Eurovision Song Contest 2006

"Eurovision 2006" redirects here. For the junior contest, see Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2006.

Eurovision Song Contest 2006
Feel the Rhythm
Dates
Semi-final	18 May 2006 (2006-05-18)
Final	20 May 2006 (2006-05-20)
Host
Venue	Olympic Indoor Hall Athens, Greece
Presenter(s)	Maria Menounos Sakis Rouvas
Director	Volker Weicker
Executive supervisor	Svante Stockselius
Executive producer	Fotini Yannoulatou
Host broadcaster	Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT)
Website	eurovision.tv/event/athens-2006
Participants
Number of entries	37
Number of finalists	24
Debuting countries	Armenia
Returning countries	None
Non-returning countries	Austria   Hungary   Serbia and Montenegro
Participation map      Finalist countries     Countries eliminated in the semi-final     Countries that didn't participate but were allowed to vote     Countries that participated in the past but not in 2006
Vote
Voting system	Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs
Winning song	Finland "Hard Rock Hallelujah"
2005 ←  Eurovision Song Contest  → 2007

The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Athens, Greece, following the country's victory at the 2005 contest with the song "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), the contest was held at the Olympic Indoor Hall, and consisted of a semi-final on 18 May, and a final on 20 May 2006. The two live shows were presented by American television personality Maria Menounos and Greek former contestant Sakis Rouvas. ^[1]

Thirty-seven countries participated in the contest. Armenia took part for the first time. Meanwhile, Austria, Hungary, and Serbia and Montenegro announced their non-participation in the contest. Serbia and Montenegro had intended to participate, but due to a scandal in the national selection, tensions were caused between the Serbian broadcaster, RTS, and the Montenegrin broadcaster, RTCG. Despite this, the nation did retain voting rights for the contest.

The winner was Finland with the heavy metal-song "Hard Rock Hallelujah", performed by Lordi and written by lead singer Mr. Lordi. This was Finland's first victory in the contest - and first top five placing - in 45 years of participation, the longest time a country had competed without a win at that point. It was also the first ever hard rock song to win the contest, as well as the first band to win since 1997. Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania and Sweden rounded out the top five. Bosnia and Herzegovina achieved their best result in their Eurovision history. Further down the table, Lithuania also achieved their best result to date, finishing sixth. Of the "Big Four" countries Germany placed the highest, finishing joint fourteenth (with Norway).

The contest saw the 1,000th song performed in the contest, when Ireland's Brian Kennedy performed "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" in the semi-final.

Location

Olympic Indoor Arena  –host venue of the 2006 contest

Location of host venue (red) and other contest-related sites and events (blue)

The contest took place in Athens, Greece, following the country's victory at the 2005 edition. It was the first time Greece hosted the contest. ^[2] The venue that was chosen as the host venue was the Olympic Indoor Hall, which is located in the Athens Olympic Sports Complex, in the capital city of Greece. Completed in 1995, it was the largest indoor venue used at the 2004 Summer Olympics when hosted gymnastics and the basketball finals and the 2004 Summer Paralympics when hosted the wheelchair basketball. ^[3]

Bidding phase

Thessaloniki

Athens

Patras

class=notpageimage|

Locations of the candidate cities: the chosen host city is marked in blue, while the eliminated cities are marked in red.

When Greece won the 2005 contest, the Head of the Greek Delegation, Fotini Yiannoulatou, said that ERT was ready to host the event in Athens the next year. However, multiple cities bid to host the 2006 contest, including Thessaloniki and Patras, the second and the third largest city in Greece, respectively. The majors of the three cities (Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras) were said that their cities were ready to host the event. The venues that were rumored for each city were: the Olympic Indoor Hall for Athens, Pylea Sports Hall for Thessaloniki and Dimitris Tofalos Arena for Patras. ^{[4] [5]}

A few days after Greece's win, the Greek public broadcaster stated that "ERT intends to hold the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens, taking into account EBU's already expressed wish for the event to be combined with the Olympic facilities and amenities that the city of Athens has to offer". Mr. Panaghiotis Psomiadis, the Prefect of Thessaloniki stated the city will fight for the hosting of the contest. ^[4] As the city of Patras seemed not to be available to host the contest, at the end it was a two-horse race between Athens and Thessaloniki.

Finally, on June 30, 2005, ERT and EBU announced that Athens will be the host city of the 2006 contest, despite the opposition of some Greek politicians, stated that Athens already had its promotion during the 2004 Summer Olympics and that it's "another city's turn now". The joint decision of the EBU and ERT is to host the 51st Eurovision Song Contest in Athens, which has several modern Olympic venues, infrastructure and a proven ability to host events of this size. ^[6]

Other sites

The Eurovision Village was the official Eurovision Song Contest fan and sponsors' area during the events week. There it was possible to watch performances by local artists, as well as the live shows broadcast from the main venue. Located at the Zappeion, it was open from 15 to 21 May 2006. ^{[7] [8]}

The EuroClub was the venue for the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants. Unlike the Eurovision Village, access to the EuroClub was restricted to accredited fans, delegates, and press. It was located at Athens Technopolis, an industrial museum and a major cultural venue of the city. ^[7]

The official "Welcome and Opening Ceremonies" events, where the contestants and their delegations are presented before the accredited press and fans, took place also in Zappeon on 15 May 2006 at 21:00 EET, followed by the Opening Ceremony. ^[7]

Participating countries

Further information: List of countries in the Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest 2006 –Participation summaries by country
Albania Andorra Armenia Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Iceland Ireland Israel Latvia Lithuania Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Serbia and Montenegro Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom

All participating countries in a Eurovision Song Contest must be active members of the EBU.

It was initially announced on 16 January 2006 that thirty-eight countries would participate in the contest, ^[9] with Austria opting not to participate due to the bad result at the previous contest ^[10] and Hungary also deciding not to participate due to financial reasons. ^[11] Armenia participated for the very first time in the history of the contest. ^[12]

Serbia and Montenegro announced its withdrawal on 15 March 2006, reducing the participants number from 38 to 37 and leaving a vacancy in the final; however, the country retained their rights to vote in the contest. ^{[13] [14]}

Participants in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 ^{[15] [16]}

Country	Broadcaster	Artist	Song	Language	Songwriter(s)
Albania	RTSH	Luiz Ejlli	" Zjarr e ftohtë "	Albanian	Dr. Flori Klodian Qafoku
Andorra	RTVA	Jenny	"Sense tu"	Catalan	Rafael Artesero Joan Antoni Rechi
Armenia	AMPTV	André	"Without Your Love"	English	Catherine Bekian Armen Martirosyan
Belarus	BTRC	Polina Smolova	"Mum"	English	Andrey Kostiugov Sergey Sukhomlin
Belgium	VRT	Kate Ryan	" Je t'adore "	English	Niklas Bergwall Lisa Greene Niclas Kings Kate Ryan
Bosnia and Herzegovina	BHRT	Hari Mata Hari	"Lejla"	Bosnian	Dejan Ivanović Željko Joksimović Fahrudin Pecikoza
Bulgaria	BNT	Mariana Popova	"Let Me Cry"	English	Elina Gavrilova Dani Milev
Croatia	HRT	Severina	" Moja štikla "	Croatian	Boris Novković Franjo Valentić Severina Vučković
Cyprus	CyBC	Annet Artani	"Why Angels Cry"	English	Peter Yiannakis
Denmark	DR	Sidsel Ben Semmane	"Twist of Love"	English	Niels Drevsholt
Estonia	ETV	Sandra	"Through My Window"	English	Jana Hallas Alar Kotkas Ilmar Laisaar Pearu Paulus
Finland	YLE	Lordi	"Hard Rock Hallelujah"	English	Mr Lordi
France	France Télévisions	Virginie Pouchain	"Il était temps"	French	Corneille
Germany	NDR [a]	Texas Lightning	"No No Never"	English	Jane Comerford
Greece	ERT	Anna Vissi	"Everything"	English	Nikos Karvelas Anna Vissi
Iceland	RÚV	Silvía Night	"Congratulations"	English	Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir Þorvaldur Bjarni Þorvaldsson
Ireland	RTÉ	Brian Kennedy	"Every Song Is a Cry for Love"	English	Brian Kennedy
Israel	IBA	Eddie Butler	"Together We Are One"	Hebrew, English	Orly Burg Eddie Butler Osnat Tzavag
Latvia	LTV	Vocal Group Cosmos	"I Hear Your Heart"	English	Molly-Ann Leikin Guntars Račs Andris Sējāns Reinis Sējāns
Lithuania	LRT	LT United	"We Are the Winners"	English	Viktoras Diawara Andrius Mamontovas Saulius Urbonavičius
Macedonia	MRT	Elena Risteska	"Ninanajna" (Нинанајна)	English, Macedonian	Darko Dimitrov Rade Vrčakovski
Malta	PBS	Fabrizio Faniello	"I Do"	English	Fabrizio Faniello Aldo Spiteri
Monaco	TMC	Séverine Ferrer	"La Coco-Dance"	French, Tahitian	Iren Bo J. Woodfeel
Moldova	TRM	Arsenium feat. Natalia Gordienko and Connect-R	"Loca"	English	Arsenium
Netherlands	NOS	Treble	"Amambanda"	English, Imaginary	Treble
Norway	NRK	Christine Guldbrandsen	"Alvedansen"	Norwegian	Kjetil Fluge Christine Guldbrandsen Atle Halstensen
Poland	TVP	Ich Troje [b]	"Follow My Heart"	English, Polish, German, Russian	André Franke William Lennox O-Jay Michał Wiśniewski
Portugal	RTP	Nonstop	"Coisas de nada"	Portuguese, English	José Manuel Afonso Elvis Veiguinha
Romania	TVR	Mihai Trăistariu	" Tornerò "	English, Italian	Eduard Cîrcotã Mihaela Deac Cristian Hriscu
Russia	C1R	Dima Bilan	"Never Let You Go"	English	Irina Antonyan Karen Kavaleryan Alexandr Lunyov
Slovenia	RTVSLO	Anžej Dežan	"Mr. Nobody"	English	Matjaž Vlašič Urša Vlašič
Spain	TVE	Las Ketchup	"Bloody Mary"	Spanish	Manuel Ruiz Gómez "Queco"
Sweden	SVT	Carola	"Invincible"	English	Thomas G:son Carola Häggkvist Bobby Ljunggren Henrik Wikström
Switzerland	SRG SSR	six4one	"If We All Give a Little"	English	Bernd Meinunger Ralph Siegel
Turkey	TRT	Sibel Tüzün	"Süper Star"	Turkish [c]	Sibel Tüzün
Ukraine	NTU	Tina Karol	"Show Me Your Love"	English	Tina Karol Mikhail Nekrasov Pavlo Shylko
United Kingdom	BBC	Daz Sampson	"Teenage Life"	English	John Matthews Daz Sampson

Returning artists

Bold indicates a previous winner.

Lead artists

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Anna Vissi	Greece	1980 (with the Epikouri) and 1982 (for   Cyprus )
Carola	Sweden	1983 and 1991
Eddie Butler	Israel	1999 (as member of Eden)
Fabrizio Faniello	Malta	2001
Ich Troje	Poland	2003
Victor Diawara (member of LT United)	Lithuania	2001 (as member of Skamp)

Backing performers

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Sigríður Beinteinsdóttir	Iceland	1990 (as member of Stjórnin), 1992 (as member of Heart 2 Heart), and 1994

Additionally, Hari Mata Hari were selected to represent Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1999 contest, but their entry was disqualified. Ireland's Brian Kennedy performed in Lumen, the interval act of the 1995 contest.

Host Sakis Rouvas previously represented Greece at the 2004 contest. If No Name had been permitted to represent Serbia and Montenegro, they would have done so for the second consecutive year.

Other countries

Active EBU members

Active EBU member broadcasters in Austria, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary confirmed non-participation prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU. ^{[18] [19] [20] [21] [22]} Serbia and Montenegro withdrew from the contest due to a scandal in the selection process, which caused tensions between the Serbian and Montenegrin broadcasters (RTS and RTCG).

Format

Visual design

The official logo of the contest remained the same from 2004 and 2005 with the country's flag in the heart being changed. The 2006 sub-logo was presented to the public through a press conference that was held in November 1, 2005, in King George Hotel in Athens, while it was created by the design company Karamela for Greek television and was apparently based on the Phaistos Disc which is a popular symbol of ancient Greece. ^[23] According to ERT, it was "inspired by the wind and the sea, the golden sunlight and the glow of the sand". ^[23] Following Istanbul's "Under The Same Sky" and Kyiv's "Awakening", the slogan for the 2006 show was "Feel The Rhythm". This theme was also the basis for the postcards for the 2006 show, which emphasized Greece's historical significance as well as being a major modern tourist destination. ^[24]

In addition to the graphic design, there was a theme music for the contest composed by Nikko Patrelakis, which was used in the intros and in-between commercial breaks, as well as besides the participating entries. The theme music package was conducted by Andreas Pylarinos, while the ERT Symphony Orchestra recorded all music used during the show. ^[25]

Broadcasting

As with the 2005 edition, the shows were broadcast in widescreen 16:9 format. The final was also filmed (but not broadcast) in high-definition, as part of collaboration between host broadcaster ERT and R&D teams of EBU members (including Rai and BBC) to test high-definition television. ^[26] In 2021, the EBU released the high-definition footage onto their YouTube channel, allowing the public to view it for the first time. ^[26] The first song contest produced and broadcast in high-definition was the subsequent edition in 2007. ^[26]

Stage design

The host broadcaster ERT announced that the British company Stage One has been appointed to build the set for the contest. Stage One was designed the sets for the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The broadcaster have announced that the concept will be rich with traditional Greek elements, paying homage to the country's history and culture. ^{[27] [28]} The stage for the contest was designed by Greek stage designer Elias Ledakis. He would go on to design the stage for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Kyiv, Ukraine. ^[29] The stage was a replica of an ancient Greek amphitheatre. ^[30]

Postcards

As it was referred, the theme "Feel The Rhythm" was also the basis for the postcards, which emphasized Greece's historical significance as well as being a major modern tourist destination. The postcards filmed between March and April 2006. The host broadcaster ERT spent 3 million euros on the production of the 37 postcards. Fanis Papathanisiou of ERT said: "An impressive, international tourism campaign is expensive as well. The Eurovision Song Contest is a perfect platform to achieve equal or even better results. That's why it is worth the investment". To decide what to show in the postcards, ERT hold surveys in all participating countries, asking what people associate Greece with. ^[31]

Voting segment

To save time in the final, the voting time lasted ten minutes and the voting process was changed: points 1–7 were shown immediately on-screen. The spokespersons only announced the countries scoring 8, 10 and 12 points. Despite this being intended to speed proceedings up, there were still problems during voting – EBU imaging over-rode Maria Menounos during a segment in the voting interval and some scoreboards were slow to load. The Dutch spokesperson Paul de Leeuw also caused problems, giving his mobile number to presenter Rouvas during the Dutch results, and slowing down proceedings, also by announcing the first seven points. Constantinos Christoforou (who also represented Cyprus in 1996, 2002 and 2005) saluted from "Nicosia, the last divided capital in Europe"; during Cyprus' reading, the telecast displayed Switzerland by mistake. This voting process has been criticized because suspense was lost by only reading three votes instead of ten. And for the first and only time before the Prespa agreement, the display for the Macedonian entry had the title spelled out in its entirety (as "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia") instead of being abbreviated as it has been in previous years (as "FYR Macedonia").

Presenters

The hosts, Maria Menounos and Sakis Rouvas.

After Greece's win, several websites claimed to know that Alexandra Pascalidou would be co-host the 2006 Contest, together with the Greek-French journalist and entertainer Nikos Aliagas, but these speculations were untrue. ^{[32] [33]}

Initially, the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) asked Sakis Rouvas to represent again Greece in Athens, an offer which he didn't accept. With the Greek broadcaster wanting Rouvas' involvement in the contest, they offered him to be one of the hosts of the contest, where he accepted. Between the names that were rumored for the female host, included the Greek Canadian actress, screenwriter, director, and producer Nia Vardalos (known for writing and starring in My Big Fat Greek Wedding ), the Greek social entrepreneur and philanthropist Elizabeth Filippouli (later, she founded the Global Thinkers Forum in London), the Greek American actress, producer, and businesswoman Jennifer Aniston (known for her role as Rachel Green on the television sitcom Friends (1994–2004), for which she earned Primetime Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild awards), all three of them having Greek roots, and the previous edition's winner, Helena Paparizou. ^[33]

After a lot of speculations, the Greek broadcaster announced on 7 March 2006 that the Greek American entertainment reporter, television personality, professional wrestler, actress, and businesswoman Maria Menounos would be the hostess of the contest. Menounos was starring along with Sean Connery in the movie remake video game James Bond 007: From Russia with love , while in 2002 she joined the NBC show Entertainment Tonight . ^[34]

Menounos and Rouvas also hosted the allocation draw on March 21, 2006, in order to determine the running order for the semi-final, the grand final and - for the first time in the history of the contest –the voting order. ^{[35] [36]}

The "Welcome to the Party" opening ceremony was hosted by actress Zeta Makrypoulia and actor/screenwriter of the show, Giorgos Kapoutzidis, while Ioanna Papanikolopoulou was moderating the press conferences.

Contest overview

Semi-final

The semi-final was held on 18 May 2006 at 21:00 (CET). 23 countries performed and all 37 participants and Serbia ^{[37] [38]} (as a part of Serbia and Montenegro) voted.

The semi-final opened with a medley of former Eurovision songs performed by Greek gods: "Welcome to the Party" (runner-up at the Ellinikós Telikós 2006) of Anna Vissi performed by Muses, "Nel blu, dipinto di blu" (Italy 1958) of Domenico Modugno performed by Zeus, "L'amour est bleu" (Luxembourg 1967) of Vicky Leandros performed by Poseidon, "Save Your Kisses for Me" (United Kingdom 1976) of Brotherhood of Man performed by Hermes, "Making Your Mind Up" (United Kingdom 1981) of Bucks Fizz performed by Athena, "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" (Israel 1978) of Izhar Cohen & The Alphabeta performed by Hephaestus, "Dschinghis Khan" (Germany 1979) of Dschinghis Khan performed by Ares, "Diva" (Israel 1998) of Dana International performed by Aphrodite, "Waterloo" (Sweden 1974) of ABBA performed by Charites, "Wild Dances" (Ukraine 2004) of Ruslana performed by Artemis and "My Number One" (Greece 2005) of Helena Paparizou performed by the ensemble cast of the Greek gods. In addition, the hosts Maria Menounos and Sakis Rouvas sang the winning song of the 1997 contest, "Love Shine a Light" of Katrina and the Waves, representing the United Kingdom.

The voting lines for the semi-final were opened by Emilia Tsoulfa (gold medalist in Athens 2004 at 470 class sailing representing Greece) and Dimosthenis Tampakos (Greek gymnast and Olympic gold medalist).

The interval act of the semi-final began with the English cover of the song "S'eho Erotefthi", performed as "I'm In Love With You" from the host Sakis Rouvas. A folkloric ballet composed by Dimitris Papadimitriou and choreographed by Fokas Evangelinos followed, using traditional Greek music and dances, with the pan flute as a conducting element.

  Qualifiers

Results of the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 ^[39]

R/O	Country	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Armenia	André	"Without Your Love"	150	6
2	Bulgaria	Mariana Popova	"Let Me Cry"	36	17
3	Slovenia	Anžej Dežan	"Mr Nobody"	49	16
4	Andorra	Jenny	"Sense tu"	8	23
5	Belarus	Polina Smolova	"Mum"	10	22
6	Albania	Luiz Ejlli	" Zjarr e ftohtë "	58	14
7	Belgium	Kate Ryan	" Je t'adore "	69	12
8	Ireland	Brian Kennedy	"Every Song Is a Cry for Love"	79	9
9	Cyprus	Annet Artani	"Why Angels Cry"	57	15
10	Monaco	Séverine Ferrer	"La Coco-Dance"	14	21
11	Macedonia	Elena Risteska	"Ninanajna"	76	10
12	Poland	Ich Troje [d]	"Follow My Heart"	70	11
13	Russia	Dima Bilan	"Never Let You Go"	217	3
14	Turkey	Sibel Tüzün	"Süper Star"	91	8
15	Ukraine	Tina Karol	"Show Me Your Love"	146	7
16	Finland	Lordi	"Hard Rock Hallelujah"	292	1
17	Netherlands	Treble	"Amambanda"	22	20
18	Lithuania	LT United	"We Are the Winners"	163	5
19	Portugal	Nonstop	"Coisas de nada"	26	19
20	Sweden	Carola	"Invincible"	214	4
21	Estonia	Sandra	"Through My Window"	28	18
22	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Hari Mata Hari	"Lejla"	267	2
23	Iceland	Silvía Night	"Congratulations"	62	13

Final

Nana Mouskouri appeared as a guest in the grand final.

The finalists were:

• the four automatic qualifiers France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom;
• the top 10 countries from the 2005 final (other than the automatic qualifiers); ^[e]
• the top 10 countries from the 2006 semi-final.

The final was held on 20 May 2006 at 21:00 (CET) and was won by Finland. 24 countries performed and all 37 participants and Serbia ^{[37] [38]} (as a part of Serbia and Montenegro) voted.

The grand final opened with a ballet dance, symbolizing the birth of Greece. Greek singer Foteini Darra performed "The Mermaid Song" (also known as "The Song of Life"), while the dancers and the sets mimicked the creative elements (the sea, the wind, the sun). At the end of the ballet, the presenters appeared in the air, suspended from ropes. They landed on the stage and greeted the audience. They immediately introduced the previous year's winner, Helena Paparizou, who covered her winning song, "My Number One".

The voting lines for the final were opened by the Luxembourgish entrant at the 1963 contest, Nana Mouskouri.

The interval act of the final featured Helena Paparizou performed her song "Mambo!", already a smash hit in Greece, and a contemporary ballet composed by Dimitris Papadimitriou and choreographed by Fokas Evangelinos entitled 4000 Years of Greek Song and which traced the history of the musical culture of the host country.

  Winner

Results of the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 ^[40]

R/O	Country	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Switzerland	six4one	"If We All Give a Little"	30	16
2	Moldova	Arsenium feat. Natalia Gordienko and Connect-R	"Loca"	22	20
3	Israel	Eddie Butler	"Together We Are One"	4	23
4	Latvia	Vocal Group Cosmos	"I Hear Your Heart"	30	16
5	Norway	Christine Guldbrandsen	"Alvedansen"	36	14
6	Spain	Las Ketchup	"Bloody Mary"	18	21
7	Malta	Fabrizio Faniello	"I Do"	1	24
8	Germany	Texas Lightning	"No No Never"	36	14
9	Denmark	Sidsel Ben Semmane	"Twist of Love"	26	18
10	Russia	Dima Bilan	"Never Let You Go"	248	2
11	Macedonia	Elena Risteska	"Ninanajna"	56	12
12	Romania	Mihai Trăistariu	" Tornerò "	172	4
13	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Hari Mata Hari	"Lejla"	229	3
14	Lithuania	LT United	"We Are the Winners"	162	6
15	United Kingdom	Daz Sampson	"Teenage Life"	25	19
16	Greece	Anna Vissi	"Everything"	128	9
17	Finland	Lordi	"Hard Rock Hallelujah"	292	1
18	Ukraine	Tina Karol	"Show Me Your Love"	145	7
19	France	Virginie Pouchain	"Il était temps"	5	22
20	Croatia	Severina	" Moja štikla "	56	12
21	Ireland	Brian Kennedy	"Every Song Is a Cry for Love"	93	10
22	Sweden	Carola	"Invincible"	170	5
23	Turkey	Sibel Tüzün	"Süper Star"	91	11
24	Armenia	André	"Without Your Love"	129	8

Spokespersons

The following people were the spokespersons for their countries. A spokesperson delivers the results of national televoting during the final night, awarding points to the entries on behalf of his or her country. ^[41] Although Serbia and Montenegro withdrew from the contest, it retained its voting rights. ^[39] A draw was held to determine each country's voting order. Countries revealed their votes in the following order:

1.  Slovenia – Peter Poles
2.  Andorra –Xavi Palma
3.  Romania – Andreea Marin Bănică
4.  Denmark – Jørgen de Mylius
5.  Latvia – Mārtiņš Freimanis
6.  Portugal –Cristina Alves
7.  Sweden – Jovan Radomir
8.  Finland – Nina Tapio
9.  Belgium – Yasmine
10.  Croatia – Mila Horvat
11.  Serbia and Montenegro – Jovana Janković
12.  Norway – Ingvild Helljesen
13.  Estonia – Evelin Samuel
14.  Ireland – Eimear Quinn
15.  Malta – Moira Delia
16.  Lithuania – Lavija Šurnaitė  [ lt ]
17.  Cyprus – Constantinos Christoforou
18.  Netherlands – Paul de Leeuw
19.   Switzerland – Jubaira Bachmann  [ de ]
20.  Ukraine – Igor Posypayko  [ uk ]
21.  Russia – Yana Churikova
22.  Poland – Maciej Orłoś  [ pl ]
23.  United Kingdom – Fearne Cotton
24.  Armenia – Gohar Gasparyan
25.  France – Sophie Jovillard  [ fr ]
26.  Belarus –Corrianna
27.  Germany – Thomas Hermanns
28.  Spain – Sonia Ferrer
29.  Moldova –Svetlana Cocoş
30.  Bosnia and Herzegovina –Vesna Andree Zaimović
31.  Iceland – Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir
32.  Monaco – Églantine Éméyé  [ fr ]
33.  Israel – Dana Herman  [ he ]
34.  Albania – Leon Menkshi
35.  Greece – Alexis Kostalas  [ el ]
36.  Bulgaria –Dragomir Simeonov
37.  Macedonia – Martin Vučić
38.  Turkey –Meltem Ersan Yazgan

Detailed voting results

Televoting was used in all nations except Monaco and Albania. Monaco used a jury as the chances of getting enough votes needed to validate the votes were low. Albania used a jury since there were problems with their televote. In the semi-final, Monaco and Albania used the jury voting due to insufficient televoting numbers. Coincidentally, Albania and Monaco were two of the three countries that did not vote for the winning entry, the third one was Armenia.

Serbia had been allowed to vote in the show, despite not competing, and despite not being an independent country, but a part of Serbia and Montenegro. ^[37]

Semi-final

Detailed voting results of the semi-final ^{[42] [43]}

Voting procedure used:   100% televoting   100% jury vote		Total score	Slovenia	Andorra	Romania	Denmark	Latvia	Portugal	Sweden	Finland	Belgium	Croatia	Serbia and Montenegro	Norway	Estonia	Ireland	Malta	Lithuania	Cyprus	Netherlands	Switzerland	Ukraine	Russia	Poland	United Kingdom	Armenia	France	Belarus	Germany	Spain	Moldova	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Iceland	Monaco	Israel	Albania	Greece	Bulgaria	Macedonia	Turkey
Contestants	Armenia	150			2				3		12								12	12	3	7	12	3	3		12	7	7	12	2				10	3	10	8		10
	Bulgaria	36						1											8								4			5						8	3		6	1
	Slovenia	49								1		6	7				5					2				2		2				7		3	4	7			3
	Andorra	8																												8
	Belarus	10																				1	6								3
	Albania	58	1						2			7		3							10		2		2	1			3			5					7		12	3
	Belgium	69	5	7		3		2	5	3					3	5	7	2	1	7				4			3			2			4	6
	Ireland	79	3			5	4	4	1	4	3		1	6	6		6	4		3	2		1	2	8						1		2	7	5	1
	Cyprus	57			4												4				1	3			7	7		1	2					10		4	12	2
	Monaco	14		3											2									1			8
	Macedonia	76	8		1							8	10								6					8						10				12		5		8
	Poland	70					3				1			2		7	1	8		2		10	5		1	3	2	4	6	4	4		3		2		2
	Russia	217	4	4	7	1	12	7	7	6	2	3	6	4	10	4	8	12	10	1		12		8		12		12	5		12	4	6		12		5	12	5	4
	Turkey	91			10	6					8			1						10	8						10		8			12			3	6		1	8
	Ukraine	146	2	6	8		6	10		2		2	5		4	3	3	6	6				10	6		10		10		3	10	3	5	2	8		4	3	2	7
	Finland	292	10	10	5	10	8	8	12		10	10	8	8	12	10	10	10	7	6	5	6	8	12	12		5	8	12	10	5	8	12		7		8	7	7	6
	Netherlands	22		2							4							1	3							4							1			2				5
	Lithuania	163	6	5	3	4	10	5	4	8	7	5	3	5	8	12			4	5		5	4	10	10			6	1		6	2	8	4			1	6	4	2
	Portugal	26		12																	7						7
	Sweden	214	7	8	6	12	5	12		10	5	4	4	10	7	8	12	5	2	4	4	4	3	7	6	6		5	4	7	7	6	10	8	6	5		4	1
	Estonia	28				2	7		8	5						1																		5
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	267	12	1	12	8	2	6	10	12	6	12	12	12	1	6	2	3	5	8	12	8	7	5	4	5	6	3	10	1	8		7	12	1	10	6	10	10	12
	Iceland	62				7	1	3	6	7		1	2	7	5	2		7							5		1			6		1		1

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points in the semi-final:

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
9	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Croatia ,   Finland ,   Monaco ,   Norway ,   Romania ,   Serbia and Montenegro , [f]   Slovenia ,    Switzerland ,   Turkey
8	Russia	Armenia ,   Belarus ,   Bulgaria ,   Israel ,   Latvia ,   Lithuania ,   Moldova ,   Ukraine
6	Armenia	Belgium ,   Cyprus ,   France ,   Netherlands ,   Russia ,   Spain
	Finland	Estonia ,   Germany ,   Iceland ,   Poland ,   Sweden ,   United Kingdom
3	Sweden	Denmark ,   Malta ,   Portugal
1	Albania	Macedonia
	Cyprus	Greece
	Lithuania	Ireland
	Macedonia	Albania
	Portugal	Andorra
	Turkey	Bosnia and Herzegovina

Final

Detailed voting results of the final ^{[44] [45]}

Voting procedure used:   100% televoting   100% jury vote		Total score	Slovenia	Andorra	Romania	Denmark	Latvia	Portugal	Sweden	Finland	Belgium	Croatia	Serbia and Montenegro	Norway	Estonia	Ireland	Malta	Lithuania	Cyprus	Netherlands	Switzerland	Ukraine	Russia	Poland	United Kingdom	Armenia	France	Belarus	Germany	Spain	Moldova	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Iceland	Monaco	Israel	Albania	Greece	Bulgaria	Macedonia	Turkey
Contestants	Switzerland	30						1									12		3													4		6	4
	Moldova	22			12			3															3							2							1			1
	Israel	4																									4
	Latvia	30													3	4		8				4	1		2									8
	Norway	36				1	6		2	5												3	7			1		1			3		4	1			2
	Spain	18		12																																6
	Malta	1																																		1
	Germany	36				3	3				1			1		3				3	7				5					5						5
	Denmark	26							8	3				6	1																		8
	Russia	248	4	6	8	2	12	7	7	12	3	7	5	3	10	5	5	12	8	2		12		10	1	12	2	12	6	7	10	6	5		12	4	8	10	8	5
	Macedonia	56	6									8	8								4					7						8				3		6		6
	Romania	172	5	3		6	2	10	6	6	2	5	4	4	4	6	10	1	10		1	1	4	3	6	4	7	3	5	12	12	2	2		10	2	7	2	2	3
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	229	12		7	8		2	10	10	6	12	12	8		2		4	2	8	12	10	6	4		5	6	4	7	1	5		3	12	2	12	6	7	12	12
	Lithuania	162	3	7		7	10	4	3	8	4	6	3	5	8	12	1		4	6		5	5	8	10			6	1	4	4		10	7	3		4	1	3
	United Kingdom	25		2		4	1					1		2	2	8	3		1					1
	Greece	128		1	10				4	1	10		6				8	3	12	5	5				7	8	5	2	8		1	1				8		12	7	4
	Finland	292	8	10	4	12	8	6	12		8	10	7	12	12	10	7	10	5	7	8	7	8	12	12		8	7	10	10	6	7	12		7		12	5	6	7
	Ukraine	145	2	5	3		5	12	1	2		4	2		5	1	2	7	6	1			10	6		10		10		3	8	5	6	2	6		5	3	5	8
	France	5																								2								3
	Croatia	56	10										10								6								2			12		4					10	2
	Ireland	93	1	4	2	5	4	5	5	4		2		7	6		4	6		4	3	2		2	8	3	1		4				1	10
	Sweden	170	7	8	5	10	7	8		7	5	3	1	10	7	7	6	5			2	6	2	7	4	6	3	5		6	2	3	7	5	5	10			1
	Turkey	91			6						7									12	10				3		12		12			10			1	7	3	4	4
	Armenia	129			1						12							2	7	10		8	12	5			10	8	3	8	7				8		10	8		10

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
8	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Albania ,   Croatia ,   Macedonia ,   Monaco ,   Serbia and Montenegro , [f]   Slovenia ,    Switzerland ,   Turkey
	Finland	Denmark ,   Estonia ,   Greece ,   Iceland ,   Norway ,   Poland ,   Sweden ,   United Kingdom
7	Russia	Armenia ,   Belarus ,   Finland ,   Israel ,   Latvia ,   Lithuania ,   Ukraine
3	Turkey	France ,   Germany ,   Netherlands
2	Armenia	Belgium ,   Russia
	Greece	Bulgaria ,   Cyprus
	Romania	Moldova ,   Spain
1	Croatia	Bosnia and Herzegovina
	Lithuania	Ireland
	Moldova	Romania
	Spain	Andorra
	Switzerland	Malta
	Ukraine	Portugal

Broadcasts

All participating broadcasters may choose to have on-site or remote commentators providing an insight about the show to their local audience and, while they must broadcast at least the semi-final they are voting in and the final, most broadcasters air all three shows with different programming plans. Similarly, some non-participating broadcasters may still want to air the contest. The tables below show known data regarding the broadcasts:

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries ^[16]

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Show(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref(s)
Albania	RTSH		All shows
Andorra	RTVA	ATV	All shows	Meri Picart  [ ca ] and Josep Lluís Trabal	[46] [47]
Armenia	AMPTV		All shows
Belarus	BTRC		All shows	Denis Dudinskiy  [ ru ]	[48]
Belgium	VRT	Eén	All shows	André Vermeulen and Bart Peeters	[49] [50] [51]
		Radio 2			[51]
	RTBF	La Une , RTBF Sat		Jean-Pierre Hautier	[49] [50] [52] [53] [54]
Bosnia and Herzegovina	BHRT	BHT 1	All shows	Dejan Kukrić	[55] [56] [57]
Bulgaria	BNT		All shows
Croatia	HRT	HRT 2	Semi-final	Duško Ćurlić	[58] [59]
		HRT 1	Final
Cyprus	CyBC		All shows
Denmark	DR	DR1	All shows	Mads Vangsø and Adam Duvå Hall  [ da ]	[60] [61]
Estonia	ETV		All shows	Marko Reikop	[62] [63]
	ER	Raadio 2		Mart Juur and Andrus Kivirähk
Finland	YLE	YLE TV2	All shows	Jaana Pelkonen, Heikki Paasonen and Asko Murtomäki  [ fi ]	[64]
		YLE FST, YLE Radio Vega		Thomas Lundin  [ sv ]
		YLE Radio Suomi		Sanna Kojo
France	France Télévisions	France 4	Semi-final	Peggy Olmi  [ fr ] and Éric Jean-Jean	[52] [53] [65]
		France 3	Final	Michel Drucker and Claudy Siar  [ fr ]
Germany	ARD	NDR Fernsehen	Semi-final	Peter Urban	[66] [67]
		Das Erste	Final
Greece	ERT	NET	All shows	Zeta Makripoulia and Giorgos Kapoutzidis	[68] [69]
		Second Programme		Maria Kozakou	[70] [71]
Iceland	RÚV	Sjónvarpið	All shows	Sigmar Guðmundsson  [ is ]	[72] [73]
		Rás 1	Semi-final
		Rás 2	Final
Ireland	RTÉ	RTÉ Two	Semi-final	Marty Whelan	[74] [75]
		RTÉ One	Final
Israel	IBA		All shows
Latvia	LTV	LTV1	All shows	Kārlis Streips  [ lv ]	[76] [77]
Lithuania	LRT		All shows	Darius Užkuraitis	[78]
Macedonia	MRT		All shows	Karolina Petkovska	[79]
Malta	PBS	TVM	All shows		[80] [81] [82]
Moldova	TRM	Moldova 1	All shows
Monaco	TMC Monte Carlo		All shows	Bernard Montiel  [ fr ] and Églantine Éméyé  [ fr ]	[52] [53] [83]
Netherlands	NPO	Nederland 2	Semi-final	Cornald Maas	[49] [50] [84]
			Final	Cornald Maas and Paul de Leeuw
		Radio 2	All shows
Norway	NRK	NRK1	All shows	Jostein Pedersen	[85] [86]
		NRK P1	Final
Poland	TVP	TVP1, TVP Polonia	All shows	Artur Orzech	[87] [88]
Portugal	RTP		All shows	Eládio Clímaco	[89]
Romania	TVR		Semi-final		[90]
		TVR 1	Final
Russia	Channel One		All shows	Yuriy Aksyuta  [ ru ] and Tatiana Godunova	[91] [92]
Slovenia	RTVSLO	SLO 2	Semi-final	Mojca Mavec  [ sl ]	[58] [93]
		SLO 1  [ sl ]	Final
Spain	TVE	La 2 , TVE Internacional	Semi-final	Beatriz Pécker  [ es ] [g]	[94] [95] [96]
		La Primera , TVE Internacional	Final
Sweden	SVT	SVT1	All shows	Pekka Heino	[85] [86] [97]
	SR	SR P3		Carolina Norén	[98]
Switzerland	SRG SSR	SF 2	Semi-final	Sandra Studer	[66] [99] [100]
		SF 1	Final
		TSR 2	Semi-final	Jean-Marc Richard and Alain Morisod	[52] [53]
		TSR 1	Final
		TSI 2	Semi-final
		TSI 1	Final
Turkey	TRT	TRT 1	All shows	Bülend Özveren	[101] [102] [103]
Ukraine	NTU	Pershyi Natsionalnyi	All shows	Pavlo Shylko	[104] [105] [106]
United Kingdom	BBC	BBC Three	Semi-final	Paddy O'Connell	[107]
		BBC One, BBC Prime	Final	Sir Terry Wogan	[53] [108]
		BBC Radio 2		Ken Bruce	[109]

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Show(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref(s)
Australia	SBS	SBS TV [h]	Semi-final	Paddy O'Connell	[110]
			Final	Terry Wogan
Austria	ORF	ORF 1	Final	Andi Knoll	[66] [111]
Azerbaijan	İTV				[112]
Czech Republic	ČT	ČT2 [i]	Final	Kateřina Kristelová  [ cz ]	[113] [114]
Falkland Islands	BFBS	BFBS 1 [j]	Final		[115]
Gibraltar	GBC	GBC TV	Final		[116]
Serbia and Montenegro	RTS	RTS 1	All shows	Duška Vučinić-Lučić	[117] [118] [14] [119]
	RTCG				[14]

International broadcasts

•  Australia –Although Australia was not itself eligible to enter, the semi-final and final were broadcast on SBS, and took commentary from the BBC broadcast. As is the case each year, they were not however broadcast live due to the difference in Australian time zones. The final rated an estimated 462,000, and was ranked 21st of the broadcaster's top rating programs for the 2005/06 financial year. ^[120]
•  Azerbaijan – Azerbaijan were willing to enter the contest but since AzTV applied for active EBU membership but was denied on June 18, 2007, they missed the contest and had to wait until they were accepted. Another Azerbaijan broadcaster, İctimai, broadcast the contest. It was a passive EBU member, and had broadcast it for the last 2 years. It was the only non-participating broadcaster this year to send its own commentators to the contest. ^[112]
•  Gibraltar – Gibraltar screened only the final on GBC. ^[116]
•  Italy –Italy did not enter because RAI, the national broadcaster, is in strong competition with commercial TV stations and they believed that the Eurovision Song Contest would not be a popular show in Italy. They had not broadcast the contest in recent years, although an independent Italian channel for the gay community had shown it in 2003. ^[121] Italy eventually rejoined in 2011, and has since enjoyed an upturn in fortunes.
•   Serbia and Montenegro  –Serbia and Montenegro was originally set to compete in 2006, before withdrawing after being unable to select an entry following a controversy at its national final. Despite this, Serbia's broadcaster RTS retained broadcasting rights, and viewers in Serbia were allowed to vote in both the semi-final and the final. ^[37]

Ratings

After the contest, EBU officials stated that the overall ratings for the semi-final were 35% higher than in 2005, and for the Final had risen by 28%. ^[122]

In France, average market shares reached 30.3%, up by 8% over the 2005 figure. Other countries that showed a rise in average market shares included Germany with 38% (up from 29%), United Kingdom with 37.5% (up from 36%), Spain with 36% (up from 35%), Ireland with 58% (up from 35%) and Sweden, which reached over 80% compared to 57% the year previously. ^[122]

Voting revenues had also risen from the Kyiv contest, and the official Eurovision website, www.eurovision.tv, reported visits from over 200 countries and over 98 million page views, compared with 85 million in 2005.

High-definition broadcast

Large parts of the final were filmed in high-definition to gather "artistic and scientific knowledge" for future contests, but the footage was never intended to be used as part of the original broadcast and was filmed as part of a research experiment carried by those including the EBU, host broadcaster ERT, the Institute for Broadcasting Technology in Munich, the research and development laboratories  [ it ] of RAI and the BBC. The footage was broadcast for the first time, as part of EurovisionAgain , on Eurovision's YouTube channel on 31 July 2021. ^[123]

Aftermath

ERT's net income from the Eurovision event amounted to 7,280,000 euros, while the cost of the entire event reached 5,500,000 euros, said on Thursday in a press conference the president of ERT, Christos Panagopoulos and the authorized consultant George Chouliaras, who stated: "The allegations about the waste of money of the Greek taxpayer do not apply. The Greek people did not pay a penny for the event. It was a commercial and profitable event and the money we spent was donor money". ^{[122] [124]}

According to G. Chouliaras, the revenues that ERT had from the event were 3,630,000 euros from national sponsors, 2,200,000 euros from tickets and 1,450,000 euros from the share of international sponsors, advertising revenues outside sponsorships, sms, etc. ^{[122] [124]}

Regarding the costs paid by ERT for the event together with the EBU, it amounted to a total of 9 million euros, of which 5.5 million euros were paid by ERT and 3.5 million euros by the EBU. These costs include the costs for the television production, the production of the artistic program, the technical production, the payment of contributions, the organization of the competition and any other direct costs related to the organization of Eurovision 2006. It is also noted that EOT paid for the production of 47 commercials and their promotion during the semifinals and the final 3.5 million euros. ^{[122] [124]}

Spectacles and rewards

The president of ERT, Christos Panagopoulos, clarified, however, that the total cost does not include the shows that started in February for the advertising support of the event, for which he estimated that their cost will not exceed 1 million euros. He stated that in essence the net profit of ERT amounts to 745,000 euros, which will be allocated for other cultural events. ^[122]

It was also clarified that ERT did not pay anything to Anna Vissi, nor to Nikos Karvelas, as well as did not pay for the dress of Anna Vissi. Chouliaras stressed that all the participants in the event were paid at market prices and in particular Zeta Makrypoulia and Giorgos Kapoutzidis received 8-10 thousand euros per month for their four-month employment, Sakis Rouvas 50,000 euros and Maria Menounos 45,000 euros. ^{[122] [124]}

It was also clarified that the costs of the "promotour" of Anna Vissi are included in the total cost and that from these the transfers were covered by Olympic Airlines and the hotels, the cost of which amounted to 150,000 euros, by the sponsors. ^[122]

Regarding the future, Giorgos Chouliaras noted that "ERT should have a dynamic participation in the next Eurovision Song Contests and not devalue the institution, since it is a television product watched by 3.5 million Greeks". ^[122]

Other awards

In addition to the main winner's trophy, the Marcel Bezençon Awards and the Barbara Dex Award were contested during the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest.

Marcel Bezençon Awards

The Marcel Bezençon Awards, organised since 2002 by Sweden's then-Head of Delegation and 1992 representative Christer Björkman, and 1984 winner Richard Herrey, honours songs in the contest's final. ^[125] The awards are divided into three categories: Artistic Award which was voted by previous winners of the contest, Composer Award, and Press Award. ^[126]

Category	Country	Song	Performer(s)	Composer(s)
Artistic Award	Sweden	"Invincible"	Carola	Thomas G:son Bobby Ljunggren Henrik Wikström Carola Häggkvist
Composer Award	Bosnia and Herzegovina	"Lejla"	Hari Mata Hari	Željko Joksimović Fahrudin Pecikoza Dejan Ivanović
Press Award	Finland	"Hard Rock Hallelujah"	Lordi	Mr. Lordi

Barbara Dex Award

The Barbara Dex Award was a humorous fan award given to the worst dressed artist each year. Named after Belgium's representative who came last in the 1993 contest, wearing her self-designed dress, the award was handed by the fansite House of Eurovision from 1997 to 2016 and by the fansite songfestival.be from 2017 to 2021.

Country	Performer(s)
Portugal	Nonstop

Official album

Cover art of the official album

Eurovision Song Contest: Athens 2006 was the official compilation album of the 2006 contest, put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by CMC International on 28 April 2006. The album featured all 37 songs that entered in the 2006 contest, including the semi-finalists that failed to qualify into the grand final. ^[127]

Charts

Chart (2006)	Peak position
German Compilation Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [128]	2

Notes

1. On behalf of the German public broadcasting consortium ARD ^[17]
2. Performance contains uncredited live vocals from O-Jay
3. The song was performed entirely in Turkish in the semi-final, and with an English chorus in the final.
4. Performance contains uncredited live vocals from O-Jay
5. Following Serbia and Montenegro's withdrawal, Croatia took its place as an automatic qualifier.
6. Only Serbia was allowed to vote. ^[37]
7. The Spanish commentary in the final featured guest appearances from Massiel, Salomé, Karina, Betty Missiego, Azúcar Moreno and Son de Sol. ^[94]
8. Deferred broadcast of the semi-final on 19 May at 20:30 (AEST) and the final on 21 May at 19:30 (AEST) ^[110]
9. Delayed broadcast in a shortened format on 29 April 2007 at 02:00 (CEST). ^{[113] [114]}
10. Deferred broadcast at 21:00 (FKT) ^[115]

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External links

• Official website

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