Romania Ranks Third In 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, Germany Wins Trophy

Next year’s Eurovision song contest will take place in Germany. The country’s representative, Lena, won the 2010 edition with the song „Satellite”, which received 246 points.

Romania’s „Playing With Fire” won 162 points, of which 12 were from Moldova, ten from Spain, Sweden, Norway and Portugal, and eight from Denmark, Great Britain, Cyprus and Israel.

Romania granted 12 points to Denmark, ten to Moldova and eight to Turkey.

The number of points was decided upon by a specialized panel, whose grades accounted for 50% of the final decision, and by audiences, who voted for their favorites via phone.

There were 39 participants in this year’s semifinals, of which 20 were selected as finalists. The competition roster also included France, Germany, Norway, Spain and Great Britain, which qualified for the finals without having to compete in the semi-finals.

Saturday’s finals took place at Oslo’s Telenor Arena.

Romania’s representative at last year’s Moscow edition was Elena Gheorghe, whose song „The Balkan Girls” ranked 19th in the finals. The winner of the 2009 Eurovision song contest was Norwegian Alexander Rybak, who performed the song „Fairytale”.

The Eurovision Song Contest has been broadcast every year since 1956, and is one of the world’s most enduring television shows. Throughout the years, it has launched such great names as ABBA and Celine Dion.

Participant countries are members of the European Broadcasting Union, or EBU, founded in 1950, and currently including non-European members, such as Morocco and Israel.

Romania’s National Television Company broadcast this year’s semifinals and finals on the TVR 1 channel.