My Eurovision Song Contest 2001

Final dates
 Venue
 Number of entries
 Winning song

**My** **Eurovision Song Contest 2001** was the 2nd edition of the annual **My Eurovision Song Contest.** It took place in Fontvieille, Monaco, following Tiffany Desrosiers' win at the 2000 contest in Berlin, Germany with the song *"Fearless"*. The contest was held at the Stade Louis II on Friday 16 March.

## Host City

Due to Monaco winning the contest in Berlin, they where expected to host the compitition. However, before the European Broadcasting Union could open talks with the Monégasque broadcaster: Télé Monte Carlo (TMC), they declined the offer to host due to there not being a suitable venue in the micro-state as well as the costs it would take to run the show. One spokesperson from TMC stated *"It is impossible for such as small nation to host such a large event, we don't have the space in our country or our wallets."*  However, in June 2000 just before a bidding phase for the Big 5 countries to host the contest was due to be launched, TMC out of the blue accepted the offer to host the contest. A spokesperson from TMC made the following statement: *"Télé Monte Carlo has decided to accept the offer to host the 2nd My Eurovision Song Contest in the Stade Louis II in Fontvieille. We have had funding from the Government and from the Prince himself to stage this event in Monaco"* It had become apparent that Prince Rainier III of Monaco had personally funded the contest in Monaco. Such expenses included the construction of a temporary roof on the Stade Louis II. The Stadium is primarily used for football matches and has a capacity of *20,000*, however with the stadium being converted for the contest this boosted the capacity to *36,371* which until ***2011*** was the largest capacity of a My Eurovision Song Contest venue. The **2001 contest** is still to this date one of the largest and most expensive in the contests history, only being beaten by the 2011 contest, despite being hosted in one of the world's smallest countries.

## Qualification for Final

Each country will submit a song to the **EBU** in which professional juries will vote for songs to qualify for the final. The qualification process is entirely due to professional juries who are the only people to hear the countries' songs before the final. If a country makes it to the final then their song will be released to the public. As the host country, **Monaco** would automatically qualify to the final along with the **Big 5.** *(France, Germany, Italy, Russia & the United Kingdom.)*

## Final

The Final of **My Eurovision Song Contest 2001** was held in **Stade Louis II, Fontvieille, Monaco** with the Motto: ***"Be Fearless"*** this theme fits in with Monaco's winning song from the previous year *"Fearless"* by Canadian singer **Tiffany Desrosiers** who won the 2000 contest for Monaco with *212 points.* The artwork for the contest features *Louis, the Honey Badger* who became the mascot for the 2001 Contest. The reason for the Honey Badger is said by a spokesperson for TMC that *"The Honey badger is one of the smallest yet most fearless creatures in the animal kingdom. It also represents the micro-nation of Monaco, a small country with a huge responsibility and we are fearless by taking such a risk."* Alot of the branding across the contest used the exact colours as on the Monégasque flag, this contest was clearly a way for the Monégasque government to promote Monaco to the world.