Resha in the Pravian Song Contest 2017

**Resha** participated in the **Pravian Song Contest 2017** with the song "Over and Again", written by Grete Helmfer, Anders Grestmann, and Sal Kevi. The song was performed by Grete. The Reshan broadcaster Radiotelevizijask Resha (RTR) organized the national final *ReshaSong 2017* in order to select the Reshan entry for the 2017 contest in Provogia, Orland. Ten entries took part in a show that was held on 11 March 2017, and the winner was determined over two rounds of public voting and votes from an international jury of music professionals. The top four entries in the first round of voting advanced to the second round—the Superfinal. In the second round, "Over and Again" performed by Grete was selected as the winner with 2,002,135 televotes.

Resha performed eighteenth in the Pravian Song Contest, which took place on 13 May 2017. They were later confirmed to have placed third in the competition, placing fourth with the jury vote and second with the televote.

## Background

Resha's entry in the Pravian Song Contest 2017 was its 34th entry since the beginning of the contest in 1984. The most successful country in the competition, Resha has won a total of seven times; most recently in the 2015 contest with the song "Feathers" by Midnight Owl. In the previous contest, Daniel Samster and Kalina Krest represented Resha, placing fourth with the song "Falling Softly".

The Reshan national broadcaster Radiotelevizijask Resha (RTR), broadcasts the event within Resha and organizes the selection process for the nation's entry. RTR confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2017 Pravian Song Contest on 27 May 2016. The broadcaster has traditionally organized the national final *ReshaSong*, which has selected the Reshan entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in all of their participations. On 17 July 2016, the broadcaster revealed details regarding their selection procedure and announced the organization of *ReshaSong 2017* in order to select the 2017 Reshan entry.

## Before PSC

### *ReshaSong 2017*

*ReshaSong 2017* was the 34th edition of the Reshan national final *ReshaSong* and selected Resha's entry for the Pravian Song Contest 2017. The show took place on 11 March 2017 at the Arena Resha in Hederhelm, hosted by Nina Kalomann and Jon Jonko. The show was televised on RTR1, broadcast via radio with commentary by Hanna Linser on RTR P1 as well as streamed online at RTR's official website *rtr.rs* and the official Pravian Song Contest website *psc.tv*. The national final was watched by 8.7 million viewers in Resha.

#### Competing entries

A submission period was opened by RTR between 17 July 2016 and 1 September 2016. Songwriters of any nationality were allowed to submit entries, while performers of the selected songs would be chosen by RTR in consultation with the songwriters. In addition to the public call for submissions, RTR reserved the right to directly invite certain artists and composers to compete. At the close of the deadline, 3,102 submissions were received. Twelve songs were selected for the competition by an anonymous jury panel of Reshan music professionals. The competing acts and songs were revealed on 17 December 2016 during a press conference at RTR studios, presented by Nina Kalomann, Jon Jonko, and Hanna Linser, and broadcast via RTR1 and online at *reshasong.rtr.rs*. 15-second clips of the competing entries were released during the press conference, while the songs in their entirety were premiered on 13 February 2017.

#### Final

Twelve songs competed during the final on 11 March 2017. The winner was selected over two rounds of public televoting and votes from an international jury of music professionals. In the first round, the top four entries were selected to proceed to the second round, the Superfinal: "Awake" performed by Armand Gautemann, "Free" performed by NYLO, "Over and Again" performed by Grete, and "When I'm With You" performed by Sabina Klesmann. In the Superfinal, the results of the public televote were revealed by Resha's four regions and led to the victory of "Over and Again" performed by Grete with 2,002,135 votes. In the first round, voting was decided by a mix of televoting and votes from a jury, while solely televotes decided the winner of the Superfinal.