Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017
Montenegro participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Space" written by Momcilo Zekovic. The song was performed by Slavko Kalezić, who was internally selected by the Montenegrin broadcaster Radio i televizija Crne Gore (RTCG) to represent the nation at the 2017 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. Slavko Kalezić was announced as the Montenegrin representatives on 29 December 2016, while his song, "Space", was presented to the public on 10 March 2017. Montenegro was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9  May 2017. Performing during the show in position 6, "Space" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. Background. Prior to the 2017 contest, Montenegro had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest as an independent nation eight times since its first entry in its own right in . The nation's best placing in the contest was thirteenth, which they achieved in 2015 with the song "Adio" performed by Knez. In , Montenegro qualified to the final for the first time since they began participating and have  since featured in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest two times up to this point. The nation briefly withdrew from the competition between 2010 and 2011 citing financial difficulties as the reason for their absence. Since 2009, the broadcaster has opted to internally select both the artist and song that would represent Montenegro, a procedure that continued for the selection of the 2017 entry. Before Eurovision. Internal selection. Artists and songwriters were able to submit their entries between 18 October 2016 and 20 November 2016. At the closing of the deadline, RTCG received 27 entries. A selection jury consisting  of Radio Montenegro music editors Nada Vučinić and Vladimir Maraš, TVCG music editor Slaven Knezović, Head of Delegation for Montenegro at the Eurovision Song Contest Sabrija Vulić, TVCG entertainment editor Ivan Maksimović and director Danijela Popović evaluated the received submissions and shortlisted two entries. An alternate jury consisting of Radio Montenegro music editor Biljana Papović, set designer and musician Pjetar Dedivanović and sound engineer and producer Dalibor Nedović evaluated the two shortlisted entries and selected the Montenegrin representative in the contest. On 29 December 2016, RTCG announced that Slavko Kalezić would represent Montenegro in Kyiv. Kalezić gained notability in Montenegro  for his participation in the first season of the reality singing competition "X Factor Adria", where he was eliminated during the Judges' Houses round. The Montenegrin song, "Space", was presented on 10 March 2017 via the release of the official music video, directed by Dejan Milićević, on the official Eurovision Song Contest website "eurovision.tv". "Space" was written by Adis Eminić, Iva Boršić and Momčilo Zeković, while production and mixing was carried out by Stefan Örn, Jovan Radomir and Johan Kronlund. Promotion. Slavko Kalezić made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Space" as the Montenegrin Eurovision entry. On 2 April , he performed during the "London Eurovision Party", which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French. Between 3 and 6 April, Kalezić took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel where he performed during the "Israel Calling" event held at the Ha'teatron venue. On 8 April, Slavko Kalezić performed during the "Eurovision in Concert" event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Selma Björnsdóttir. On 15 April, Kalezić performed during the "Eurovision Spain Pre-Party", which was held at the Sala  La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain. 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 31 January 2017, a special  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. Montenegro was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 9 May 2017, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show. Once all the competing songs for the 2017 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Montenegro was set to perform  in position 6, following the entry from Belgium and before the entry from Finland. Semi-final. Slavko Kalezić took part in technical rehearsals on 30 April and 4 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 8 and 9 May. This included the jury show on 8 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries. At the end of the show, Montenegro was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Montenegro placed sixteenth in the  semi-final, receiving a total of 56 points: 39 points from the televoting and 17 points from the juries. Voting. Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Montenegro and awarded by Montenegro in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows: Detailed voting results. The following members will comprise the Montenegrin jury: