Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011
Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany and selected their entry through a televised national final, O melodie pentru Europa, organised by Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova. The Punk rock band Zdob şi Zdub won the selection with the song "So lucky".
Before Eurovision
O melodie pentru Europa 2011
O melodie pentru Europa 2011 was the national final format developed by TRM in order to select Moldova's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. The event included a final to be held on 26 February 2011, broadcast on TV Moldova 1 and TV Moldova International.Format
The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Moldovan Eurovision entry took place in three rounds. The first round occurred on 26 February 2011 and involved a jury panel shortlisting sixty entries from the received submissions based on criteria such as the quality of the melody and composition, vocals and manner of the performance and the originality of the song. The second round was a live audition of the sixty selected artists and their entries in front of a jury panel that took place on 29 January 2011. The panel selected twenty-five finalists to proceed to the third round, the televised national final. Twenty-five finalists competed in the final on 26 February 2011 where the winner was selected by the 50/50 combination of an expert jury vote and a public televote. In the event of a tie, the entry that received the highest score from the jury vote would be declared the winner.Competing entries
Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries until 16 January 2011. Songwriters could hold any nationality, but artists were required to have Moldovan citizenship. At the conclusion of the submission deadline, 98 valid entries were received by the broadcaster, and were published online on 17 January 2011. A jury selected 60 out of the 98 received entries to proceed to the audition round. The live audition round took place on 29 January 2011 where 25 finalists were selected to advance. The jury panel that evaluated the songs during the live auditions and selected the 25 finalists consisted of Geta Burlacu, Aura, Anatol Chiriac, Victoria Melnic, Andrei Sava, Liviu Stirbu, Sorina Ștefârță, Vladimir Beleaev and Silvia Cărăuş.Among the competing artists, Natalia Barbu represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. Zdob şi Zdub represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005.
| Artist | Song ' | Composer |
| Adriana Voloşenco | "I Can Win the Game" | Alexei Nacai |
| Anişoara Balmuş | "You and I" | Elena Buga, Alexandru Gorgos |
| Aurel Chirtoacă | "Încă îndrăgostit" ' | Natalia Matcovschii, Aurel Chirtoacă |
| Boris Covali & Cristina Croitoru | "Break It Up" | Evgeny Oleinik. Yulia Bykova |
| Corina Cuniuc | "Şi tac" ' | Gicu Cimbir |
| Cristina Scarlat | "Every Day Will Be Your Day" | Lidia Scarlat, Ivan Aculov |
| Dana Marchitan | "Lucky You Lucky Me" | Rafael Artesero |
| Denis Latişev | "It's My First Dance With You" | Adrian Bors, Latişev Denis |
| Diana Staver | "Love Song" | Elena Buga, Valentin Dinga |
| Doiniţa Gherman | "Viaţa" ' | Doiniţa Gherman, Vadim Luchin, Tregubenco, Cătălin Gondiu |
| Dumitru Socican | "Ma pierd când o văd" ' | Dumitru Socican |
| Ion Krasnopolski | "Cu fanfara pînă dimineaţa" ' | Ion Diviza, Ion Krasnopolski |
| Karizma | "When Life is Grey" | Ionuț Adrian Radu |
| M-Studio | "Night Reflection" | M-Studio |
| Mariana Mihaila | "Mi Rey!" ' | Mariana Mihaila |
| Millenium | "In Memoriam" | Olga Gorcinschi |
| Natalia Barbu | "Let's Jazz" | Natalia Barbu, Mike Diamondz |
| Natan | "Dacă dragoste mai e" ' | Eugen Doibani |
| Nicoleta Gavriliţa | "Just Your Friend" | Elena Buga, Serghei Bilicenco |
| Odry | "Doina, dor nemărginit" ' | Radmila Popovici, Marian Stîrcea |
| Pasha | "Dorule" ' | Anastasia Larionova, Pasha Parfeny |
| Ruslan Taranu | "Lumina mea" | Ruslan Taranu |
| Vadim Luchin & Tamaz Djgarcava | "Always" | Tamaz Djgarcava |
| Valeria Tarasova | "This Is My Life" | Ralph Siegel, John O'Flynn |
| Zdob şi Zdub | "So Lucky" | Marc Elsner, Mihai Gîncu, Andy Shuman |
Final
The final took place on 26 February 2011 at TRM studios in Chișinău, hosted by Dianna Rotaru and Gabriel Coveseanu. The winner was selected based on the combination of a public televote and the votes of an expert jury. "So Lucky" performed by Zdob şi Zdub were selected as the winners. Karizma was the landslide winner of the televote with 33.35% while Natalia Barbu was the winner of the jury vote.At Eurovision
Moldova competed in the first half of the second semi-final of the contest, on 12 May 2011, with starting position 7. The song was well received by the audience, however narrowly making it into the grand final with 10th place and 54 points. It beat Belgium for the final spot by 1 point. Shortly after the second semi final, Moldova drew starting position 15 for the grand final on Saturday 16 May 2011. Moldova achieved 12th place after the voting had finished, with 97 points in total.Split results
- In the Semi-final 2 Moldova came 10th with 54 points: the public awarded Moldova 8th place with 61 points and the jury awarded 13th place with 53 points.
- In the Final Moldova came 12th with 97 points: the public awarded Moldova 12th place with 98 points and the jury awarded 15th place with 82 points.
Points awarded by Moldova
Semi-final 2
Final
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |