North Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023

North Macedonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Sweden, with the song "Neraspoložen", written by. The song will be performed by, who was selected via the national final Template:Lang 2023 organised by the Macedonian national broadcaster Macedonian Radio Television (MRT). The competition featured six entries and took place between 28 January 2023 and 18 February 2023, with the winner determined via a combination of public voting and international jury voting in a live show on 18 February 2023.

## Background

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Prior to the 2023 contest, North Macedonia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty times since its first entry in Template:Escyr. The nation's best result in the contest to this point was seventh, which it achieved in Template:Esccnty with the song "Proud" performed by Tamara Todevska. Following the introduction of semi-finals to the format of the contest in Template:Escyr, North Macedonia has featured in only six finals. In Template:Esccnty, North Macedonia was represented by Vasil with the song "Here I Stand", which failed to qualify for the final, finishing in 15th place in the first semi-final with 23 points.

The Macedonian national broadcaster, Macedonian Radio Television (MRT), broadcasts the event within North Macedonia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. North Macedonia has previously selected their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest through both national finals and internal selections. MRT confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest on 20 October 2022. For 2015, North Macedonia selected their entry using the national final Template:Lang. Between 2016 and 2021, the broadcaster internally selected North Macedonia's entries, resulting in a single qualification to the final during this period, in 2019. The broadcaster returned to using a national final to select the Macedonian entry for 2022.

## Before Eurovision

### *Za Evrosong* *2023*

Template:Lang *2023* was the national final developed by MRT in order to select North Macedonia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The competition commenced on 28 January 2023 and the winner was announced in a live final on 18 February 2023. Six acts competed, and the voting results were revealed in a live televised show on 18 February 2023 held at MRT's Studio 1 in Skopje and hosted by 2017 Macedonian entrant Jana Burčeska and co-head of delegation for North Macedonia at the Eurovision Song Contest Aleksandra Jovanovska. The winner was selected through a professional international jury panel and a public televote. The show was broadcast on MRT 1 as well as streamed online via the MRT's satellite broadcast.

#### Competing entries

A submission period was opened for interested artists and composers to submit their entries between 10 December 2022 and 16 January 2023. MRT received 47 submissions at the closing of the deadline. Six entries were selected by a special jury from the submissions and were announced on 21 January 2023. The jury consisted of Meri Popova (MRT 1 editor and Macedonian Head of Delegation for the Eurovision Song Contest), Zoran Mirčevski (MR 2 editor-in-chief), Biljana Nikolovska (MR 1 music editor), Aleksandra Jovanovska (MR 2 journalist), Jana Burčeska (journalist at MRT 3), Maja Trpčanovska (MRT 1 journalist) and Ardita Imeri (MRT 2 journalist). The competing entries were released to the public on 28 January 2023.

#### Final

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The six competing artists and songs were presented to the public on 28 January 2023 during the MRT programme Template:Lang. The public was able to vote online for their favorite entry until 4 February 2023. A 50/50 combination of the online vote and an international jury panel. A monetary prize of €2,000 was also awarded to the winner. In addition to the competing entries, Template:Esccnty Tamara Todevska and Template:Esccnty Dajte Muzika made guest appearances.

The international jury panel consisted of Gordon Bonello (Maltese TV producer and journalist), Tali Eshkoli (music critique and head of delegation for Template:Esccnty), Natia Mshvenieradze (TV producer and head of delegation for Template:Esccnty), Felix Bergsson (writer, actor and head of delegation for Template:Esccnty) and David Tserunyan (TV producer and head of delegation for Template:Esccnty). Each juror ranked the competing entries from 1–6 based on their personal preference. These rankings were then converted into points that contributed to half of the final result.

## At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (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. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 24 January 2023, an allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. North Macedonia has been placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 9 May 2023, and has been scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.

## References

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Template:North Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Template:Eurovision Song Contest 2023

1. ↑ Template:Cite web