ukrainian Eurovision national final Ty – Zirka! on 25 February, and during the Serbian-Montenegrin Eurovision national final Evropesma-Europjesma 2006 on 11 March. On 8 April, Dežan appeared in Croatia during the HTV1 show Studio 10. Dežan also completed promotional activities in Macedonia in late April, including a performance during the Sitel TV programme Zvezdena Planeta.

## At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) and the ten highest placed finishers in the 2005 contest are required to qualify from the semi-final on 18 May 2006 in order to compete for the final on 20 May 2006; the top ten countries from the semi-final progress to the final. On 21 March 2006, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order for the semi-final and Slovenia was set to perform in position 3, following the entry from Bulgaria and before the entry from Andorra. At the end of the semi-final, Slovenia was not announced among the top 10 entries and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Slovenia placed sixteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 49 points.
In Slovenia, the semi-final was televised on TV SLO2 and the final was televised on TV SLO1. Both shows featured commentary by Mojca Mavec. RTVSLO appointed Peter Poles as its spokesperson to announce the Slovenian votes during the final.

### Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Slovenia and awarded by Slovenia in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the semi-final and the final of the contest.