Norway was set to be represented at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2020 The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the with the song " Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. This w ...

. The Norwegian broadcaster

Norsk rikskringkasting The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norway, Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirt ...

(NRK) organised the national final in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2020 contest in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, the Netherlands. The competition was won by

Ulrikke Ulrikke is a feminine given name found primarily in Denmark and Norway. It is a feminine form of the masculine name Ulrik. Notable people named Ulrikke include: * Ulrikke Brandstorp (born 1995), Norwegian singer * Ulrikke Dahl (1846–1923), Norwe ...

with the song "

Attention Attention or focus, is the concentration of awareness on some phenomenon to the exclusion of other stimuli. It is the selective concentration on discrete information, either subjectively or objectively. William James (1890) wrote that "Atte ...

". However, the contest was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Europe The global COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Europe with its first confirmed case in Bordeaux, France, on 24 January 2020, and subsequently spread widely across the continent. By 17 March 2020, every country in Europe had confirmed a case, and al ...

Background

Prior to the 2020 Contest, Norway had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-nine times since their first entry in . Norway had won the contest on three occasions: in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

with the song "" performed by

Bobbysocks! Bobbysocks is a Norwegian pop duo consisting of Norwegian Hanne Krogh and Swedish-Norwegian Elisabeth Andreassen. They won the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 with the song "La det swinge" ("Let it swing"). Elisabeth went by the surname Andreasson ...

, in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

with the song "" performed by Secret Garden and in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

with the song "

Fairytale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful being ...

" performed by

Alexander Rybak Alexander Igorevich Rybak (; born 13 May 1986) or Alyaksandr Iharavich Rybak () is a Belarusian-born Norwegian musician and actor. Based in Oslo, Norway, Rybak extensively worked on television programs and on tours in Europe, particularly in S ...

. Norway also had the two dubious distinctions of having finished last in the Eurovision final more than any other country and for having the most "" (zero points) in the contest, the latter being a record the nation shared together with

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. The country had finished last eleven times and had failed to score a point during four contests. Following the introduction of semi-finals in , Norway has only failed to qualify on three occasions. In 2019,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

was represented by Keiino with the song "

Spirit in the Sky "Spirit in the Sky" is a song by American singer-songwriter Norman Greenbaum, originally written and recorded by Greenbaum and released in December 1969 from his album '' Spirit in the Sky''. The single became a gold record in the United S ...

", which placed 6th in the final with 331 points. The Norwegian national broadcaster, (NRK), broadcasts the event within Norway and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. The broadcaster has traditionally organised the national final , which has selected the Norwegian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in all but one of their participations.

Before Eurovision

''Melodi Grand Prix 2020''

was the 58th edition of the Norwegian national final and selected Norway's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. To celebrate the 60th anniversary of Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest, the competition consisted of five semi-finals based on Norway's five regions between 11 January 2020 and 8 February 2020 and a final on 15 February 2020. All shows were hosted by Kåre Magnus Bergh, Ingrid Gjessing Linhave and Ronny Brede Aase, televised on

NRK1 NRK1 (pronounced as ''"NRK en"'' or ''"- ein"'') is the main television channel of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). History Test broadcasts started on 12 January 1954, regular test broadcasts began on 13 April 1958, and regular bro ...

NRK TV The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

, broadcast via radio on

NRK P1 NRK P1 is a nationwide digital radio channel operated by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). It is the result of the NRK radio channel reform initiated in 1993 by radio director Tor Fuglevik. NRK P1 is the direct descendant of NRK's fir ...

as well as streamed online at NRK's official website ''nrk.no''.

Semi-finals

* The first semi-final (

Southern Norway Southern Norway (; lit. "The Southland") is the geographical List of regions of Norway, region (''landsdel'') along the Skagerrak coast of southern Norway. The region is an informal description since it does not have any governmental function ...

) took place on 11 January 2020. "Wild" performed by Raylee qualified to the final. * The second semi-final (

Eastern Norway Eastern Norway (, ) is the geographical region of the south-eastern part of Norway. It consists of the counties Oslo, Akershus, Vestfold, Østfold, Buskerud, Telemark, and Innlandet. Eastern Norway is by far the most populous region of Norw ...

) took place on 18 January 2020. "One Last Time" performed by Rein Alexander qualified to the final. * The third semi-final (

Central Norway Central Norway (, ) is an informal, unclearly defined region of Norway. In its most limited usage, the term "Central Norway" may refer only to Trøndelag county; however, it may also be understood to include all or parts of the county of Møre og ...

) took place on 25 January 2020. "Pray for Me" performed by Kristin Husøy qualified to the final. * The fourth semi-final (

Western Norway Western Norway (; ) is the Regions of Norway, region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the Counties of Norway, counties Rogaland, Vestland, and Møre og Romsdal. The region has no official or political-administrative fu ...

) took place on 1 February 2020. "Over the Sea" performed by Magnus Bokn qualified to the final. * The fifth semi-final (

Northern Norway Northern Norway (, , ; ) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway (from south to no ...

) took place on 8 February 2020. "I Am Gay" performed by Liza Vassilieva qualified to the final.

Final

Ten songs consisting of the five semi-final qualifiers alongside the five pre-qualified songs competed during the final on 15 February 2020 at the

Trondheim Spektrum Trondheim Spektrum (formerly Nidarøhallen) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Trondheim, Norway. It is located on the peninsula of Øya next to the Nidelven river. It is the home arena for men's basketball team Nidaros Jets and the alternat ...

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

. This was the third time a Melodi Grand Prix final had been held outside of Oslo and the first time since 1989. It was also the first time that Trondheim hosted the final. The winner was to be selected over three rounds of online voting, however due to technical difficulties with the online vote in the first round, the top four entries were selected by a 30-member demoscopic jury panel to proceed to the second round, the Gold Final. In the Gold Final, the top two entries were selected solely by the online vote to proceed to the third round, the Gold Duel. In the Gold Duel, the results of the online vote were revealed by Norway's five regions and led to the victory of "

" performed by

Ulrikke Brandstorp Ulrikke Brandstorp (born 13 July 1995), also known mononymously as Ulrikke, is a Norwegian singer, songwriter, musical actress, voice actress and television presenter. Early life Ulrikke Brandstorp was born on 13 July 1995 in Skjeberg, a distri ...

with 200,345 votes.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the " Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) 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 The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...

(EBU) 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 2020, 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. Norway was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 12 May 2020, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. However, due to 2019-20 pandemic of Coronavirus, the contest was cancelled.

References

External links

*
Full national final on nrk.no
{{Eurovision Song Contest 2020

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

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 ...