Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013

Österreich rockt den Song Contest (Austria rocks the Song Contest) was the national final that selected Austria's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. The competition took place on 15 January 2013 at the ORF Center in Vienna, hosted by Mirjam Weichselbraun and Andi Knoll and broadcast on ORF eins as well as streamed online via ORF's official website and the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.[8] The first part of the national final was watched by 297,000 viewers in Austria with a market share of 11%, while the second part was watched by 488,000 viewers in Austria.[9]

Five songs competed in the competition where the winner was selected by public voting and a five-member international jury.[10] The sum of all the jury scores created a total score from which points were distributed based on the percentage of votes each song achieved. For example, if a song gained 10% of the jury vote, then that entry would be awarded 10 points. Viewers were able to vote via telephone or SMS and scores were also assigned based on the percentage of votes each song achieved.

The members of the international panel were:[11]

• Marija Šerifović (Serbia) – singer, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007
• Shay Byrne (Ireland) – radio presenter
• Gerd Gebhardt (Germany) – music producer
• Luke Fisher (United Kingdom) – chief editor of Eurovision website ESCXTRA.com
• Anton Zetterholm (Sweden) – musical actor

ORF invited all interested artists to submit their songs to the broadcaster between 2 October 2012 and 31 October 2012. Artists were also able to apply without a song but were required to submit a cover version of another song.[12][13] The received submissions were reviewed by the ORF Eurovision Song Contest Team led by ORF Head of Entertainment Edgar Böhm, which collaborated with music experts Thomas Rabitsch, Ralf Strobl and Anja Rabitsch in order to select five entries to compete in the national final.[14] The five artists were revealed on 11 December 2012 during the radio show Ö3-Wecker, aired on Ö3, while the presentation of the songs took place on 11 December 2012 at an ORF press conference as well as during Ö3-Wecker.[15][16]

The televised final took place on 15 January 2013. Five songs competed where the combination of votes from an international jury panel and a public vote selected "Shine" performed by Natália Kelly as the winner. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, each of the artists performed a cover version of a past Eurovision Song Contest winning song.[17]

Natália Kelly made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Shine" as the Austrian Eurovision entry. On 13 April, Kelly performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Marlayne and Linda Wagenmakers.[18] On 21 April, Kelly performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French and Paddy O'Connell.[19]

In addition to her international appearances, Natália Kelly performed "Shine" during the ORF eins programmes Willkommen Österreich mit Stermann & Grissemann and Dancing Stars as a musical guest on 30 April and 1 May, respectively.[20][21] Earlier on 24 April, a farewell party was held for Kelly before she travelled to Malmö for the contest, which was held at the 25 Hours Hotel in Vienna.[22]

Natália Kelly during a rehearsal before the first semi-final

Natália Kelly took part in technical rehearsals on 3 and 6 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 9 and 10 May. This included the jury show on 9 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.

The Austrian performance featured Natália Kelly performing on stage in jeans and a white silk chiffon blouse decorated with rose, silver and metallic rhinestones with purple and pink colours appearing on the background. Towards the end of the song, the shards hanging from the ceiling were lifted.[26][27] Natália Kelly was joined by five backing vocalists on stage: Karin Bauer, Regina Mallinger, Birgit Kubica, Harald Baumgartner and Monika Ballwein.[28]

At the end of the show, Austria was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Austria placed fourteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 27 points.[29][30]

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.

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Austria had placed fifteenth with the public televote and fifth with the jury vote in the first semi-final. In the public vote, Austria received an average rank of 12.33, while with the jury vote, Austria received an average rank of 6.32.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Austria and awarded by Austria in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Denmark in the semi-final and to Azerbaijan in the final of the contest.