page_title: Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015
section_title: At Eurovision
hierarchical_section_title: Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 / At Eurovision
caption_attribution_description: English: Eurovision Song Contest Vienna 2015: Ann Sophie Deutsch: Eurovision Song Contest Vienna 2015: Ann Sophie
context_page_description: Germany participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Black Smoke", written by Michael Harwood, Ella McMahon and Tonino Speciale. The song was performed by Ann Sophie. German broadcaster ARD in collaboration with Norddeutscher Rundfunk organised the national final Unser Song für Österreich in order to select the German entry for the 2015 contest in Vienna, Austria. Prior to the national final, a wildcard selection round was held where undiscovered artists could apply to win a single wildcard to the main national final show. The wildcard winner, Ann Sophie, joined seven established artists that were invited to compete by the broadcaster in a show on 5 March 2015. After three rounds of public televoting, the winner was Andreas Kümmert with the song "Heart of Stone", written by Kümmert together with Christian Neander. However, upon the announcement that Kümmert had won the national final, the artist immediately forfeited his win so that runner-up Ann Sophie could go to Eurovision with the song "Black Smoke". The move garnered international media attention.
context_section_description: According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. In the 2015 contest, Australia also competed directly in the final as an invited guest nation. As a member of the "Big 5", Germany automatically qualified to compete in the final on 23 May 2015. In addition to their participation in the final, Germany was also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals. During the semi-final allocation draw on 26 January 2015, Germany was assigned to broadcast and vote in the second semi-final on 21 May 2015.
  In Germany, the semi-finals were broadcast on EinsFestival and Phoenix and the final was broadcast on Das Erste with commentary by Peter Urban. The German broadcaster also broadcast the three shows with sign language performers for the hearing impaired on EinsPlus. The German spokesperson, who announced the German votes during the final, was Barbara Schöneberger.
caption: Ann Sophie during a press meet and greet
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