Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

participated in and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "

Hard Rock Hallelujah "Hard Rock Hallelujah" is a song by Finnish hard rock band Lordi. It was released as a single in 2006, reaching the 1 spot in Finland and reaching the top 10 in eight other European countries. In the United Kingdom, the song peaked at No. 25. ...

" written by

Mr Lordi Tomi Petteri Putaansuu (born 15 February 1974), best known by his stage names Mr Lordi or Mr L, is a Finnish musician, businessman, special effect make-up artist, songwriter, painter, comics artist and graphic designer. He is best known as the ...

. The song was performed by the band

Lordi Lordi () is a Finnish hard rock/ heavy metal band, formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker, Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu). In addition to their melodic metal music, Lordi are also known for wearing monster ma ...

. The Finnish broadcaster

Yleisradio Yleisradio Oy (Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founde ...

(Yle) organised the national final ''Euroviisut 2006'' in order to select the Finnish entry for the 2006 contest in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Greece. 12 artists with two songs each were selected to compete in the national final, which consisted of four semi-finals and a final, taking place in February and March 2006. Twelve entries ultimately competed in the final on 10 March where votes from the public selected "Hard Rock Hallelujah" performed by Lordi as the winner. Finland competed in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 18 May 2006. Performing during the show in position 16, "Hard Rock Hallelujah" was announced among the top 10 entries of the semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 20 May. This marked the first qualification to the final for Finland since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004. It was later revealed that Finland placed first out of the 23 participating countries in the semi-final with 292 points. In the final, Finland performed in position 17 and placed first out of the 24 participating countries, winning the contest with 292 points. This was Finland's first win in the Eurovision Song Contest since it began participating in

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

Background

Prior to the 2006 contest, Finland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-nine times since its first entry in 1961. Finland's best result in the contest achieved in

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

where the song "

Tom Tom Tom Finland was represented by Marion Rung, with the song "Tom Tom Tom", at the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 7 April in Luxembourg. Before Eurovision National final The Finnish national final was held on February 3 at Finlandia H ...

" performed by

Marion Rung Marion Rung (born 7 December 1945 in Helsinki) is a Finland, Finnish pop singer. She is known for having represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1962 and 1973. Her 1962 Eurovision song placed 7th, and in 1973, she managed to bring F ...

placed sixth. The Finnish national broadcaster,

(Yle), broadcasts the event within Finland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Yle confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest on 12 August 2005. Finland's entries for the Eurovision Song Contest have been selected through national final competitions that have varied in format over the years. Since 1961, a selection show that was often titled ''Euroviisukarsinta'' highlighted that the purpose of the program was to select a song for Eurovision. Along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster announced that the Finnish entry for the 2006 contest would be selected through the ''Euroviisut'' selection show.

Before Eurovision

Euroviisut 2006

''Euroviisut 2006'' was the national final that selected Finland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. The competition consisted of five shows that commenced with the first of four semi-finals on 13 January 2006 and concluded with a final on 10 March 2006. All shows were broadcast on

Yle TV2 Yle TV2 ( fi, Yle TV Kaksi; sv, Yle TV Två) is a Finnish television channel owned and operated by Yle. TV2 was launched in 1965 as the successor to the former television channels TES-TV (Tesvisio) and Tamvisio, and broadcasts public service ...

and via radio on

Yle Radio Vega Yle Vega (prior to 1 September 2016 – Yle Radio Vega) is a Finnish radio channel broadcasting in the Swedish language. It is operated by Finland's national public service broadcaster Yle (known in Swedish as Rundradion), which has its headquart ...

. The final was also broadcast via radio on

Yle Radio Suomi Yle Radio Suomi is a radio channel owned and operated by Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwes ...

Format

The format of the competition consisted of five shows: four semi-finals and a final. Three artists each competed with two songs in each semi-final and the winning song per act qualified to complete the twelve-song lineup in the final. The results for the semi-finals and the final were determined exclusively by a public vote. Public voting included the options of telephone and SMS voting. Prior to each of the four semi-finals, the public was able to vote in advance earlier the day each show was held.

Competing entries

Twelve artists were directly invited by Yle to compete in the national final following consultation with record companies and presented on 7 November 2005. The entries competing in each semi-final were presented the day of the shows in weekly preview programmes on Yle Radio Suomi between 13 January 2006 and 3 February 2006. Before the final, Katariina Hänninen opted to translate her selected song "Liian aikaisin" from

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Shows

Semi-finals

The four semi-final shows took place on 13 January, 20 January, 27 January and 3 February 2006 at the Tohloppi Studios in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

, hosted by Finnish presenters

Jaana Pelkonen Jaana Pelkonen (born 27 January 1977) is a Finnish member of parliament and television presenter. Career Pelkonen's media career started as a radio presenter for ''Radio 99'' in Lahti in 1995–1997. She became famous in Finland as the host of ...

and

Heikki Paasonen Heikki Paasonen may refer to: * Heikki Paasonen (linguist) (1865–1919), Finnish linguist * Heikki Paasonen (presenter) Heikki Valtteri Paasonen (born ) is a Finnish television presenter. Paasonen came to prominence as the host of '' Idols ...

. Each of the three competing artists' winning song in each semi-final qualified to the final based on the results from the public vote. In addition to the competing entries, former Finnish Eurovision entrants performed as the interval acts in the semi-finals:

Katri Helena Katri Helena Kalaoja ( née Koistinen, born 17 August 1945) is a Finnish singer. Career Katri Helena released her first songs in 1963 and has since sold over 630,000 certified records, which makes her the second-best-selling female soloi ...

(

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

and

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

) and

Kirka Kirill "Kirka" Babitzin (22 September 1950 – 31 January 2007) was one of the most commercially successful Finnish musicians. His career spanned from the late 1960s until his death in 2007. Previously associated with Ilkka Lipsanen's The Islan ...

(

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

) in the first semi-final,

(

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

and

) as well as

Markku Aro Markku Aro (; born Markku Tuomas Puputti on 3 February 1950 in Mouhijärvi, Finland), is a Finnish singer who represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1971 in Ireland with the pop-duo . They appeared with the song " Tie uuteen päivä� ...

and Koivisto Sisters ( 1971) in the second semi-final,

Vicky Rosti Virve Hannele "Vicky" Rosti (born 10 November 1958, Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish singer of popular music. Her most famous songs include "Kun Chicago kuoli" (the debut single from 1975, a Finnish language cover version of " The Night Chicago Di ...

(

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

) and CatCat (

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

) in the third semi-final, and Jarkko and Laura (

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

) as well as

Riki Sorsa Richard Esko "Riki" Sorsa (26 December 1952 – 10 May 2016) was a Finnish pop singer. He started his career in 1974 as the lead singer in the band The Zoo. He represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1981 with the entry "Reggae OK", a re ...

(

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

) in the fourth semi-final.

Final

The final took place on 10 March 2006 at Hall 994 of the Holiday Club Caribia in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

, hosted by Finnish presenters

and Antero Mertaranta. The twelve entries that qualified from the preceding four semi-finals competed and the winner was selected over two rounds of public televoting. In the first round, the top six from the twelve competing entries qualified to the second round, the superfinal. In the superfinal, "

" performed by

was selected as the winner. A total of 213,050 votes were cast during the show: 54,554 in the final and 158,496 in the superfinal. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval act featured 1976 Finnish Eurovision entrants

Fredi Fredi may refer to: * Fredi (Valencian pilota) (born 1957), retired Valencian pilota professional player * Fredi Bobic (born 1971), German football striker * Fredi González (born 1964), Cuban current manager of the Atlanta Braves * Fredi Walker, ...

and Friends as well as 2005 Finnish Eurovision entrant

Geir Rönning Geir Rönning (born 5 November 1962) is a Norwegian-Finnish professional singer-songwriter from Ålesund. He later moved to the capital Oslo in the 1980s, and later on to Stockholm, Sweden, where he found opportunity to start a musical career. H ...

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the " Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) and the ten highest placed finishers in the 2005 contest are required to qualify from the semi-final on 18 May 2006 in order to compete for the final on 20 May 2006; the top ten countries from the semi-final progress to the final. On 21 March 2006, a special allocation draw was held which determined the running order for the semi-final and Finland was set to perform in position 16, following the entry from

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and before the entry from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. At the end of the semi-final, Finland was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. This marked the first qualification to the final for Finland since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004. It was later revealed that Finland placed first in the semi-final, receiving a total of 292 points. The draw for the running order for the final was done by the presenters during the announcement of the ten qualifying countries during the semi-final and Finland was drawn to perform in position 17, following the entry from

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

and before the entry from

. Finland won the contest placing first with a score of 292 points. This was Finland's first victory in the Eurovision Song Contest since their first participation in

. The semi-final and the final were televised in Finland on

with commentary in

and Asko Murtomäki. The three shows were also broadcast on Yle FST5 with commentary in

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

by Thomas Lundin as well as via radio with Finnish commentary by Sanna Pirkkalainen and Jorma Hietamäki on

. The Finnish spokesperson, who announced the Finnish votes during the final, was

Nina Tapio Nina Tapio (born February 24, 1972) is a Finnish singer, songwriter, musical actor, and session musician. Her singing career started at the age of five, when she sang on a children's record. Tapio studied at Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory whe ...

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Finland and awarded by Finland in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the semi-final and to Russia in the final of the contest.

Points awarded to Finland

Points awarded by Finland

References

External links

*
Full national final on Yle Elävä Arkisto
{{Eurovision Song Contest 2006 2006 Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 Eurovision Eurovision