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Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

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Eurovision Song Contest 2020
Country Greece
National selection
Selection processInternal selection
Selection date(s)Artist: 3 February 2020
Song: 1 March 2020
Selected artist(s)Stefania
Selected song"Supergirl"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Final resultContest cancelled
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2019 • 2020 • 2021►

Greece planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, which was scheduled to be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Greek-Dutch singer Stefania was internally selected by the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) with the song "Supergirl", written by Dimitris Kontopoulos, Sharon Vaughn, Pavlos Manolis, Anastasios Rammos, Diverno and Gabriel Russell. Due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in Europe, the contest was cancelled in mid-March. ERT has stated Stefania will instead represent Greece at the 2021 contest.

Background

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Main article: Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2020 contest, Greece had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty times since their debut in 1974.[1] The nation has won the contest once, in 2005 with the song "My Number One" performed by Helena Paparizou. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Greece managed to qualify for the final with each of their entries for several years. Between 2004 and 2013, the nation achieved nine top ten placements in the final.[2] To this point, Greece in 2016 with Argo's "Utopian Land" failed to qualify from the semi-finals for the first time ever, being absent from the final for the first time since 2000, marking Greece's worst result at the contest. In the 2018 contest, Greece failed to qualify for the second time with Yianna Terzi and the song "Oniro mou" finishing 14th in the semi-final. Greece returned to the final in 2019 with Katerine Duska and the song "Better Love", placing 21st with 74 points.[1]

The Greek national broadcaster, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), broadcasts the event within Greece and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. ERT had been in charge of Greece's participation in the contest since their debut in 1974 until 2013, when the broadcaster was shut down by a government directive and replaced with the interim Dimosia Tileorasi (DT) and later by the New Hellenic Radio, Internet and Television (NERIT) broadcaster.[3][4][5][6] On 28 April 2015, a legislative proposal that resulted in the renaming of NERIT to ERT was approved and signed into law by the Hellenic Parliament; ERT began broadcasting once again on 11 June 2015.[4][7] The new ERT then confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest on 28 August 2015.[8]

The Greek broadcaster has used various methods to select the nation's entry in the past, such as internal selections and televised national finals to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. In early September 2019, Maria Koufopoulou, ERT's director of international relations, confirmed that the country would participate in the 2020 contest.[9][10] She also stated that they were still evaluating how to select the entry and were in discussions with local fan clubs to solicit ideas.[9][10]

Before Eurovision

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A young woman wearing a dark patterned crop top and black pants staring straight at the camera
Greek-Dutch performer Stefania was selected as the entrant for Greece.

Internal selection

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Similar to 2019,[11] ERT announced that the Greek entry would be selected internally by the broadcaster. On 15 January, it revealed the names of the people who would comprise the jury panel involved with the selection of the entrant. The jury consisted of music composer and ERT board member Dimitris Papadimitriou, music producer Petros Adam, Yiorgos Markakis, music producer Yiannis Petridis, and ERT's director of international relations Maria Koufopoulou.[12]

Prior to the official announcement of the performer, Star Channel reported that seven acts had been shortlisted to represent Greece in Rotterdam, including Irini Papadopoulou, Stefania, Ian Stratis, and the boy band One.[13] They reported that the jury would listen to the songs submitted by each act before selecting their preferred entry. On 3 February 2020 during an ERT newscast, Stefania was announced as the Greek entrant with the song "Supergirl".[14] The song was written by Dimitris Kontopoulos, Sharon Vaughn, and the production team Arcade (Pavlos Manolis, Anastasios Rammos, Diverno, Gabriel Russell).[14] Born in the Netherlands to a family with Greek ancestry, Stefania had previously represented the Netherlands at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 as part of the group Kisses, placing eighth.[14] The song and accompanying music video were released the following month on 1 March 2020, during the premiere of ERT's new program Eurovision Song Contest - Final Countdown, hosted by Mihalis Marinos.[15] The music video was directed by Konstantinos Karydas.[2]

At Eurovision

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The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was originally scheduled to take place at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands and consist of two semi-finals on 12 and 14 May, and a final on 16 May 2020.[16] According to Eurovision rules, each country, except the host nation and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom), would have been required to qualify from one of two semi-finals to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final would have progressed to the final.[17][18][19] On 28 January 2020, the allocation draw was held at Rotterdam City Hall, placing Greece into the first half of the second semi-final.[20] Fokas Evangelinos was hired to organise the staging and choreography for the performance.[2][14] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the contest was cancelled on 18 March 2020.[21][22] The EBU announced soon after that entries intended for 2020 would not be eligible for the following year, though each broadcaster would be able to send either their 2020 representative or a new one.[23] ERT responded that its intention was to continue its cooperation with Stefania for the next contest in 2021.[21]

Alternative song contests

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Some of the broadcasters scheduled to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 organised alternative competitions. Austria's ORF broadcast Der kleine Song Contest in April 2020, which saw every entry being assigned to one of three semi-finals. A jury consisting of ten singers that had represented Austria at Eurovision before was hired to rank each song; the best-placed entry in each semi-final advanced to the final round.[24] In the third semi-final on 18 April, Greece placed seventh in a field of 13 participants, achieving 51 points.[25] Greece's song also partook in Sveriges Television's Sveriges 12:a in May,[26] and was qualified for the final round, finishing 15th.[27]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Countries – Greece". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 22 April 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  2. ^ a b c Jiandani, Sanjay (20 February 2020). "Greece: Stefania will premiere her Eurovision entry 'Superg!rl' on 1 March". ESCToday. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  3. ^ Savaricas, Nathalie (11 July 2013). "Greece's state-run TV service resumes with a blast from the past". independent.co.uk. The Independent. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  4. ^ a b Maltezou, Renee (28 April 2015). "In symbolic move, Greece to reopen shuttered state broadcaster". reuters.com. Reuters. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  5. ^ Paravantes, Maria (11 June 2005). "Joy In Greece Over Eurovision Win". Billboard. Vol. 117, no. 24. p. 17. Retrieved 16 January 2009 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ Floras, Stella (11 June 2013). "Greece shuts down public broadcaster ERT". ESCToday. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  7. ^ "Greece's state broadcaster ERT back on air after two years". bbc.com. BBC News. 11 June 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  8. ^ "Συμφωνία ΕΡΤ - Forthnet για τα στιγμιότυπα της Super League". enimerosi24.gr (in Greek). Enimerosi24. 28 August 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  9. ^ a b Farran, Neil (6 September 2019). "Greece; Eurovision 2020 Participation Confirmed". Eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  10. ^ a b Daniil, Ioannis (6 September 2019). "ΕΛΛΑΔΑ: Παρούσα στη Eurovision 2020!" (in Greek). OGAE Greece. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  11. ^ Agadellis, Stratos (14 February 2019). "Greece: Katerine Duska to Tel Aviv!". esctoday.com. ESCToday. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  12. ^ Fotopoulos, Akis (15 January 2020). "Eurovision 2020: Οι υποψηφιότητες, η επιτροπή της ΕΡΤ και το μεγάλο φαβορί" (in Greek). Ethnos. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  13. ^ "Τα δύο πιθανά ονόματα για την ελληνική εκπροσώπηση στη Eurovision 2020" (in Greek). Star Channel. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  14. ^ a b c d Gallagher, Robyn (3 February 2020). "Confirmed! Stefania will represent Greece at Eurovision 2020 with the song "SUPERG!RL"". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  15. ^ "Eurovision 2020: Αυτό είναι το Supergirl από τη Stefania για την Ελλάδα". Zappit.gr (in Greek). Zappit. 1 March 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  16. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest Rotterdam 2020". European Broadcasting Union. 2020. Archived from the original on 6 March 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  17. ^ "Rules – Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 20 June 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  18. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 2020 – First Semi-Final". European Broadcasting Union. 2020. Archived from the original on 28 January 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  19. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 2020 – Second Semi-Final". European Broadcasting Union. 2020. Archived from the original on 28 January 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  20. ^ Groot, Evert (28 January 2020). "Which country performs in which Eurovision 2020 Semi-Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  21. ^ a b "Ματαιώθηκε από την EBU η διεξαγωγή της Eurovision 2020". ert.gr (in Greek). Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation. 10 April 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  22. ^ "Eurovision 2020 in Rotterdam is cancelled". European Broadcasting Union. 18 March 2020. Archived from the original on 18 March 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  23. ^ "Intention to honour Eurovision 2020 songs and artists". European Broadcasting Union. 20 March 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  24. ^ "Mr. Song Contest proudly presents – Der kleine Song Contest am 14., 16. und 18. April in ORF 1" (in German). ORF. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  25. ^ Wilson, Katie (19 April 2020). "Der kleine Song Contest: Austrian public choose Iceland's Daði & Gagnamagnið as their favourite Eurovision 2020 act". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  26. ^ Dahlander, Gustav (3 April 2020). "Klart för Eurovision-vecka i SVT" (in Swedish). Sveriges Television. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  27. ^ Ek, Torbjörn (11 May 2020). "De röstades vidare i svenska Eurovision-tävlingen" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
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