Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012

Die grosse Entscheidungs Show 2012 was the second edition of the Swiss national final format that selected Switzerland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. The national final was a collaboration between radio broadcaster DRS 3 and three broadcasters in Switzerland: the Swiss-German broadcaster Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SF), the Swiss-French broadcaster Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS) and the Swiss-Italian broadcaster Radiotelevisione svizzera (RSI).

The selection process took place in two stages before the finalists for the live show and ultimately the winner are selected. The first stage of the competition included SF, DRS 3, RTS and RSI each conducting varying selections in order to determine the candidates they submitted for the second stage of the competition. SF submitted six candidates, DRS 3 submitted three candidates, RTS submitted three candidates and RSI submitted two candidates. The fourteen artists and songs proceed to the second stage, the televised national final, where the winning artist and song was selected to represent Switzerland in Baku.[3][4]

The SF selection involved an online internet voting platform where interested artists could submit their songs and have them listed for public listening. The platform began accepting entries on 1 September 2011 and concluded on 30 September 2011. 221 entries were submitted following the submission deadline, including entries from the first Eurovision winner Lys Assia, 2007 Danish entrant DQ (Peter Andersen), Deutschland sucht den Superstar participant Zazou Mall, Idols South Africa winner Heinz Winckler, former The X Factor UK participants Same Difference and Maria Lawson and American pop singer Ultra Naté.[5][6] The internet votes were combined with the votes from an expert jury and on 11 November 2011, the top six entries for the national final were announced.[7] The six candidates selected from the SF selection were "She" performed by Emel, "Fragile" performed by I Quattro, "Peace & Freedom" performed by Ivo, "C'était ma vie" performed by Lys Assia, "Shining" performed by Macy and "The Song in My Head" performed by Raphael Jeger.[8][9]

Following an internal selection, the three candidates selected from the DRS 3 selection for the national final were announced on 13 October 2011: "Baby Baby Baby" performed by Guillermo Sorya, "Real Love" performed by Patric Scott feat. Fabienne Louves and "Lost" performed by Sara McLoud. However, "Lost" performed by Sara McLoud was later disqualified because an acoustic version had been released in 2009. She was replaced by "Black Symphony" performed by Atomic Angels.[10]

The RTS selection involved interested artists submitting their entries to the broadcaster until 30 September 2011. At the close of the deadline, 27 entries were received.[11] Ten of the candidates were selected by a jury panel, played on the radio and RTS channels between 20 October 2011 and 30 October 2011, and were evaluated by internet users (50%) and the votes of an expert jury (50%). The top three entries for the national final were announced on 3 November 2011.[7] The three candidates selected from the RTS selection for the national final were "Wrong To Let You Go" performed by Katherine St-Laurent, "Quand je ferme les yeux" performed by Sosofluo and "L'autre" performed by Ze Flying Zézettes Orchestra.[12]

RSI opened a submission period for interested artists and composers to submit their entries.[13] 22 entries were shortlisted, and a jury panel evaluated the shortlisted entries and selected five candidates for the regional final. An additional two candidates were selected by internet voting among the remaining entries. The regional final took place on 8 November 2011 at the Temus Music Bar in Agno, hosted by Clarissa Tami and Fabrizio Casati. The show was televised on RSI La 2 and aired on RSI Rete Tre. Public televoting solely selected "Unbreakable" performed by Sinplus and "Anima nuova" performed by Chiara Dubey as the two candidates from the RSI selection for the national final.[14]

Die grosse Entscheidungs Show 2012 took place on 10 December 2011 at the Bodensee Arena in Kreuzlingen, hosted by Sven Epiney. Two-minute abridged versions of the candidate songs in contention to represent Switzerland were performed, and an expert group consisting of Nik Hartmann, Carlos Leal and Stämpf provided commentary and feedback to the competing artists.[4][15] Public televoting solely selected "Unbreakable" performed by Sinplus as the winner.[16][17]