Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

participated in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2006 The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Athens, Greece, following the country's victory at the with the song "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou. Organised by the European Broadcasti ...

with the song "

Moja štikla "Moja štikla" () was the entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, performed in Croatian by Severina. The song was chosen to represent Croatia after winning ''Dora 2006'', Croatia's national final. Composition The song itself was describe ...

" written by

Boris Novković Boris Novković (born 25 December 1967) is a Croatian singer-songwriter. He has been active since the 1980s. Biography Novković was born in Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia. His interest in a musical career was cultivated by ...

, Franjo Valentić and

Severina Vučković Severina Vučković (born 21 April 1972), better known mononymously as Severina, is a Croatian singer-songwriter and actress. In 2006, the Croatian weekly '' Nacional'' listed her among the 100 most influential Croats, calling her "the only ''bo ...

. The song was performed by Severina. Songwriter Boris Novković represented

Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 Croatia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "Vukovi umiru sami" written by Franjo Valentić and Boris Novković. The song was performed by Boris Novković featuring Lado Members. The Croatian broadcaster Croatian Radiot ...

with the song "Vukovi umiru sami" together with Lado members where they placed eleventh in the grand final of the competition. The Croatian broadcaster

Croatian Radiotelevision ''Hrvatska radiotelevizija'' (abbr. HRT), or Croatian Radiotelevision, is Croatia's public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite. HRT is divided into thr ...

(HRT) organised the national final ''Dora 2006'' to select the Croatian entry for the 2006 contest in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Greece. Thirty-two entries competed in the national final which consisted of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. Eight entries qualified from each semi-final on 2 and 3 March 2006 to compete in the final on 4 March 2006. In the final, "Moja štikla" performed by Severina was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from a five-member jury panel and a public televote. Croatia automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing during the show in position 20, Croatia placed twelfth out of the 24 participating countries with 56 points.

Background

Prior to the 2006 contest, Croatia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirteen times since its first entry in . The nation's best result in the contest was fourth, which it achieved on two occasions: in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

with the song "Sveta ljubav" performed by

Maja Blagdan Maja Blagdan (born 16 May 1968) is a Croatian pop singer. She began her singing career in a rock band, Stijene, in 1986. Later she had a solo career. Her first solo album was released in 1993. She represented Croatia at the Eurovision Song Con ...

and in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

with the song "Marija Magdalena" performed by

Doris Dragović Dorotea "Doris" Budimir (, ; born 16 April 1961) is a Croatian singer-songwriter who has represented Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1986 with the song " Željo moja", finishing 11th with 49 points, and Croatia in the Eurovision Song Co ...

. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the , Croatia had featured in every final they participated in thus far. In

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, Croatia managed to qualify to the final with

featuring Lado Members and the song "Vukovi umiru sami". The Croatian national broadcaster,

(HRT), broadcasts the event within Croatia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. HRT confirmed Croatia's participation in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest on 16 January 2006. Since 1993, HRT organised the national final ''Dora'' in order to select the Croatian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, a method that was continued for their 2006 participation.

Before Eurovision

Dora 2006

''Dora 2006'' was the fourteenth edition of the Croatian national selection ''Dora'' which selected Croatia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. The competition consisted of two semi-finals on 2 and 3 March 2006 and a final on 4 March 2006, all taking place at the Hotel Kvarner in

Opatija Opatija (; it, Abbazia; german: Sankt Jakobi) is a town and a municipality in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. The traditional seaside resort on the Kvarner Gulf is known for its Mediterranean climate and its historic buildings r ...

and broadcast on

HTV1 HRT 1 (HTV 1, ''"Prvi program"'') is the first Croatian television channel, operated by Hrvatska Radiotelevizija. It is a generalist channel, whose diverse programming lineup includes documentaries, history, school, mosaics, news, sitcoms, movies, ...

Format

Thirty-two songs competed in ''Dora 2006'' which consisted of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. Sixteen songs competed in each semi-final with the top eight proceeding to complete the sixteen-song lineup in the final. The results of all shows were determined by public televoting and the votes from a jury panel. The ranking developed by both streams of voting was converted to points from 1 (lowest) to 16 (highest) and assigned to the competing songs. Ties were decided in favour of the entry that received the most points from the jury. The jury that voted in all three shows consisted of: * Silvije Glojnarić – HRT * Robert Urlić – HR * Željen Klašterka – HTV * Ljiljana Vinković – HTV * Aleksandar Kostadinov – HTV

Competing entries

HRT announced the thirty-two competing entries on 10 February 2006 and among the artists were

Magazin Magazin is a Croatian pop band from Split. Founded in 1979 under the name Dalmatinski magazin ("Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see names in other languages) is one of the four historical regions of Croatia, alongside ...

which represented

Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 Croatia selected its entry for the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest through the "Dora 1995" contest, which was held on 12 March 1995, organised by the Croatian national broadcaster Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT) in Opatija. The winners were Magazin ...

Danijela Martinović Danijela Martinović (born 15 July 1971), also known mononymously as Danijela, is a Croatian pop singer. Biography Born in Split to Croatian parents, Martinović began to sing from an early age. She has a sister, Izabela, who also pursued a mus ...

who represented Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 as part of Magazin and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, and

Claudia Beni Claudia Beni (born 30 May 1986) is a Croats, Croatian pop music, pop singer, born in Opatija. Biography At the time when she first participated in Dora, the national finals for the Eurovision Song Contest, Claudia was only 12, but she was alr ...

who represented

Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 Croatia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with the song "Više nisam tvoja" written by Andrej Babić. The song was performed by Claudia Beni. The Croatian broadcaster Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) organised the national final ''Dor ...

. The artists and songs for the competition were selected by a five-member expert committee consisting of Silvije Glojnarić (HRT), Robert Urlić ( HR), Željen Klašterka (HTV), Ljiljana Vinković (HTV) and Aleksandar Kostadinov (HTV) after artists and composers were directly invited by HRT to submit their entries.

Shows

Semi-finals

The two semi-finals took place on 2 and 3 March 2006. The first semi-final was hosted by

Duško Ćurlić Duško Čurlić (born 28 January 1968) is a Croatian actor and radio host for Croatian radiotelevision. Born in Zagreb, Čurlić is best known for hosting the Croatian TV shows ''Ples sa zvijezdama'', ''Zvijezde pjevaju'' and ''Kruške i jabuke''. ...

, Mirko Fodor and member of Yugoslav Eurovision Song Contest 1989 winner

Riva Riva may refer to: People * Riva (surname) * Riva Castleman (1930–2014), American art historian, art curator and author * Riva Ganguly Das (born 1961), Indian diplomat * Riva (footballer), Brazilian former footballer Rivadávio Alves Pereira ...

Emilija Kokić Emilija Kokić (born 10 May 1968) is a Croatian singer. She was the lead singer of the Croatian pop band Riva, which won the Eurovision Song Contest 1989 for Yugoslavia, with the song '' Rock Me'', just four days before her 21st Birthday. Current ...

in the first semi-final, while the second semi-final was hosted by Duško Ćurlić, Mirko Fodor and 2002 Croatian Eurovision entrant

Vesna Pisarović Vesna Pisarović (born 9 April 1978) is a Croatian pop and jazz singer. Life and career 1978–1999: Early life Pisarović was born in Brčko (city), Brčko, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia and grew up in Požega, Croatia, Požega, SR ...

. The eight qualifiers for the final from each semi-final were determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from a five-member jury panel and a public televote. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, former Croatian Eurovision entrants performed as the interval acts during the semi-finals. Riva, Dubrovački trubaduri ( 1968 for Yugoslavia), E.N.I. (

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

Goran Karan Goran Karan (born 2 April 1964) is a Croatian vocalist. He specializes in songs influenced by Dalmatian folk music and is known for his powerful and refined tenor voice. Karan's collaboration with composer Zdenko Runjić led to some of his most acc ...

(

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

(

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

) and

(

) performed in the first semi-final, while Vesna Pisarović,

Krunoslav Slabinac Krunoslav and its contraction Kruno is a Croatian male given name. Notable people with this name include: * Krunoslav Babić (1875–1953), Croatian zoologist * Krunoslav Draganović (1903–1983), Bosnian Croat priest and Ustaše functionary * K ...

(

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

for Yugoslavia), Put (

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

(

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

(

and

Vanna Vanna () is a given name that first appeared in recorded European history circa 1294. The Italian medieval feminine name originated in Tuscany, and is particular to Florence, Italy. Though similar in pronunciation to the Italian name Giovanna, an ...

(

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

) and

Ivan Mikulić Ivan Mikulić (born 8 May 1968) is a Herzegovinian Croat singer, best known outside his country for having represented Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, singing " You Are The Only One". Mikulić has a large vocal range, which wasn't ...

(

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

) performed in the second semi-final.

Final

The final took place on 4 March 2006, hosted by

, Mirko Fodor, member of Yugoslav Eurovision Song Contest 1989 winner

and 2002 Croatian Eurovision entrant

. The winner, "

" performed by Severina, was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from a five-member jury panel and a public televote. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Lady Swing performed as the interval act during the show.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the " Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) and the ten highest placed finishers in the

contest are required to qualify from the semi-final in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from the semi-final progress to the final. Following Serbia and Montenegro's withdrawal from the contest on 15 March and subsequent removal from the final, Croatia which placed eleventh in the 2005 contest took its place and automatically qualified to compete in the final on 20 May 2006. On 21 March 2006, a special allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Croatia was set to perform in position 20, following the entry from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and before the entry from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Croatia placed twelfth in the final, scoring 56 points. Both the semi-final and the final were broadcast in Croatia on HRT with commentary by

. The Croatian spokesperson, who announced the Croatian votes during the final, was Mila Horvat.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Croatia and awarded by Croatia in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the semi-final and the final of the contest.

Points awarded to Croatia

Points awarded by Croatia

References

{{Severina (singer)

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...