Finland was represented at the

Eurovision Song Contest 1994 The Eurovision Song Contest 1994 was the 39th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 30 April 1994 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RTÉ), and presented ...

with the song "Bye Bye Baby", written by Kari Salli and Markku Lentonen, and performed by the duo . The Finnish participating broadcaster, (Yle), organised the national final ''1994'' in order to select its entry for the contest. Ten entries were selected to compete in the national final on 5 March 1994 where votes from the public selected "Bye Bye Baby" performed by CatCat as the winner with 25,834 votes. Finland competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 30 April 1994. Performing during the show in position 2, Finland placed twenty-second out of the 25 participating countries, scoring 11 points.

Background

Prior to the 1994 contest, (Yle) had participated in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

representing Finland thirty-two times since its first entry in 1961. Its best result in the contest achieved in where the song "

Tom Tom Tom Finland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1973 with the song "Tom Tom Tom", written by Rauno Lehtinen and Bob Barratt, and performed by Marion Rung. The Finnish participating broadcaster, (Yle), selected its entry through a natio ...

" performed by

Marion Rung Marion Rung (born 7 December 1945) 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 Finland's se ...

placed sixth. As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, Yle organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster has been selected its entries through national final competitions that have varied in format over the years. Since 1961, a selection show that was often titled highlighted that the purpose of the program was to select a song for Eurovision. The broadcaster selected its entry for the 1994 contest again through the selection show.

Before Eurovision

''1994''

''1994'' was the national final that selected the Finnish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1994. The competition consisted of a final on 5 March 1994, held at the

Tampere Hall The Tampere Hall (; ) is the largest congress centre in the Nordic countries, located in the southern edge of Sorsapuisto, in the centre of Tampere, Finland. It was inaugurated on September 29, 1990. Opposite of the Tampere Hall is the main bui ...

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

and hosted by

Jukka Laaksonen Jukka Laaksonen (born 15 July 1958, in Helsinki) is a Finnish comedian, impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate dep ...

, and . Ten entries selected for the competition from 470 submissions received during a submission period as well as from composers and music publishers directly invited by Yle competed and "Bye Bye Baby" performed by CatCat was selected as the winner based on the results from a public vote, which were revealed by Finland's five telephone regions along with the votes of the venue audience. 119,322 votes were cast during the show, which was broadcast on

Yle TV1 Yle TV1 (, ) is a Finnish television channel owned and operated by Finnish public broadcaster Yle. It is the second-oldest television channel in Finland, after TES-TV, and is the oldest currently existing television channel in the country. More ...

and watched by 1.17 million viewers in Finland. During the voting, it was discovered that the votes were incorrectly announced but were shortly amended following the competition. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval acts included

Plavka Plavka Coleridge (née Lonich) is a musician, vocalist, songwriter, producer and DJ. She is best known for being the singer of the German techno group Jam & Spoon, whose classically infused trance sound dominated the international charts in th ...

performing "Contagious", Jam and Spoon featuring Plavka performing "

Right in the Night "Right in the Night (Fall in Love with Music)" is a song by German electronic music duo Jam & Spoon, released by labels JAM! and Dance Pool as the second single from the duo's second album, '' Tripomatic Fairytales 2001'' (1993). It is a Eurodan ...

", and

Kaija Koo Kaija Kokkola (born 10 September 1962), better known by her stage name Kaija Koo, is a Finnish singer. Kokkola began her career when she was 17 years old, as a member of the band Steel City, later known as Kaija Koo Band, until it broke up and K ...

performing "Kylmä ilman sua" and "Tule lähemmäs Beibi".

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the bottom six countries in the competed in the final on 30 April 1994. Following the allocation draw which determined the running order, Finland was set to perform in position 2, following the entry from and before the entry from . The Finnish conductor at the contest was

Olli Ahvenlahti Olli Ahvenlahti (born 6 August 1949, in Helsinki) is a Finnish pianist, composer and conductor of Russian descent. Ahvenlahti succeeded Ossi Runne as the Finnish conductor at the Eurovision Song Contest for the 1990 Contest. In all, he conducte ...

, and Finland finished in twenty-second place with 11 points. The show was televised in Finland on

with commentary by

Erkki Pohjanheimo Erkki Pohjanheimo (born 28 January 1942) is a Finnish television producer and director. Television career Pohjanheimo joined Yleisradio in 1961 as a television cameraman and worked as a cameraman for five years. In 1966 Pohjanheimo was appoint ...

and Kirsi-Maria Niemi. Yle appointed Solveig Herlin as its spokesperson to announce the Finnish votes during the final.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Finland and awarded by Finland in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Hungary.

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1994

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1994

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster submits an origina ...