San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015

Anita Simoncini and Michele Perniola were internally selected to represent San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015.

SMRTV revealed that Michele Perniola and Anita Simoncini would represent San Marino in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest during a press conference held on 27 November 2014 at SMRTV's studios.[8][9] Perniola previously represented San Marino in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013 while Simoncini represented the nation in the 2014 junior contest as part of the group The Peppermints.[9][10] Simoncini became the first artist to consecutively represent a nation in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest and the Eurovision Song Contest, as she met the age requirements for the Eurovision Song Contest on 14 April 2015 when she turned sixteen.[11][12] Simoncini and Perniola were also the youngest duet to take part in the contest to this point.[10]

The selected song "Chain of Lights" was presented to the public on 16 March 2015.[13] The track was written by Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger (under the pseudonym John O'Flynn).[11] Siegel had composed twenty-three Eurovision entries to this point, including the previous three Sammarinese entries performed by Monetta.[13] Seventeen of those entries were written together with Meinunger.[11] Siegel stated that the song was not written specifically for the contest, but was adapted and shortened to meet contest criteria.[13] These adaptations included changes to the song's lyrics and musical arrangement.[11] From its inception, the song was intended to be performed in English.[14]

To promote the entry, a music video directed by Fabrizio Oggiano premiered at the same time as the song's presentation on 16 March.[15] Oggiano was selected for the role through a competition staged by the broadcaster, record label organization MEI, and record label Queens Academy.[16] The video was shot in the Molise region of southern Italy.[14] SMRTV staged an online contest titled "Build a Chain of Lights" where social media users could use the hashtag #SanMarino2015 on posts to enter to win prizes such as a meet and greet with the artists, a promotional press kit and more.[17] The duo also embarked on a promotional tour that included a visit to Moscow,[18] and granted interviews to the local and international press in Austria in the lead up to the contest.[19][20]

Simoncini and Perniola at a dress rehearsal for the second semi-final.

Anita Simoncini and Michele Perniola took part in technical rehearsals on 13 and 16 May,[29][30] followed by dress rehearsals on 20 and 21 May. This included the jury final where professional juries of each country, typically responsible for 50 percent of each country's vote, watched and voted on the competing entries.[31]

Antonello Carozza was the artistic director for the performance.[14] The stage show featured Simoncini wearing a gold and white skirt and Perniola dressed in a white dress shirt, jeans and a black leather jacket. The duet performed choreographed movements on stage with four backing vocalists behind them dressed in black: Katrin Schild von Spannenberg, Pat Lawson, Ron van Lankeren and Julian Feifel. The background LED screens displayed a rotating planet Earth that becomes covered in candles, forming chains around the world.[29][30][32]

At the end of the show, San Marino failed to qualify to the grand final and was not announced among the top ten nations.[33] It was later revealed that San Marino placed 16th in the semi-final, receiving a total of 11 points.[34]

Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.[35] San Marino does not organise a televote due to their use of Italy's phone system and that the small number of televoters would struggle to meet the minimum voting threshold.[36] Therefore, in the second semi-final and grand final, the Sammarinese votes were based solely on jury voting.[36]

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that San Marino had placed 15th with the public televote and 17th (last) with the jury vote in the second semi-final. In the public vote, San Marino scored 16 points, while with the jury vote, San Marino scored six points.[37]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to San Marino and awarded by San Marino in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting conducted during the two shows:

The following five members comprised the Sanmarinese jury:[40]

• Barbara Andreini – Chairperson – opera singer, teacher
• Ilaria Ercolani – singer
• Katalin Pribelszki – opera singer
• Matteo Venturini (Duan) – DJ
• Simone La Maida – saxophone jazz player

Jury results (Semi-final 2)

Draw	Country	B. Andreini	I. Ercolani	K. Pribelszki	Duan	S. La Maida	Average Jury Rank	Scoreboard (Points)
01	Lithuania	15	7	7	7	10	8	3
02	Ireland	7	14	9	5	5	6	5
03	San Marino
04	Montenegro	6	6	8	16	14	11
05	Malta	5	1	10	4	4	4	7
06	Norway	4	3	11	3	3	3	8
07	Portugal	14	9	16	15	15	16
08	Czech Republic	9	10	5	8	13	7	4
09	Israel	2	5	1	13	6	5	6
10	Latvia	3	2	6	2	1	2	10
11	Azerbaijan	12	13	4	14	9	12
12	Iceland	16	12	14	11	11	15
13	Sweden	1	4	2	1	2	1	12
14	Switzerland	11	8	13	12	12	13
15	Cyprus	8	16	12	6	7	9	2
16	Slovenia	13	15	3	10	8	10	1
17	Poland	10	11	15	9	16	14

Jury results (Grand final)

Draw	Country	B. Andreini	I. Ercolani	K. Pribelszki	Duan	S. La Maida	Average Jury Rank	Scoreboard (Points)
01	Slovenia	22	16	2	17	9	11
02	France	5	12	25	11	8	10	1
03	Israel	18	8	6	16	10	9	2
04	Estonia	26	27	27	15	21	26
05	United Kingdom	8	7	9	8	24	8	3
06	Armenia	11	24	19	19	23	20
07	Lithuania	21	15	12	9	11	12
08	Serbia	25	13	8	25	6	15
09	Norway	6	5	14	4	2	5	6
10	Sweden	7	4	1	3	5	4	7
11	Cyprus	24	17	26	13	20	23
12	Australia	3	1	7	1	4	3	8
13	Belgium	4	6	17	5	7	6	5
14	Austria	20	22	10	7	14	14
15	Greece	19	14	13	24	27	21
16	Montenegro	17	10	16	27	18	19
17	Germany	23	20	18	12	25	22
18	Poland	14	18	22	22	26	24
19	Latvia	2	3	4	2	1	1	12
20	Romania	16	23	23	23	22	25
21	Spain	12	11	21	14	13	13
22	Hungary	9	19	5	10	12	7	4
23	Georgia	10	9	20	21	19	16
24	Azerbaijan	13	21	15	18	15	17
25	Russia	15	25	11	20	16	18
26	Albania	27	26	24	26	17	27
27	Italy	1	2	3	6	3	2	10