Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010

Euroviisut 2010 was the national final that selects Finland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. The competition consisted of four shows: three semi-finals on 8, 15 and 22 January 2010 and the final on 30 January 2010. All four shows were held at the Tampere Exhibition and Sports Centre in Tampere and were hosted by Jaana Pelkonen and Mikko Peltola.

Changes were made to the format of the contest as compared to the previous contests. A total of fifteen songs competed, with five songs competing in each semi-final and the top three entries qualified to the final. A Yle jury also selected a wildcard entry from the remaining non-qualifying entries from the semi-finals to qualify to the final. The results for the semi-finals were determined exclusively by a public vote, while the results in the final were by the public vote in two rounds: the first round selected the top three songs and the second round selected the winner.[1][2]

Three of the fifteen competing artists in the national final were selected from an online wilcard round among entries submitted to Yle, while the rest of the participants were invited to compete by the Yle. The winner of the popular tango song and dance festival Tangomarkkinat, Amadeus Lundberg, also received an invitation in January 2010 to compete in the national final.[3][4][5] The twelve invited artists were revealed on 30 September 2009.[6][7]

For the online wildcard round, a submission period was opened by Yle which lasted until August 2010.[8] A maximum number of 2 demos could be sent for each artist or songwriter, and the artist(s) performing in the demos must perform during the televised shows. At least one of the writers and the lead singer(s) had to hold Finnish citizenship or live in Finland permanently in order for the entry to qualify to compete.[1][2] A panel of experts appointed by Yle selected thirty entries from the 267 received submissions, which were made available to the public via Yle's official website on 1 October 2009.[9][10] A public SMS vote was then open until 16 January 2009. On 17 October 2009, Bääbs, Linn Nygård and Sister Twister were revealed as the three entries with the most votes, and thus advanced to the national final. Linn Nygård and Sister Twister both represented Finland at the junior MGP Nordic contest in 2007.[11][12]

On 30 November 2009, the song titles and authors the twelve invited artists would perform were revealed, with the compilation album of all 15 songs being released by Universal Music Oy on 4 January 2010.[13] The fifteen entries were then allocated to one of the three semi-finals, each containing five entries - four invited artists, and one online qualifier.

The first semi-final show took place on 8 January 2010 and the top three from the five competing entries qualified to the final based on the results of a public vote. "Anastacia" performed by Amadeus Lundberg, "Cider Hill" performed by Nina Lassander and "Il mondo è qui" performed by Pentti Hietanen qualified to the final.[14][15]

The second semi-final show took place on 15 January 2010 and the top three from the five competing entries qualified to the final based on the results of a public vote. "Sun puolella" performed by Antti Kleemola, "Annankadun kulmassa" performed by Heli Kajo and "Love at the First Sight" performed by Sister Twister qualified to the final.[16][17]

The second semi-final show took place on 22 January 2010 and the top three from the five competing entries qualified to the final based on the results of a public vote. "Työlki ellää" performed by Kuunkuiskaajat, "Fatal Moment" performed by Linn Nygård and "Hulluna humpasta" performed by Eläkeläiset qualified to the final. The Yle jury wildcard was awarded to an entry from this semi-final: "Sydän ymmärtää" performed by Maria Lund.[18][19]

Kuunkuiskaajat at the final of Euroviisut 2010 in Tampere.

The final was held on 30 January 2010, where the three qualifiers from the semi-finals, and a wildcard entry selected by a jury. The running order for the final was announced by Yle on 25 January 2010.[20] Media reports suggested that established act Eläkeläiset were the favourite to win the contest, however other names mentioned as possible contenders includes Tangomarkkinat winner Amadeus, Kuunkuiskaajat, and Heli Kajo after heavy campaigning on social networking sites such as Facebook.[21][22]

The winner was selected over two rounds of televoting. In the first round, the top four entries were selected to proceed to the second round, the superfinal: "Cider Hill" performed by Nina Lassander, "Hulluna humpasta" performed by Eläkeläiset and "Työlki ellää" performed by Kuunkuiskaajat.[23] In the superfinal, "Työlki ellää" performed by Kuunkuiskaajat was selected as the winner with 48,139 votes.[24][25][26]

Performances by Eurovision Song Contest 2007 host Mikko Leppilampi and 2009 winner Alexander Rybak, performing his new single "Europe's Skies" for the first time, were included in the show.[21][22]

A total of 995,000 people watched the final on television, peaking at 1.2 million. This was an increase of over 200,000 people on the 2009 final. 233,683 votes were cast during the final, with more than 100,000 votes cast during the semi-finals. The full voting results were revealed on 1 February 2010.[25][27]

• In the Semi-final 1 Finland came 11th with 49 points: the public awarded Finland 6th place with 69 points and the jury awarded 15th place with 37 points.