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The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following Emmelie de Forest's win in the 2013 contest with the song "Only Teardrops". This is the third time that Denmark has hosted the contest, most recently hosting in 2001. The two semi-finals took place on 6 May and 8 May 2014, and the final on 10 May 2014.[7] The host broadcaster,DR, chose the B&W Hallerne as the host venue after considering several bids from cities and venues across Denmark.[1] The shows were presented by Lise Rønne, Nikolaj Koppel and Pilou Asbæk.[8]
Thirty-seven countries participated; this includes the return of Poland after a two-year absence and Portugal after a one-year absence.[9][10] Overall, there were two fewer countries competing compared to the previous year, making thirty-seven participants, the smallest number since 2006. Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Serbia announced their withdrawal from the 2014 Contest.[11][12][13][14] The contest saw the return ofValentina Monetta representing San Marino for a third consecutive year.[15]
Montenegro and San Marino qualified to the final for the first time since their debuts in 2007 and 2008 respectively, Montenegro earning 19th and San Marino earning 24th place.
Conchita Wurst of Austria won the final.[16] This was Austria's first win in the competition since 1966. With the polarising nature of LGBT rights in western and eastern Europe, Wurst's status as a drag queen has made some consider Austria's victory in the contest as a political statement as well.[17] The Netherlands placed second and Sweden placed third rounding out the Top 3.
Location
For more details on the host city, see Copenhagen.
On 2 September 2013, Danish public broadcaster DR announced that it had chosen Copenhagen as the host city for the 2014 contest. The contest is being held at the former shipyard Refshaleøen, in the B&W Hallerne, with the social networking hashtag "#JoinUs" as the motto. The location has been refurbished to accommodate the event, with the surrounding area being transformed into "Eurovision Island" to house the Press Centre and other amenities.[1]
The mayor of Copenhagen, Frank Jensen, declared in late August that the city would contribute to the budget with 40 million (Danish Kroner) (€5.36 million). He also announced that the aim was to make the Eurovision 2014 into the greenest contest to date since Copenhagen had been elected European Green Capital for 2014.[18]
Danish Royal Family members Crown Prince Frederik and his wife, Crown Princess Mary, attended the final as guests.[19][20]
Bidding phase
Five cities had been considered as host city of the contest, including Herning and Copenhagen, both favourites to be the next host.[21] The Parken Stadium, located inCopenhagen, which hosted the 2001 contest and Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning, which hosted the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2013 final, were the first venues to join the bidding phase.[22] Later, Fredericia and Aalborg entered the phase with the Messe C and Gigantium venues, respectively.[23][24] The fifth city to join the phase was Horsens, with the venue being the courtyard of the formerHorsens State Prison. In the event that Horsens had been chosen to host the contest, the courtyard would have been covered by a permanent glass roof.[25][26] The contest was provisionally set to take place on 13, 15 and 17 May 2014, however, the dates were later brought forward a week in order to accommodate the candidate cities.[7]
On 17 June 2013, the municipality executive of Aalborg decided not to bid for hosting the contest due to the city's lack of sufficient hotel capacity. While DR required the host city to have at least 3,000 hotel rooms, the city of Aalborg had only 1,600 hotel rooms, more than half of which had been booked for other events taking place at the same time as the Eurovision Song Contest.[27][28] On 18 June 2013, DR announced that formal bids on hosting the contest had been received by the municipalities of Copenhagen, Herning and Horsens, and that the Municipality of Fredericia had confirmed its intention to place a formal bid, too.[29]
On 19 June 2013, the deadline for placing bids on hosting the contest,[28] it was reported that Wonderful Copenhagen, the official convention, event and visitors bureau of the Greater Copenhagen area, had proposed three different venues in its bid on hosting the contest: The Parken Stadium, a large tent on the grounds of DR Byen and the B&W Hallerne.[30][31] On 25 June 2013, the Municipality of Fredericia announced that the Triangle Region had withdrawn its bid on hosting the contest, due to the lack of a suitable venue. DR required the hosting venue to have no pillars blocking any views and an interior height of at least 16 metres. However, no venues in the region met those requirements and, therefore, Fredericia was no longer in the running for becoming host city of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest.[32] On 28 June 2013, Anders Hørsholt, CEO of Parken Sport & Entertainment, stated that the Parken Stadium was no longer in the running for hosting the contest due to several football matches having already been scheduled to take place at the stadium in the weeks leading up to the contest.[33]
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