Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest

Overview of the role of Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest

Austria
Member station	ORF
National selection events	Internal selection 1957–1968 1971–1972 1976–1980 1985–1989 1992 1995–1997 1999–2000 2007 2014 2017–2021 National final 1981–1984 1990–1991 1993–1994 2002–2005 2011–2013 2015–2016
Participation summary
Appearances	53 (47 finals)
First appearance	1957
Best result	1st: 1966, 2014
Nul points	1962, 1988, 1991, 2015
External links
Austria's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Austria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 53 times since its debut in 1957. The country has won twice, in 1966 and 2014, and such it holds the record for the longest gap between consecutive wins — 48 years. The contest is broadcast in Austria by ORF. Vienna was the host city on both of the occasions that the contest was held in Austria, in 1967 and 2015.

Having finished sixth at the 1964 contest and fourth in 1965, Udo Jurgens won at his third attempt in 1966 with the song "Merci Chérie". This was Austria's only top three result of the 20th century. Austria won again in 2014, with Conchita Wurst and "Rise Like a Phoenix". Austria has finished last in the contest final seven times (1957, 1961, 1962, 1979, 1984, 1988 and 1991) and finished last in the semifinal in 2012. Cesár Sampson achieved Austria's eighth top five result and second-best result of the 21st century at the 2018 contest, finishing third with the song "Nobody But You".

History

Austria finished last at its first attempt in the contest in 1957, before Liane Augustin gave the country the first of its eight top five results in 1958, with fifth. Having finished sixth in 1964 and fourth in 1965, Udo Jürgens won the contest at his third attempt in 1966. This would be Austria's only top three result of 20th century. The country's best result over the next 46 years (1967–2013) would be fifth place, which it achieved with Milestones in 1972, Waterloo & Robinson in 1976 and Thomas Forstner in 1989. Austria has finished last in the final a total of seven times, in 1957, 1961, 1962, 1979, 1984, 1988, 1991. The country also finished last in the semi-final in 2012. Austria's best result of the 1990s was four tenth-place finishes, in 1990, 1992, 1996 and 1999. Austria's best result of the 2000s was Alf Poier's sixth-place in 2003, which was Austria's best placement since 1989.

After a three-year absence, ORF announced on 28 July 2010 that Austria would return to the contest in 2011,^[1][2] where the country reached the final for the first time since 2004, finishing 18th.^{[citation needed]}

Austria achieved its second victory in the contest at the 2014 contest, with Conchita Wurst winning with 290 points.^[3] In a complete reversal of fortunes in 2015, following a tie-break rule Austria was placed 26th and scored nul points along with Germany (27th), they became the first countries since the United Kingdom in 2003 to score nul points at the final. Because of this, Austria became the first host country to receive nul points. Austria qualified for the final for the next three years, finishing 13th in 2016, 16th in 2017 and in 2018, when "Nobody but You" by Cesár Sampson finished third. The country's fortunes were once again reversed afterwards, with Paenda (2019) and Vincent Bueno (2021) both failing to qualify for the final.

Absences

Austria has opted out of participation in several Contests. The first of these was the 1969 Contest, which was staged in Madrid. As Spain was ruled at that time by Francisco Franco, Austria chose to boycott the Contest. Contest historian John Kennedy O'Connor points out, however, that Austria had given Spain two points in the previous event and since Spain only won by one point, the political protest was perhaps disingenuous.^[4]

The following year, Austria was again absent. This was due to the unprecedented result in 1969 in which four songs tied for first place, a result which prompted several other countries to opt out as well.^[4]

From 1973 to 1975, Austria stayed away as well. The exact reason for this is unclear, however the scoring system in use at one of these Contests - allowing all entrants a guaranteed number of points - may have been a factor.

The country was ineligible to compete in 1998 and 2001, as it had not achieved sufficiently high placings in the five previous years.^[4]

Prior to the 2006 contest, Austria announced that they would not enter a performer in protest at their poor results in previous years, arguing that the musical talent of the performers was no longer the determining factor in Contest success.^[5][6] They returned for the 2007 contest in Helsinki, but came second to last in the semi-final. National broadcaster ORF cited the 2007 result, as well as declining interest in the Contest among Austrian viewers, as the reason Austria would not return to the contest in 2008. ORF programme director Wolfgang Lorenz also hinted that Austria may withdraw from the contest indefinitely, stating "ORF has no desire to send more talent out of Austria to a competition where they have no chances...Should the situation change, we'll be happy to take part again".^[7] Despite withdrawing, the final of the 2008 contest was screened on ORF.^[8]

In 2008, the EBU introduced two semi-finals to the contest, hoping that spreading countries out by random draw would prevent the kind of bloc voting that had warded Austria off. Additionally, they reintroduced juries to determine 50% of each country's result in 2009 (albeit not in the semi-finals, in which all but one of the qualifiers were decided entirely by televote). However, Edgar Böhm, director of entertainment for ORF, said that the semi-final format "still incorporates a mix of countries who will be politically favoured in the voting process" and "that, unless a clear guideline as to how the semifinals are organised is made by the EBU, Austria will not be taking part in Moscow 2009".^[9] ORF decided not to participate in the 2009 contest, but did broadcast the final as in 2008.^[10] The EBU announced that they would work harder to bring Austria back to the contest in 2010, along with former participants Monaco and Italy.^[11] It was, however, confirmed that Austria would not participate in the 2010 Contest in Bærum.^[12] In July 2010, the chairman of ORF, Alexander Wrabetz, stated that Austria would return for the 2011 contest, due to it being held in its neighbour Germany.^[1][2][13] In 2011, Austria reached the final for the first time since 2004.

Participation overview

Table key

1	Winner
2	Second place
3	Third place
◁	Last place
X	Entry selected but did not compete
†	Upcoming

Year	Entrant	Song	Language	Final	Points	Semi	Points
1957	Bob Martin	"Wohin, kleines Pony?"	German	10 ◁	3	No semi-finals
1958	Liane Augustin	"Die ganze Welt braucht Liebe"	German	5	8
1959	Ferry Graf	"Der K und K Kalypso aus Wien"	German	9	4
1960	Harry Winter	"Du hast mich so fasziniert"	German	7	6
1961	Jimmy Makulis	"Sehnsucht"	German	15 ◁	1
1962	Eleonore Schwarz	"Nur in der Wiener Luft"	German	13 ◁	0
1963	Carmela Corren	"Vielleicht geschieht ein Wunder"	German, English	7	16
1964	Udo Jürgens	"Warum nur warum?"	German	6	11
1965	Udo Jürgens	"Sag ihr, ich lass sie grüßen"	German	4	16
1966	Udo Jürgens	"Merci, Chérie"	German, French	1	31
1967	Peter Horton	"Warum es hunderttausend Sterne gibt"	German	14	2
1968	Karel Gott	"Tausend Fenster"	German	13	2
1971	Marianne Mendt	"Musik"	Viennese German	16	66
1972	Milestones	"Falter im Wind"	German	5	100
1976	Waterloo & Robinson	"My Little World"	English	5	80
1977	Schmetterlinge	"Boom Boom Boomerang"	German, English	17	11
1978	Springtime	"Mrs. Caroline Robinson"	German	15	14
1979	Christina Simon	"Heute in Jerusalem"	German	18 ◁	5
1980	Blue Danube	"Du bist Musik"	German	8	64
1981	Marty Brem	"Wenn du da bist"	German	17	20
1982	Mess	"Sonntag"	German	9	57
1983	Westend	"Hurricane"	German	9	53
1984	Anita	"Einfach weg"	German	19 ◁	5
1985	Gary Lux	"Kinder dieser Welt"	German	8	60
1986	Timna Brauer	"Die Zeit ist einsam"	German	18	12
1987	Gary Lux	"Nur noch Gefühl"	German	20	8
1988	Wilfried	"Lisa Mona Lisa"	German	21 ◁	0
1989	Thomas Forstner	"Nur ein Lied"	German	5	97
1990	Simone	"Keine Mauern mehr"	German	10	58
1991	Thomas Forstner	"Venedig im Regen"	German	22 ◁	0
1992	Tony Wegas	"Zusammen geh'n"	German	10	63
1993	Tony Wegas	"Maria Magdalena"	German	14	32	Kvalifikacija za Millstreet
1994	Petra Frey	"Für den Frieden der Welt"	German	17	19	No semi-finals
1995	Stella Jones	"Die Welt dreht sich verkehrt"	German	13	67
1996	George Nussbaumer	"Weil's dr guat got"	Vorarlbergish	10	68	6	80
1997	Bettina Soriat	"One Step"	German	21	12	No semi-finals
1999	Bobbie Singer	"Reflection"	English	10	65
2000	The Rounder Girls	"All To You"	English	14	34
2002	Manuel Ortega	"Say a Word"	English	18	26
2003	Alf Poier	"Weil der Mensch zählt"	German[a]	6	101
2004	Tie Break	"Du bist"	German	21	9	Top 11 previous year[b]
2005	Global Kryner	"Y así"	English, Spanish	Failed to qualify		21	30
2007	Eric Papilaya	"Get a Life - Get Alive"	English			27	4
2011	Nadine Beiler	"The Secret Is Love"	English	18	64	7	69
2012	Trackshittaz	"Woki mit deim Popo"	German[c]	Failed to qualify		18 ◁	8
2013	Natália Kelly	"Shine"	English			14	27
2014	Conchita Wurst	"Rise Like a Phoenix"	English	1	290	1	169
2015	The Makemakes	"I Am Yours"	English	26[d]	0	Host country[e]
2016	Zoë	"Loin d'ici"	French	13	151	7	170
2017	Nathan Trent	"Running On Air"	English	16	93	7	147
2018	Cesár Sampson	"Nobody But You"	English	3	342	4	231
2019	Pænda	"Limits"	English	Failed to qualify		17	21
2020	Vincent Bueno	"Alive"	English	Contest cancelled[f] X
2021	Vincent Bueno	"Amen"	English	Failed to qualify		12	66
2022	TBA December 2021 † [15]	Upcoming †

Hostings

Year	Location	Venue	Presenter	Photo
1967	Vienna	Großer Festsaal der Wiener Hofburg	Erica Vaal
2015		Wiener Stadthalle	Mirjam Weichselbraun, Alice Tumler and Arabella Kiesbauer

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Further information: Marcel Bezençon Awards

Year	Category	Song	Performer(s)	Composer(s)	Host city	Ref.
2014	Press Award	"Rise Like a Phoenix"	Conchita Wurst	Charley Mason, Joey Patulka, Ali Zuckowski, Julian Maas	Copenhagen	[16]

Related involvement

Conductors

Year	Conductor[g]	Musical Director	Notes	Ref.
1957	Carl de Groof	N/A		[17]
1958	Willy Fantel
1959	Franck Pourcel		[h]
1960	Robert Stolz
1961	Franck Pourcel		[i]
1962	Bruno Uher
1963	Erwin Halletz
1964	Johannes Fehring
1965	Gianni Ferrio		[j]
1966	Hans Hammerschmid
1967	Johannes Fehring
1968	Robert Opratko	N/A
1971				[18]
1972	Erich Kleinschuster
1976
1977	Christian Kolonovits
1978	Richard Oesterreicher
1979
1980				[19]
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988	Harald Neuwirth
1989	No conductor
1990	Richard Oesterreicher
1991
1992	Leon Ives
1993	Christian Kolonovits
1994	Hermann Weindorf
1995	Michael F. Kienzl
1996	Mischa W. Krausz
1997	No conductor

Heads of delegation

Year	Head of delegation	Ref.
2019	Stefan Zechner	[20]

Commentators and spokespersons

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Between the 1970 and 1998 contests, every contest was commentated by Austrian radio journalist and actor Ernst Grissemann, with the exception of the 1979 and 1990 contests. Grissemann admitted to future German commentator Peter Urban in 1995 that he only stayed for the dress rehearsal and then provided the Austrian commentary live from the ORF studios.^[21] After 1998 Grissemann stepped down from the commentary and was replaced by Andi Knoll. Austria has also broadcast the contests which it did not compete in, except for the 2010 contest.

Year	Television commentator	Radio commentator	Spokesperson	Ref.
1957	Commentary via ARD Germany	No radio broadcast	Karl Bruck
1958
1959
1960			Emil Kollpacher
1961
1962
1963
1964	Willy Kralik		Walter Richard Langer
1965
1966
1967	Emil Kollpacher
1968	Willy Kralik
1969			Did not participate
1970	Ernst Grissemann
1971		Hubert Gaisbauer	No spokesperson
1972
1973		No radio broadcast	Did not participate
1974
1975
1976		Hubert Gaisbauer	Jenny Pippal
1977
1978		Walter Richard Langer
1979	Max Schautzer
1980	Günther Ziesel
1981	Ernst Grissemann
1982			Tilia Herold
1983		Rudolf Klausnitzer
1984		No radio broadcast
1985		Walter Richard Langer	Chris Lohner
1986		Hans Leitinger	Tilia Herold
1987
1988
1989
1990	Barbara Stöckl	Walter Richard Langer
1991	Herbert Dobrovolny		Gabriele Haring
1992	Ernst Grissemann	Martin Blumenau	Andy Lee
1993
1994			Tilia Herold
1995		Stermann & Grissemann
1996			Martina Rupp
1997			Adriana Zartl
1998			Did not participate
1999	Andi Knoll		Dodo Roščić
2000
2001			Did not participate
2002			Dodo Roščić
2003		Martin Blumenau
2004
2005
2006		No radio broadcast	Did not participate
2007			Eva Pölzl
2008			Did not participate
2009	Benny Hörtnagl
2010	No broadcast
2011	Andi Knoll	Martin Blumenau & Benny Hörtnagl	Kati Bellowitsch
2012		Stermann & Grissemann
2013		No radio broadcast
2014
2015
2016
2017			Kristina Inhof
2018			Kati Bellowitsch
2019			Philipp Hansa	[22][23]
2021

Photogallery

• Liane Augustin performing "Die ganze Welt braucht Liebe" in Hilversum (1958)

• Udo Jürgens performing "Sag ihr, ich lass sie grüßen" in Naples (1965)

• Tie Break performing "Du bist" in Istanbul (2004)

• Eric Papilaya performing "Get a Life – Get Alive" in Helsinki (2007)

• Nadine Beiler in Düsseldorf (2011)

• Natália Kelly performing "Shine" in Malmö (2013)

• Conchita Wurst performing "Rise Like a Phoenix" in Copenhagen (2014)

• The Makemakes performing "I Am Yours" in Vienna (2015)

• Zoë performing "Loin d'ici" in Stockholm (2016)

• Nathan Trent performing "Running On Air" in Kyiv (2017)

• Cesár Sampson performing "Nobody But You" in Lisbon (2018)

• Paenda performing "Limits" in Tel Aviv (2019)

See also

• Austria in Eurovision Choir – A competition organised by the EBU for non-professional choirs.
• Austria in the Eurovision Dance Contest – Dance version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
• Austria in the Eurovision Young Dancers – A competition organised by the EBU for younger dancers aged between 16 and 21.
• Austria in the Eurovision Young Musicians – A competition organised by the EBU for musicians aged 18 years and younger.

Notes and references

Notes

1. Specifically Styrian, a Southern Bavarian dialect spoken in Styria.
2. According to the then-Eurovision rules, the top ten non-Big Four countries from the previous year along with the Big Four automatically qualified for the Grand Final without having to compete in semi-finals. For example, if Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the 11th and 12th spots were advanced to next year's Grand Final along with all countries ranked in the top ten.
3. Specifically Mühlviertlerisch, a Central Bavarian dialect spoken in Upper Austria.
4. While Austria and Germany both finished with no points, Austria is listed as finishing ahead of Germany due to the tiebreaker rule that favours the song performed earliest in the running order. Therefore, Germany finished in 27th (last) place, with Austria in 26th.^[14]
5. If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year.
6. The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
7. All conductors are of Austrian nationality unless otherwise noted.
8. Host conductor
9. Host conductor
10. Host conductor

References

1. Klier, Marcus (27 July 2010). "Austria will return to Eurovision in 2011". ESCToday. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
2. "Song Contest: Österreich tritt 2011 wieder an" (in German). ORF. 27 July 2010. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
3. "Austria wins Eurovision Song Contest". BBC News. 11 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
4. O'Connor, John Kennedy (2005). The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History.
5. Philips, Roel (18 June 2005). "Austria withdraws from 2006 Eurovision Song Contest". Retrieved 10 December 2006.
6. Philips, Roel (20 June 2005). "Austrian Broadcaster explains withdrawal". Retrieved 12 December 2006.
7. Holyer, Steve (20 November 2007). "Austria will not go to Belgrade". Retrieved 20 November 2007.
8. Klier, Marcus (2 January 2008). "ORF likely to broadcast Eurovision Song Contest 2008". Retrieved 1 March 2008.
9. Kuipers, Michael (3 June 2008). "Austria: ORF will decide in the Autumn". ESCToday. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
10. Klier, Marcus (18 September 2008). "Austria: No return to Eurovision in 2009". ESCToday. Retrieved 18 September 2008.
11. Floras, Stella (13 January 2009). "EBU working for Eurovision full house in 2010". ESCToday. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
12. Klier, Marcus (22 September 2009). "Confirmed: Austria will not take part in 2010". ESCToday. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
13. Wrabetz, Alexander (31 May 2010). "Wrabetz will ORF-Antreten "sicher überdenken"". derstandard.at (in German). Archived from the original on 5 June 2010. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
14. "Rules for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009" (PDF). European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 18 July 2009.
15. Austrovision [@austrovision] (9 November 2021). "WHO SINGS FOR AUSTRIA? ORF Eurovision scout Eberhard Forcher gave an insight into the selection process for the Austrian entry in Eurovision 2022. Speaking to the Merci Chérie Podcast, he announced that four artists are still shortlisted to represent Austria in Turin. A decision of the internal selection process is expected within the next weeks. The act should be revealed to the public in December. […]". Retrieved 9 November 2021 – via Instagram.
16. "Winners of the Marcel Bezençon Awards". eurovision.tv. 11 May 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
17. Roxburgh, Gordon (2012). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 93–101. ISBN 978-1-84583-065-6.
18. Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 142–168. ISBN 978-1-84583-093-9.
19. Roxburgh, Gordon (2016). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Three: The 1980s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84583-118-9.
20. McCaig, Ewan (24 April 2019). "Austria: Vienna Hosts Eurovision Farewell Party For PÆNDA". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
21. "Begegnung in der Box | Das Erste: Eurovision Song Contest - News - Mein Grand Prix". Eurovision.de. 14 May 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
22. "Andi Knoll outet sich: "Ich bin seit 18 Jahren mit einem Mann zusammen"". kosmo.at (in German). 29 April 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
23. "Eurovision 2019 Spokespersons – Who will announce the points?". eurovisionworld.com. 18 May 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2019.

External links

• Independent Eurovision Song Contest site from Austria
• Lyrics for all Austrian entries
• Points to and from Austria eurovisioncovers.co.uk