Montenegro In The Eurovision Song Contest

Montenegro has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 12 times since its debut in . Previously it had participated as part of (both the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from to and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in ) and as part of (from to ).

The entrants from , No Name, were from Montenegro, as were the and entrants for .

History

Before Montenegro became an independent country on 3 June 2006, the country had participated as part of and later . Entries from Montenegro also placed 4th in and 18th in as part of Yugoslavia, and 7th in as part of Serbia and Montenegro. Montenegrin broadcaster Radio and Television of Montenegro (RTCG) organised the national final ''MontenegroSong'' to select the country's entries in and , and internally selected the entry in .

As an independent country, Montenegro failed to qualify for the grand final during its debut in , as well as its appearances in and . The country placed 11th in the first semi-final in 2009, their best result at the time, with "Just Get Out of My Life" performed by Andrea Demirović. In November 2009, RTCG announced that Montenegro would withdraw from the contest due to financial difficulties. Despite not participating, RTCG still broadcast the contest. RTCG applied to participate in the contest, but with the caveat that the potential representative would have to find sponsors to fund their participation themselves. As that did not come to fruition, in December 2010, Montenegro decided to not participate in the contest on financial grounds.

On 20 November 2011 the head of RTCG revealed that Montenegro would participate in the 2012 contest to be held in Baku; he also went on to say that he saw Montenegro at every Eurovision Song Contest to come. Montenegro returned to the contest in , again internally selecting their entry, "Euro Neuro" performed by Rambo Amadeus, which failed to qualify from the first semi-final. In , Montenegro qualified for the grand final for the first time in its history with Sergej Ćetković's " Moj svijet". In , Montenegro again qualified for the grand final with " Adio", performed by Knez and composed by Željko Joksimović. The song achieved the best Montenegrin result up to that time, finishing in 13th place. In , RTCG selected Highway and their song "The Real Thing" internally. They performed in the first semi-final but the song failed to qualify, placing 13th with 60 points. In , RTCG selected Slavko Kalezić and his song "Space" internally. The song failed to qualify, placing 16th. In , RTCG organised the national final ''Montevizija'' to select their entry, which was won by "Inje" performed by Vanja Radovanović. The song failed to qualify from the second semi-final, placing 16th with 40 points. In , RTCG again selected its representative through ''Montevizija'', which was won by "Heaven" performed by D mol. The song failed to qualify from the first semi-final, placing 16th with 46 points.

Despite initially confirming their participation in the contest and aiming to expand ''Montevizija'', Montenegro ultimately did not enter the contest, which was later cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. RTCG later stated that the reason was due to "modest results" and financial issues. Montenegro also did not participate in the contest, but returned in , having internally selected Vladana to represent the country with the song " Breathe". Once again, Montenegro failed to qualify for the final, finishing 17th in a field of 18 with 33 points in the second semi-final. RTCG later confirmed its absence from the contest, citing financial constraints and a lack of interest from sponsors.

Participation overview

Prior to and 's dissolution, artists from the Montenegrin federal unit represented Yugoslavia in , , and Serbia and Montenegro as a republic unit in , as well as being intended to compete in , where they withdrew.

Awards

Barbara Dex Award

The Barbara Dex Award was an annually awarded, fan-voted accolade for the "worst dressed" artists in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Related involvement

Heads of delegation

The public broadcaster of each participating country in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the contestants, songwriters, composers and backing vocalists, among others.

Commentators and spokespersons

* From until , Montenegro competed as part of and from to as part of .

Gallery

File:ESC 2007 Montenegro - Stevan Faddy - Ajde Kroci.jpg, Stevan Faddy in Helsinki ()
File:ESC 2008 - Montenegro - Stefan Filipovic, 1st semifinal.jpg, Stefan Filipović in Belgrade ()
File:Andrea Demirović.jpg, Andrea Demirović in Moscow ()
File:Rambo Amadeus Eurovision 2012 Baku Semi-Final.jpg, Rambo Amadeus in Baku ()
File:ESC2013 - Montenegro 17.jpg, Who See in Malmö ()
File:Sergej Ćetković - Montenegro 01.jpg, Sergej Ćetković in Copenhagen ()
File:20150516 ESC 2015 Knez 7747.jpg, Knez in Vienna ()
File:ESC2016 - Montenegro 06.jpg, Highway in Stockholm ()
File:ESC2017 - Montenegro 01.jpg, Slavko Kalezić in Kyiv ()
File:ESC2018 - Montenegro 02.jpg, Vanja Radovanović in Lisbon ()
File:ESC2019 - Montenegro.jpg, D mol in Tel Aviv ()
File:Eurovision 2022 - Semi-final 2 - Montenegro - Vladana.jpg, Vladana in Turin ()

See also

*Montenegro in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
* Serbia and Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest
*Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Notes and references

Notes

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest