Eurovision Song Contest 2011
| Eurovision Song Contest 2011 | |
|---|---|
| Feel Your Heart Beat! | |
| Dates and venue | |
| Semi-final 1 |
|
| Semi-final 2 |
|
| Final |
|
| Venue | Esprit Arena Düsseldorf, Germany |
| Organisation | |
| Organiser | European Broadcasting Union (EBU) |
| Executive supervisor | Jon Ola Sand |
| Production | |
| Host broadcaster | ARD – Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) |
| Director | Ladislaus Kiraly |
| Executive producers |
|
| Presenters | |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 43 |
| Number of finalists | 25 |
| Returning countries | |
Participation map
| |
| Vote | |
| Voting system | Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 points to their 10 favourite songs |
| Winning song | |
The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It consisted of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May and a final on 14 May 2011, held at the Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf, Germany, and presented by Anke Engelke, Stefan Raab, and Judith Rakers. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) on behalf of ARD, which staged the event after winning the 2010 contest for Germany with the song "Satellite" by Lena.
Broadcasters from forty-three countries participated in the contest, equalling the record for the 2008 edition. Four countries returned to the contest this year; Austria returned after their last participation in 2007, Hungary returned after their last participation in 2009, San Marino returned after their first participation in 2008. Italy also returned to the contest after their last participation fourteen years earlier, in 1997.
The winner was Azerbaijan with the song "Running Scared", performed by Ell and Nikki, and written by Stefan Örn, Sandra Bjurman, and Iain James Farquharson. This was Azerbaijan's first victory in the contest, after only four years of participation. It was also the first male-female duo to win the contest since 1963. Azerbaijan won the televote and combined vote, while Italy won the jury vote and came second overall. Sweden, Ukraine, and Denmark rounded out the top five. Apart from Italy, the only other "Big Five" country to make the top 10 was host nation Germany, finishing tenth. The United Kingdom followed closely behind, finishing eleventh. This was the first time since the juries were reintroduced alongside the televoting in 2009 that the winner did not place first in the jury voting; Italy was the jury winner, while Azerbaijan was the televote winner. Georgia, finishing ninth, equalled its best result from 2010. For the first time since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Turkey failed to qualify for the final. Additionally, Armenia failed to qualify for the final for the first time since its debut in 2006.
The broadcast of the final won the Rose d'Or award for Best Live Event.