Competing countries Relegated countries unable to participate due to poor results in previous contests Countries that participated in the past but not in 1994
Vote
Voting system
Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs
Twenty-five countries participated in the contest, which for the first time featured a relegation system to reduce the number of interested participating countries. Seven new countries participated in the event, with entries from Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia and Slovakia featuring for the first time. However, Belgium, Denmark, Israel, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Turkey were unable to compete due to the new relegation rules as the lowest-scoring countries at the previous event, whereas Italy decided against participating by choice.
For the third time in a row, Ireland won the contest with the song "Rock 'n' Roll Kids", written by Brendan Graham and performed by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan. Never before had a country won three times in a row in the history of the contest; at the same time, it was also a record sixth win, cementing Ireland as the country with the most wins in Eurovision history up till that point. Poland, Germany, Hungary and Malta rounded out the top five positions, with Poland achieving the most successful result for a début entry in the contest's history.
Point Theatre, Dublin – host venue of the 1994 contest (pictured following redevelopment)
The 1994 contest took place in Dublin, Ireland, following the country's victory at the 1993 edition with the song "In Your Eyes", performed by Niamh Kavanagh. It was the fifth time that Ireland had hosted the contest, following the 1971, 1981 and 1988 events also held in Dublin, and the previous year's event held in Millstreet.[1] Ireland thus became the first country to host two successive contests.[2][3]
The selected venue was the Point Theatre, a concert and events venue located among the Dublin Docklands and originally built as a train depot and warehouse to serve the nearby port. Opened as a music venue in 1988, it was closed for redevelopment and expansion in 2008 and is now known as the 3Arena.[3][4] At the time of the contest, the arena could seat around 3,200 audience members.[3]
Twenty-five countries were permitted to participate in the contest. As the number of countries interested in participating in the contest grew, and following the use of a qualifying round in the previous year's event, a relegation system was introduced to the contest for the first time, which would prevent the lowest-scoring countries from the previous year's event from participating in the subsequent contest.[3][5] In the summer of 1993 the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) confirmed that the seven lowest-scoring countries in the 1993 event would be barred from entering the 1994 contest, to make way for seven countries which would participate for the first time.[3] As a result, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Israel, Luxembourg, Slovenia, and Turkey were unable to enter the contest, and in the contest's largest single expansion of new participating countries since the first edition in 1956, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Slovakia made their début appearances.[3][5][6] Estonia, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia had all previously participated in the 1993 qualifying round Kvalifikacija za Millstreet.[7] Belgium thus failed to participate in the contest for the first time, leaving Germany and Switzerland as the only countries to have competed in every edition of the contest so far.[3] Later in 1993 Italy's broadcaster RAI subsequently announced that it would not participate in the event, likely due to a lack of interest in the event among the Italian public and concerns within the broadcaster at the costs of staging the contest in the event that Italy won;[8][9] this led to Cyprus being readmitted as the relegated country with the best result at the 1993 contest.[3]
Four performers who had competed in previous editions of contests featured among the participating artists at this year's event: Marie Bergman, representing Sweden with Roger Pontare, had been a member of the group Family Four that had represented the country in the 1971 and 1972 contests; Cyprus's Evridiki made a second appearance in the contest, following her entry at the 1992 event; Sigga returned to the contest for Iceland for a third time, having previously competed as part of Stjórnin in 1990 and Heart 2 Heart in 1992; and Elisabeth Andreasson, competing in this event with Jan Werner Danielsen for Norway, also participated for the third time, having been a member of the group Chips, which represented Sweden in 1982, and Bobbysocks!, which had represented Norway and were the winners of the 1985 contest.[10] A number of artists which had previously competed in the contest also returned as backing performers: Rhonda Heath, who was a member of the group Silver Convention that had represented Germany in the 1977 contest, performed as a backing singer for the German entry MeKaDo;[11] and Eyjólfur Kristjánsson [is], who represented Iceland at the 1991 contest alongside Stefán Hilmarsson, returned as a backing singer for Sigga.[12] Additionally, having supported Malta's William Mangion as backing performers in the previous year's event, Moira Stafrace and Christopher Scicluna returned to the Eurovision stage as the country's entrants at this year's contest.[13]
The Eurovision Song Contest 1994 was produced by the Irish public broadcaster Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ). Moya Doherty served as executive producer, Patrick Cowap served as director, Paula Farrell served as designer, and Noel Kelehan served as musical director, leading the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.[6][16][17] A separate musical director could be nominated by each country to lead the orchestra during their performance, with the host musical director also available to conduct for those countries which did not nominate their own conductor.[10] On behalf of the contest organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the event was overseen by Christian Clausen as scrutineer.[6][18][19]
Each participating broadcaster submitted one song, which was required to be no longer than three minutes in duration and performed in the language, or one of the languages, of the country which it represented.[20][21] A maximum of six performers were allowed on stage during each country's performance, and all participants were required to have reached the age of 16 in the year of the contest.[20][22] Each entry could utilise all or part of the live orchestra and could use instrumental-only backing tracks; however, any backing tracks used could only include the sound of instruments featured on stage being mimed by the performers.[22][23]
Following the confirmation of the twenty-five competing countries, the draw to determine the running order was held on 16 November 1993 at the Point Theatre and was conducted by Niamh Kavanagh and Fionnuala Sweeney.[3][24][25]
The results of the 1994 contest were determined through the same scoring system as had first been introduced in 1975: each country awarded twelve points to its favourite entry, followed by ten points to its second favourite, and then awarded points in decreasing value from eight to one for the remaining songs which featured in the country's top ten, with countries unable to vote for their own entry.[26] The points awarded by each country were determined by an assembled jury of sixteen individuals, which was required to be split evenly between members of the public and music professionals, between men and women, and by age. Each jury member voted in secret and awarded between one and ten votes to each participating song, excluding that from their own country and with no abstentions permitted. The votes of each member were collected following the country's performance and then tallied by the non-voting jury chairperson to determine the points to be awarded. In any cases where two or more songs in the top ten received the same number of votes, a show of hands by all jury members was used to determine the final placing.[27][28]
With the Point Theatre situated on the banks of the River Liffey, rivers were an integral part of the overall creative vision for the show and were a key theme of the opening and interval acts as well as the stage design.[29] Paula Farrell's design, which was four times the size of the stage constructed for the Millstreet contest, provided a scene of a futuristic Dublin at night, featuring representations of skyscrapers which incorporated video screens and lighting effects and underfloor lighting representing the Liffey and Dublin Bay. On either side of the stage podium-lined platforms were used by the presenters in-between songs and during the voting segment.[30][31][32][33]
Rehearsals at the contest venue began on 25 April 1994. Each participating delegation took part in two technical rehearsals in the week approaching the contest, with countries rehearsing in the order in which they would perform. In each country's first rehearsal, held on 25 and 26 April, the delegations were provided with a 15-minute stage-call to prepare the stage and to brief the orchestra, followed by a 25-minute rehearsal. This was then followed by an opportunity to review footage of the rehearsal on video screens and to conduct a 20-minute press conference. The second rehearsals on 27 and 28 April consisted of a 10-minute stage-call and a 20-minute rehearsal. Three dress rehearsals were held with all artists, two in the afternoon and evening of 29 April and one final rehearsal in the afternoon of 30 April, with an audience present at the evening rehearsal on 29 April. The competing delegations were additionally invited to a welcome reception during the week of the event, held on the evening of 25 April in the Dining Hall of Trinity College Dublin.[3]
During the final dress rehearsal on 30 April, the Polish entrant Edyta Górniak performed the second half of her song "To nie ja!" in English. As this rehearsal was also heard by the juries this constituted a break of the contest rules. Although discussions were held on whether to sanction or disqualify the country, Poland was ultimately allowed to compete.[6][10][30]
Contest overview
Edyta Górniak(pictured in 2009), the first artist to represent Poland in Eurovision, finished in second place, Poland's highest position to date.
The contest took place on 30 April 1994 at 20:00 (IST) and lasted 3 hours and 3 minutes. The show was presented by the Irish journalist and television presenter Cynthia Ní Mhurchú and the Irish radio and television presenter Gerry Ryan.[6][10] Ní Mhurchú and Ryan had been considered as hosts for the 1993 event before the eventual choice of Fionnuala Sweeney.[34]
The contest was opened with a segment by the Galway-based arts and theatre company Macnas, featuring a mixture of pre-recorded and live footage of a replica Vikinglongship on the river Liffey, and dancers, flag-bearers and performers in caricature masks of notable Irish personalities in various locations in central Dublin and in the Point Theatre.[3][35][36][37] The interval act, "Riverdance", was a seven-minute composition by the Irish composer Bill Whelan, and took inspiration from "Timedance", the interval act from the 1981 contest also held in Dublin.[38] "Riverdance" featured a mix of traditional Irish and modern music by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, choral singing from the Celtic ensemble Anúna, and Irish dancing led by the Irish-American dancers Jean Butler and Michael Flatley.[39][40] The trophy awarded to the winners, entitled "Wavelength", was designed by the Irish sculptor Grace Weir of the Temple Bar Gallery, and was presented by the previous year's winning artist Niamh Kavanagh.[35][41][42]
The winner was Ireland represented by the song "Rock 'n' Roll Kids", written by Brendan Graham and performed by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan.[43] This marked Ireland's sixth contest win – a new contest record – and also gave the country its third win in a row – the first time a country had won three successive contests.[1][5][27] "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" became the highest scoring winner in Eurovision history to date with 226 points, and was the first song to receive over 200 points. It was also the first time that a song had won without using the orchestra. Harrington and McGettigan additionally became the oldest winning performers and the first winning male duo.[5][27][30] First-time participating countries Poland, Hungary and Russia all finished in the top ten, placing second, fourth and ninth respectively, while conversely the four other débuting countries all placed within the bottom seven entries, with Lithuania scoring nul points with its first ever entry.[44][45] Poland achieved the most successful début performance of any country in the contest's history at the time, and its second-place finish in this event remains as of 2024[update] the country's best ever Eurovision placing.[2][46]
Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1994[27][44]
Each country nominated a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing, in English or French, the votes for their respective country.[20] For the first time, the spokespersons were connected to the venue via satellite rather than through telephone lines, allowing them to appear in vision during the broadcast.[2][6][27] Spokespersons at the 1994 contest are listed below.[35]
Jury voting was used to determine the points awarded by all countries.[27] The announcement of the results from each country was conducted in the order in which they performed, with the spokespersons announcing their country's points in English or French in ascending order.[27][35] The detailed breakdown of the points awarded by each country is listed in the tables below.
Detailed voting results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1994[27][55][56]
Total score
Sweden
Finland
Ireland
Cyprus
Iceland
United Kingdom
Croatia
Portugal
Switzerland
Estonia
Romania
Malta
Netherlands
Germany
Slovakia
Lithuania
Norway
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Greece
Austria
Spain
Hungary
Russia
Poland
France
Contestants
Sweden
48
2
7
2
3
6
5
5
10
5
1
2
Finland
11
1
10
Ireland
226
10
7
8
12
10
12
12
12
10
8
5
12
12
6
10
12
10
10
10
10
12
8
8
Cyprus
51
10
3
5
2
5
12
4
2
5
3
Iceland
49
8
1
6
6
3
3
1
3
3
6
1
4
4
United Kingdom
63
1
5
6
8
8
5
2
4
3
2
4
1
3
3
5
3
Croatia
27
10
12
5
Portugal
73
5
5
8
8
8
5
1
3
12
7
4
1
6
Switzerland
15
8
2
5
Estonia
2
2
Romania
14
6
2
6
Malta
97
4
6
10
2
1
7
4
6
7
10
1
3
10
7
12
7
Netherlands
4
4
Germany
128
6
3
5
6
7
7
10
10
3
12
4
7
4
1
7
2
8
12
7
7
Slovakia
15
12
3
Lithuania
0
Norway
76
7
3
10
1
4
3
1
8
4
7
2
1
6
1
5
5
8
Bosnia and Herzegovina
39
2
4
7
8
7
1
10
Greece
44
2
4
12
6
4
1
5
4
4
2
Austria
19
1
7
3
2
1
5
Spain
17
5
2
8
2
Hungary
122
12
12
12
10
2
5
1
4
4
2
10
7
8
3
8
3
12
7
Russia
70
4
3
4
5
1
2
1
3
5
6
6
3
4
6
6
10
1
Poland
166
8
7
1
6
12
8
7
10
12
7
2
8
10
4
12
6
8
12
8
6
12
France
74
3
2
4
5
6
6
8
8
7
2
7
10
6
12 points
The below table summarises how the maximum 12 points were awarded from one country to another. The winning country is shown in bold. Ireland received the maximum score of 12 points from eight of the voting countries, with Poland receiving five sets of 12 points, Hungary receiving four sets, Germany two sets, and Croatia, Cyprus, Malta, Portugal and Slovakia each receiving one maximum score.[55][56]
Distribution of 12 points awarded at the Eurovision Song Contest 1994[55][56]
Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants".[22] Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers. These commentators were typically sent to the venue to report on the event, and were able to provide commentary from small booths constructed at the back of the venue.[57][58] Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.
Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
Michael Flatley featured as part of the contest's interval act "Riverdance", which was subsequently developed into a worldwide hit stage show.
Although the winning song had modest success, peaking in the Irish Singles Chart at number 2 and also entering the Dutch and Flemish charts following the contest,[107][108] it was largely overshadowed by the contest's interval act. The music to "Riverdance" was subsequently released as a single shortly after the contest and shot straight to number 1 on the Irish charts where it remained for 18 weeks.[109][110] As of 2023[update] "Riverdance" remains the second best selling single in Ireland ever, behind Elton John's "Something About the Way You Look Tonight"/"Candle in the Wind 1997".[110][111] An invite was subsequently given to feature the original seven-minute performance at the Royal Variety Performance in November 1994 at the Dominion Theatre in London in the presence of Prince Charles.[112] At the same time preparations were underway to develop the seven-minute performance into a stage show, preparations led by Moya Doherty, who had been the executive producer of Eurovision 1994, and her husband John McColgan.[113][114] Opening in February 1995 at the Point Theatre and featuring original lead dancers Michael Flatley and Jean Butler, the full-length show ran for an initial run of five weeks, with tickets selling out within three days of going on sale, followed by another sold-out run at the Hammersmith Apollo in London and in March 1996 its first performance in the United States, at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City.[110][115][116] It is estimated that Riverdance has now been seen live by over 27.5 million people at performances worldwide, and that over 10 million home videos of Riverdance performances have been sold.[113]
The relegation system introduced to the contest in this edition continued to be used in various forms for the next ten years and allowed even more new countries to join the event, with Macedonia, Latvia and Ukraine competing for the first time in 1998, 2000 and 2003 respectively.[117][118][119] However, as the contest continued to develop, and as even more countries began to express an interest in competing, the relegation system proved unable to meet the needs required to allow for an equitable solution for all countries. Ultimately this led to the introduction of a semi-final to the contest format in 2004, allowing all interested countries to participate once again, which was eventually expanded to two semi-finals from 2008.[5][120][121]
Notes and references
Notes
^On behalf of the German public broadcasting consortium ARD[15]
^ abOn-screen captions used the English title "Eternal Wanderer"
^ abc"How it works". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). 18 May 2019. Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
^"Jerusalem 1999". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
^ abc"The Rules of the Contest". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). 31 October 2018. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
^Knox 2015, pp. 129–140, Chapter 15. The Cowshed in Cork.
^ abcdEurovision Song Contest 1994 (Television programme) (in English, French, and Irish). Dublin, Ireland: Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ). 30 April 1994.
^"Program HRT" [HRT schedule]. Glas Podravine (in Serbo-Croatian). Koprivnica, Croatia. 29 April 1994. p. 9. Archived from the original on 14 May 2024. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
^"TV szombat | április 30" [Television Saturday | 30 April]. Rádió és TeleVízió újság (in Hungarian). 25 April 1994. pp. 46–47. Archived from the original on 23 July 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022 – via MTVA Archívum.
^"TV – sobota, 30 kwietnia" [TV – Saturday, 30 April] (PDF). Kurier Wileński (in Polish). Vilnius, Lithuania. 30 April 1994. p. 11. Archived(PDF) from the original on 28 October 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2022 – via Polonijna Biblioteka Cyfrowa.
^"Programa da televisão" [Television schedule]. A Comarca de Arganil (in Portuguese). Arganil, Portugal. 28 April 1994. p. 8. Archived from the original on 29 June 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
^ ab"러시아·동구권 첫 참가" [First participation from Russia and Eastern Europe]. The Hankyoreh (in Korean). Seoul, South Korea. 28 May 1994. p. 16. Retrieved 3 December 2024 – via Naver.
^"TV Programları" [TV Programmes]. Cumhuriyet 2 (in Turkish). 30 April 1994. p. 4. Archived from the original on 12 December 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
Knox, David Blake (2015). Ireland and the Eurovision: The Winners, the Losers and the Turkey. Stillorgan, Dublin, Ireland: New Island Books. ISBN978-1-84840-429-8.
Roxburgh, Gordon (2020). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Four: The 1990s. Prestatyn, United Kingdom: Telos Publishing. ISBN978-1-84583-163-9.
Thorsson, Leif; Verhage, Martin (2006). Melodifestivalen genom tiderna : de svenska uttagningarna och internationella finalerna [Melodifestivalen through the ages: the Swedish selections and international finals] (in Swedish). Stockholm, Sweden: Premium Publishing. ISBN91-89136-29-2.
