Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

Eurovision Song Contest 2006
Country	Finland
National selection
Selection process	National final
Selection date(s)	10 March 2006
Selected entrant	Lordi
Selected song	"Hard Rock Hallelujah"
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Qualified (1st, 292 points)
Final result	1st, 292 points
Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2005 • 2006 • 2007►

Lordi represented Finland at Eurovision 2006.

Finland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was selected on 10 March 2006 in a final held in the Caribia hall in Turku, hosted by Heikki Paasonen and Jaana Pelkonen. The Finnish viewers chose the band Lordi to perform "Hard Rock Hallelujah", a rock anthem, at Eurovision. The song was a favourite before the competition and also scored major success when released as a single. The song, written and composed by band member Mr. Lordi, went on to win the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006, placing first in both the semifinal and final. This gave Finland its first ever win in the competition.

Lordi is a melodic theatrical heavy-rock band, mostly known for their unusual monster costumes and lyrical themes. The members are Lordi, Amen, Ox, Awa, and Kita. Lordi have released four albums with many hit songs. The members have never shown themselves in public without their masks. Lordi itself says the band does not exist without the masks. Before the Athens competition there was some controversy in Finland protesting the selection of such an unusual musical style and stage theatrics. Several newspaper readers' letters called for a reconsideration of the representative in favour of more traditional pop music.

Results of the national final

Before the main final, semi-finals were held in Tampere, in which a song was selected for each of the twelve candidates. These songs competed in the main final, and, after a round of televoting, six were eliminated. A new vote was held for the remaining six, the results of which are below.

At Eurovision

Because Finland failed to qualify in 2005 Lordi was forced to compete in the Eurovision semi-final, Finland performed 16th following Ukraine and preceding Netherlands qualified to the final, placing 1st in the semi-final and scoring 292 points. In the final, Finland performed 17th,following Greece and preceding Ukraine .Lordi received 292 points, winning the contest for Finland its the best result for this country to date. Finland pre-qualified to compete directly in the final of the 2007 Contest.

Points awarded by Finland

Semi-final 12 points  Bosnia and Herzegovina 10 points  Sweden 8 points  Lithuania 7 points  Iceland 6 points  Russia 5 points  Estonia 4 points  Ireland 3 points  Belgium 2 points  Ukraine 1 point  Slovenia

Final 12 points  Russia 10 points  Bosnia and Herzegovina 8 points  Lithuania 7 points  Sweden 6 points  Romania 5 points  Norway 4 points  Ireland 3 points  Denmark 2 points  Ukraine 1 point  Greece

See also

• Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest