Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

Dora 2009 was the seventeenth edition of the Croatian national selection Dora which selected Croatia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The competition consisted of a semi-final and a final on 27 and 28 February 2009, respectively, both taking place at the Hotel Kvarner in Opatija. The semi-final was broadcast on HTV 2 and HRT Radio 2, while the final was broadcast on HTV 1 and HRT Radio 2 as well as online via the broadcaster's website hrt.hr.

Dora 2009 consisted of two shows: a semi-final on 27 February 2009 and a final on 28 February 2009.[1][2] Fourteen songs selected from an open call for submissions competed in the semi-final and six proceeded to the final as determined by a public televote. The six songs that qualified from the semi-final were joined by an additional ten songs written by composers directly invited by HRT in the final and the winner was selected by a 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote.[3]

On 26 October 2008, HRT opened a submission period where artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster with the deadline on 12 December 2008. 199 entries were received by the broadcaster during the submission period.[4] A six-member expert committee consisting of Silvije Glojnarić, Robert Urlić, Mirko Fodor, Željen Klašterka, Aleksandar Kostadinov and Đurđica Ivanković reviewed the received submissions and selected fourteen artists and songs for the competition.[5] HRT announced the competing entries in the semi-final on 23 December 2008 and among the competing artists, Feminnem represented Bosnia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, while Goran Karan represented Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000.[6][7][8]

On 15 December 2008, HRT announced the names of the ten composers that were invited to participate. The invited composers were:[9]

The pre-qualified finalist entries were announced on 28 January 2009.[10][11][12] On 15 January 2009, Boris Novković withdrew his song "Raduj se" from the semi-final of the competition due to a lack of time to select a performer, and was replaced by "Kao jedno" performed by Sandra Bagarić.[13] On 2 February 2009, Goran Karan withdrew his song "Adam i Eva" from the semi-final of the competition and was replaced by "Ma gdje bila" performed by Mario Battifiaca.[14][15]

The semi-final took place on 27 February 2009, hosted by Duško Ćurlić and Nevena Rendelli.[16] The six qualifiers, "Ne damo te pismo naša" performed by Tomislav Bralić & Klapa Intrade, "Daj mi jedan razlog" performed by Ivo Gamulin Gianni, "Ma gdje bila" performed by Mario Battifiaca, "Poljupci u boji" performed by Feminnem, "Samo ti" performed by Dražen Žanko and "Ritam da se ritam" performed by Čager Zoc & Papak Dance Company, were determined exclusively by a public televote.[17]

The final took place on 28 February 2009, hosted by Duško Ćurlić and Danijela Trbović with Ida Prester and Iva Šulentić hosting segments from the green room. The six semi-final qualifiers and the ten pre-qualified entries competed and the winner, "Lijepa Tena" performed by Igor Cukrov, was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote. Ties were decided in favour of the entry ranked higher by the jury.

• In the Final Croatia came 18th with 45 points: the public awarded Croatia 16th place with 55 points and the jury awarded 19th place with 58 points.