Dora 2009 was the Croatian national selection Dora, which selected Croatia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The competition was held in the Croatian city ofOpatija, despite rumours that HRT would move Dora to another city.
Format
The format of the competition includes a semi-final on 27 February 2009 and a final on 28 February 2009. 14 songs were selected from a public submission period to compete in the semi-final. The top six songs, as determined by a public televote, qualified to the final which were joined by 10 songs written by composers invited by HRT for the competition, which qualified directly for the final. In the final, the 50/50 combination of points from a public televote and an expert jury determined the winner.
Competing entries
Artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster until 12 December 2008. An expert committee selected fourteen artists and songs for the competition from the received submissions, which were announced on 23 December 2008. On 15 December 2008, HRT revealed the names of the ten composers that were invited to participate. The invited composers were:
The pre-qualified finalists were revealed on 28 January 2009, which included Croatian contestants from the Balkan talent showOperacija trijumf, Ana Bebić and Igor Cukrov. Before the competition, "Raduj se", written by Boris Novković, had been selected to be performed in the semi-final, however Novković was forced to withdraw, claiming that he didn't have time to select a performer to his song. As a result of this, Sandra Bagarić with "Kao jedno" participated instead. Goran Karan withdrew from the semi-final on 2 February 2009 as he did not think his song, "Adam i Eva", accomplished all the expectations and is not for the kind of festival where Croatia decides upon their song for Europe. As a result of this, Mario Battifiaca with "Ma gdje bila" participated instead.
Semi-final
The semi-final took place on 27 February 2009 at the Hotel Kvarner in Opatija, hosted by Duško Ćurlić and Nevena Rendelli. The running order for the semi-final took place 26 February 2009. The fourteen entries selected from the public submissions participated and six advanced to the final. The qualifiers were determined exclusively by a public televote.
Final
The final took place on 28 February 2009 at the Crystal Ballroom of the Hotel Kvarner in Opatija, hosted by Duško Ćurlić and Danijela Trbović. The six entries that qualified from the preceding semi-final and the ten pre-qualified entries written by the invited composers participated and the winner was determined by a 50/50 combination of points awarded by an expert jury and from the public televote.
At Eurovision
Igor and Andrea were forced to compete in the second semi-final on 14 May after Kraljevi ulice and 75 cents came 21st in the 2008 contest. At the semi-final on 14 May the duo performed 1st in the running order, preceding Ireland. The duo qualified to the final as the jury's selected qualifier. In the final they performed 5th, following Sweden and preceding Portugal, eventually finishing 18th.
Split results
In the Final Croatia came 18th with 45 points: the public awarded Croatia 16th place with 55 points and the jury awarded 19th place with 58 points.
