Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

Beovizija 2009 was the seventh edition of the Beovizija national final organised by RTS in order to select the Serbian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The selection consisted of a semi-final featuring twenty songs and a final featuring eleven songs to be held on 7 and 8 March 2009, respectively, at the Sava Centar in Belgrade.[3] Both shows were hosted by Jovana Janković, Milena Vasić and Srđan Timarov.[4] The two shows were broadcast on RTS1, RTS Sat, in Bosnia and Herzegovina on RTRS, via radio on Radio Belgrade as well as streamed online via the broadcaster's website rts.rs.[5]

Artists and songwriters were able to submit their entries between 24 December 2008 and 24 January 2009. Both artists and songwriters were required to be Serb citizens, while songs were required to be submitted in Serbian.[6] At the closing of the deadline, 90 submissions were received. A selection committee reviewed the submissions and selected twenty entries to proceed to the national final. The selection committee consisted of RTS music editors Jelena Ilić, Ana Milićević and Jelena Vlahović.[7] The selected competing entries were announced on 30 January 2009.[8] On 11 February 2009, Nataša Bekvalac announced her withdrawal from the national final due to scheduled performances and private obligations. Her song "Bili smo najlepši" was performed by Ana Nikolić instead.[9]

The semi-final took place on 7 March 2009 where twenty songs competed. The ten qualifiers for the final were decided by a combination of votes from a jury panel consisting of Jelena Jovičić (actress), Jovan Maljoković (musician and composer) and Ivan Ivačković (rock critic), and the Serbian public via SMS voting. Eurovision contestants Regina, Igor Cukrov and Andrea, Next Time, Andrea Demirović, and Quartissimo and Martina, which would represent Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovenia in 2009, respectively, were featured as guest performers during the show.[10]

Following the semi-final, "Moje odbrane" performed by Ivana Selakov, which was initially announced as non-qualifiers during the show, was reinstated to the final due to technical errors in the public vote, where only votes cast during the first five minutes of the 10 minute voting period were counted.[11] Originally, "Bili smo najlepši" performed by Ana Nikolić was also reinstated as a finalist, but Nikolić refused to participate in the final.[12]

The final took place on 8 March 2009.[5] The winner, "Cipela" performed by Marko Kon and Milan Nikolić, was decided by a combination of votes from a jury panel consisting of Željko Joksimović (represented Serbia and Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004), Kornelije Kovač (musician and composer) and Biljana Krstić (musician), and the Serbian public via SMS voting.[14] Former Eurovision contestants Sirusho, who represented Armenia in 2008, Boaz Ma'uda, who represented Israel in 2008, and Jelena Tomašević, who represented Serbia in 2008, were featured as guest performers during the show, performing together "Time to Pray", composed by Israeli President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres.[15]

Marko Kon and Milaan during the second semi-final

Marko Kon and Milaan took part in technical rehearsals on 4 and 7 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 11 and 12 May. The Serbian performance featured Marko Kon in a yellow jacket and Milaan in a black leather costume performing together with three male pantomimes and a female dancer in a white tulle dress, who was lifted up in the air and dropped to the floor during the performance. The background LED screens displayed pixelated sketches of the performers' faces.[19][20] The director of the Serbian performance was Mojca Horvat and the choreography was completed by Milan Gromilić. The three pantomimes that joined Marko Kon and Milaan on stage were: Ljubiša Dinčić, Igor Knežević and Jovan Sejnjanović. The female dancer was Katarina Gromilić.[21]

At the end of the show, Serbia was not announced among the 10 qualifying entries in the second semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. This marked the first time that Serbia failed to qualify to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest from a semi-final since its first entry in 2007.[22] It was later revealed that Serbia placed tenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 60 points; and whilist it would have been enough to qualify in previous years, in 2008 and 2009 only the top nine places qualified automatically and the tenth place was decided based on the votes of the backup juries, and this time, juries chose Croatia to qualify over Serbia.[23]

Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Serbia and awarded by Serbia in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

The following members comprised the Serbian jury:

• Bilja Krstić – musician
• Jelena Tomašević – singer, represented Serbia in the 2008 contest
• Aleksandar Sedlar – musician
• Marko Đorđević – musician
• Vlada Maričić – musician

Detailed voting results from Serbia (Final)[26][27]

Draw	Country	Results			Points
		Jury	Televoting	Combined
01	Lithuania
02	Israel	4		4
03	France	6		6	3
04	Sweden
05	Croatia	1	7	8	5
06	Portugal	3		3
07	Iceland		2	2
08	Greece		8	8	6
09	Armenia	2		2
10	Russia		4	4
11	Azerbaijan		6	6	4
12	Bosnia and Herzegovina	7	12	19	12
13	Moldova		1	1
14	Malta	10		10	7
15	Estonia		3	3
16	Denmark	5		5	1
17	Germany
18	Turkey
19	Albania
20	Norway	8	10	18	10
21	Ukraine
22	Romania		5	5	2
23	United Kingdom	12		12	8
24	Finland
25	Spain