San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest
has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 10 times, debuting in the 2008 contest, followed by participation from 2011 onward. Having failed to qualify in their first four attempts, San Marino qualified for the Eurovision final for the first time in 2014. Valentina Monetta represented San Marino in 2012, 2013 and 2014, making her the first Sanmarinese singer to participate in three consecutive contests. Her most recent representation in 2017 together with Jimmie Wilson, gave her the title of the woman with the most participations ever in the Eurovision Song Contest. In, Serhat managed to qualify, marking the second appearance of the country in a Eurovision final.
History
In June 2007, Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino, the Sammarinese public service broadcaster, indicated interest in joining the contest in the near future, all depending on the interest of the stockholders, especially Italian broadcaster RAI, which had been absent from the Contest since 1997. Five months later, the broadcaster confirmed its participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade. The first Sammarinese entry in the Eurovision Song Contest was Miodio, with the Italian language song "Complice". San Marino holds the honour of being the 50th country to participate at Eurovision, participating 5th in the first semi-final of the contest. Miodio failed to qualify for the final, receiving just 5 points in total and coming last. SMRTV had originally planned to compete at the 2009 contest in Moscow, Russia, with the Sammarinese Minister of Culture announcing shortly after the 2008 contest that they had "good hopes to return". SMRTV announced that it would be reviewing the 2008 contest, and would have a decision on 2009 participation by the end of the year. It was then rumoured that the country would not be participating in the 2009 contest following reports that SMRTV would withdraw due to poor results at the 2008 contest, however SMRTV rebuked the claim and confirmed its interest in the 2009 contest. In the end, SMRTV announced that it would not participate in the 2009 contest, having already applied to enter. The broadcaster insisted that this was not due to the poor results of the previous year, but financial difficulties faced by SMRTV. San Marino did not return for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, again stating financial reasons preventing participation. The broadcaster announced that it hoped to return to the competition in the future and discussed possible participation in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.performing in Malmö
After a two-year absence from the Contest, San Marino returned in 2011 with Italian singer Senit performing "Stand By", which failed to take the nation to the final. Between 2012 and 2014, San Marino sent Valentina Monetta to the contest on three consecutive occasions, which made her the first singer to participate in three consecutive contests since Udo Jürgens, who competed in 1964, 1965 and 1966 for Austria. Her entries in 2012 and 2013 also failed to qualify San Marino to the final. However, in 2014, Monetta managed to bring San Marino to the final for the first time, where she placed 24th with the song "Maybe". In 2015, the nation once again failed to qualify to the final with the song "Chain of Lights" performed by Anita Simoncini and Michele Perniola. In 2016, San Marino failed to qualify with "I Didn't Know" sung by Turkish performer Serhat. 2017 marked Valentina Monetta's fourth time in the contest, however, her song "Spirit in the Night" placed last in the semi-final, tying San Marino's worst performance. This was only slightly improved upon in 2018 with Jessika and Jenifer Brening's second to last place finish with "Who We Are". In 2019 San Marino sent Serhat again with the song "Say Na Na Na ", finishing in 19th place with 77 points, giving San Marino its best result to date. SMRTV confirmed San Marino's participation at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest on 25 May 2019.
The Sammarinese national broadcaster, San Marino RTV, broadcasts the event within San Marino and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Throughout the years, this selection process has varied from an internal selection, where the broadcaster chooses the entry, to a national final with public input. For 2020, San Marino used a national final-type process titled Digital Battle Eurovision. After selecting the Senhit internally, an online poll was open for two days from 7 March 2020 until 8 March 2020 in order to select the song she would perform in the 2020 contest. The winning song, "Freaky!" was announced on 9 March 2020. Later that month, however, the 2020 Contest was cancelled due to the pandemic of the Coronavirus.
Contestants
Related involvement
Heads of delegation
The public broadcaster of each participating country in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the contestants, songwriters, composers and backing vocalists, among others.| Year | Head of delegation | |
| -present | Alessandro Capicchioni |
Jury members
A five-member jury panel consisting of music industry professionals is made up for every participating country for the semi-finals and Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest, ranking all entries except for their own country's contribution. The juries' votes constitute 50% of the overall result alongside televoting.| Year | 1st member | 2nd member | 3rd member | 4th member | 5th member | |
| 2008 | Little Tony | |||||
| 2011 | ||||||
| 2012 | ||||||
| 2013 | ||||||
| 2014 | ||||||
| 2015 | ||||||
| 2016 | Oder | |||||
| 2017 | ||||||
| 2018 | ||||||
| 2019 |
Commentators and spokespersons
For the show's broadcast on SMRTV, various commentators have been hired throughout the years to provide comment on the Concert in the local language. At Eurovision, after all points are calculated, the presenters of the show call upon each voting country to invite their respective spokesperson to announce the results of their vote on-screen. In 2014, San Marino RTV also provided an English commentary in its internet streaming, with John Kennedy O'Connor and Jamarie Milkovic directly from Copenhagen.| Year | Commentator | Spokesperson | |
| Lia Fiorio, Gigi Restivo | Roberto Moretti | ||
| – | |||
| Lia Fiorio, Gigi Restivo | Nicola Della Valle | ||
| Lia Fiorio, Gigi Restivo | Monica Fabbri | ||
| Lia Fiorio, Gigi Restivo | John Kennedy O'Connor | ||
| Lia Fiorio, Gigi Restivo, John Kennedy O'Connor, Jamarie Milkovic | Michele Perniola | ||
| Lia Fiorio, Gigi Restivo, John Kennedy O'Connor | Valentina Monetta | ||
| Lia Fiorio, Gigi Restivo, John Kennedy O'Connor | :it:Irol|Irol MC | ||
| Lia Fiorio, Gigi Restivo | Lia Fiorio | ||
| Lia Fiorio, Gigi Restivo | John Kennedy O'Connor | ||
| Lia Fiorio, Gigi Restivo | Monica Fabbri |