Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001

Nationaal Songfestival 2001 was the national final developed by NOS that selected the Dutch entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2001. Eight entries competed in the competition that consisted of a final on 3 March 2001 which took place at the Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, hosted by Paul de Leeuw and was broadcast on Nederland 2.[8] The first part of the national final was watched by 1.8 million viewers in the Netherlands with a market share of 25%, while the second part was watched by 2.1 million viewers with a market share of 34%.[9]

A submission period was opened by the Dutch broadcaster on 20 July 2000 where artists and composers were able to submit their entries until 2 October 2000.[10] 304 submissions were received by the broadcaster at the closing of the deadline, and the eight selected competing entries were announced on 29 December 2000.[11] Seven of the entries for the competition came from the public submission through the decision by a selection commission consisting of Menno Timmerman, Daan van Rijsbergen, Ad Kraamer and Willem van Beusekom as well as from composers directly invited by NOS, while the remaining entry ("Danielle" performed by Montezuma's Revenge) came from Conamus which organised a workshop where a team of musicians consisting of Alan Michael, Edwin Schimscheimer, Jan Rot and Henk Westbroek worked with amateur songwriters as well as on several of the public submissions selected by the commission.[12][13][14]

The final took place on 3 March 2001 where eight entries competed. The winner, "Out on My Own" performed by Michelle, was selected by the 50/50 combination of a public televote and the votes of three juries: a musicians jury, a composers jury and a music industry jury.[15] The viewers and the juries each had a total of 120 points to award. Each jury group distributed their points as follows: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10 and 12 points. The viewer vote was based on the percentage of votes each song achieved through the following voting methods: telephone and SMS voting. For example, if a song gained 10% of the vote, then that entry would be awarded 10% of 120 points rounded to the nearest integer: 12 points.[16] 45,000 of the votes were cast by the public via SMS during the show.[17]

In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the show featured guest performances by Dutch Divas, British 1976 Eurovision winner Brotherhood of Man, Swedish 1984 Eurovision winner Herreys and past Dutch Eurovision entrants Lenny Kuhr (1969), Getty Kaspers (1975), Justine Pelmelay (1989), Maxine and Franklin Brown (1996), Marlayne (1999) and Linda Wagenmakers (2000).[18][19]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to the Netherlands and awarded by the Netherlands in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to the Estonia in the contest.[25]

Points awarded to the Netherlands[26] Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points  Portugal 5 points  Israel 4 points  Slovenia 3 points 2 points 1 point  Russia

Points awarded by the Netherlands[26] Score Country 12 points  Estonia 10 points  Denmark 8 points  France 7 points  Spain 6 points  Greece 5 points  Lithuania 4 points  Slovenia 3 points  Turkey 2 points  United Kingdom 1 point  Germany