San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019


San Marino participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The Sammarinese broadcaster San Marino RTV confirmed that a season of 1in360 would not take place this year as it had been discussed. On 21 January 2019, it was announced that Serhat had been internally selected to represent San Marino in the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel. Serhat represented San Marino back in 2016 but failed to qualify for the final. He performed the 2019 entry "Say Na Na Na" in the first semi-final on 14 May 2019, in Tel Aviv, in which he finished at 8th place with 150 points, advancing to the Grand Final, being the second time San Marino qualifies after their 2014 entry. Serhat performed at the Grand Final on 18 May and finished 19th with 77 points, giving San Marino its best result to date.

Background

Prior to the 2018 contest, San Marino had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eight times since its first entry in. Their debut entry in 2008, "Complice" performed by Miodio, failed to qualify to the final and placed last in the semi-final it competed in. San Marino subsequently withdrew from the contest in 2009 and 2010, returning in 2011 with Italian singer Senit performing "Stand By", which also 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. In 2017 San Marino sent Valentina Monetta again, but this time she performed together with an American singer Jimmie Wilson. Their song "Spirit of the Night" failed to qualify and placed last in their semifinal scoring just 1 point.
The Sammarinese national broadcaster, San Marino RTV, broadcasts the event within San Marino and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. SMRTV confirmed San Marino's participation at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest on 17 October 2017.

Before Eurovision

On 21 January 2019, the Sammarinese broadcaster announced that Serhat was selected internally to represent San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, in Tel Aviv, Israel. Serhat participated again for San Marino, in the 2016 contest held in Stockholm, Sweden. He performed the song "I Didn't Know" and failed to qualify for the final receiving 68 points. The Sammarinese broadcaster announced that Serhat's song for the 2019 participation will be released on 7 March 2019.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. San Marino was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.
Once all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. San Marino was set to perform in position 17, following the entry from Greece.

Semi-Final

San Marino performed seventeenth and last in the first semi-final, following the entry from Greece. At the end of the night, San Marino was announced as one of the ten countries to have qualified for the grand final, making it only the second time they reached the final and their first qualification since 2014. After the show, Serhat appeared at a press conference with the other nine finalists to draw which half of the final he would participate in. San Marino was drawn to perform in the first half of the final. It was later revealed that San Marino placed eighth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 150 points: 124 points from the televoting and 26 points from the juries.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1–8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry 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 was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member, as well as the nation's televoting results, were released shortly after the grand final.

Points awarded to San Marino

Points awarded by San Marino

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Sanmarinese jury: