Croatia were represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia, by Igor Cukrov feat. Andrea Šušnjara with the song „Lijepa Tena“ after winning the Croatian national final, Dora 2009.

Dora 2009

Dora 2009 was the seventeenth edition of the Croatian national selection Dora which selected Croatia’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The competition consisted of a semi-final and a final on 27 and 28 February 2009, respectively, both taking place at the Hotel Kvarner in Opatija. The semi-final was broadcast on HTV 2 and HRT Radio 2, while the final was broadcast on HTV 1 and HRT Radio 2 as well as online via the broadcaster’s website hrt.hr.

Format

Dora 2009 consisted of two shows: a semi-final on 27 February 2009 and a final on 28 February 2009. Fourteen songs selected from an open call for submissions competed in the semi-final and six proceeded to the final as determined by a public televote. The six songs that qualified from the semi-final were joined by an additional ten songs written by composers directly invited by HRT in the final and the winner was selected by a 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote.

Competing entries

On 26 October 2008, HRT opened a submission period where artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster with the deadline on 12 December 2008. 199 entries were received by the broadcaster during the submission period. A six-member expert committee consisting of Silvije Glojnarić, Robert Urlić, Mirko Fodor, Željen Klašterka, Aleksandar Kostadinov and Đurđica Ivanković reviewed the received submissions and selected fourteen artists and songs for the competition.[5] HRT announced the competing entries in the semi-final on 23 December 2008 and among the competing artists, Feminnem represented Bosnia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, while Goran Karan represented Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000.

On 15 December 2008, HRT announced the names of the ten composers that were invited to participate. The invited composers were:

• Ante Pecotić
• Boris Đurđević
• Bruno Kovačić
• Denis Dumančić
• Hari Rončević
• Miroslav Rus
• Nenad Ninčević and Miro Buljan
• Rajko Dujmić
• Tonči Huljić
• Zrinko Tutić

The pre-qualified finalist entries were announced on 28 January 2009. On 15 January 2009, Boris Novković withdrew his song „Raduj se“ from the semi-final of the competition due to a lack of time to select a performer, and was replaced by „Kao jedno“ performed by Sandra Bagarić. On 2 February 2009, Goran Karan withdrew his song „Adam i Eva“ from the semi-final of the competition and was replaced by „Ma gdje bila“ performed by Mario Battifiaca.

Artist	Song	Songwriter(s)
Alen Vitasović and Lela Kaplowitz	„Tamo gdje ljubav počinje“	Emilija Kokić, Haris Brković, Antonija Šola
Ana Bebić	„Mrzim spore stvari“	Nenad Ninčević, Miro Buljan
Aria	„Istina je“	Ante Pecotić
Čager Zoc and Papak Dance Company	„Ritam da se ritam“	Miran Hadži Veljković, Zlatko Petrović
Danijela Pintarić	„Zlatna rijeka“	Zrinko Tutić
Denis Dumančić	„Srce moram seliti“	Denis Dumančić, Fayo, Zorica Dumančić
Dražen Žanko	„Samo ti“	Dražen Žanko, Matija Fuček
Feminnem	„Poljupci u boji“	Branimir Mihaljević, Neda Parmać
Franka Batelić	„Pjesma za kraj“	Boris Đurđević, Miro Buljan, Nenad Ninčević
Hari Rončević and Kvartet Bravo	„Još uvik“	Hari Rončević
Igor Cukrov	„Lijepa Tena“	Tonči Huljić, Vjekoslava Huljić
Ivo Gamulin Gianni	„Daj mi jedan razlog“	Alka Vuica
Jelena Radan	„Voljet ću te sutra“	Meri Jaman, Anita Valo, Ines Prajo, Arjana Kunstek
Maja Vučić	„Tebe imam ja“	Duško Rapotec-Ute, Robert Pilepić
Mario Battifiaca	„Ma gdje bila“	Robert Grubišić, Marina Valković
Marko Tolja	„Stranci“	Olja Dešić
Marta Kuliš	„Makni se“	Srđan Sekulović-Skansi, Gojko Tomljanović
Mijo Lešina	„To nisam ja“	Bruno Kovačić
Ricardo Luque and Maja Vasilj	„Ljubav ima njeno lice“	Duško Rapotec-Ute, Robert Pilepić
Ruswaj	„Što će mi ljubav“	Miroslav Rus
Sandra Bagarić	„Kao jedno“	Inge Privora, Dražen Scholz
Sane	„Dečko“	Nikola Marijanović, Thomas Balaž, Stjepan Krznarić
Tomislav Bralić and Klapa Intrade	„Ne damo te pismo naša“	Ivica Badurina, Branko Slivar
Viva	„Opet“	Miro Buljan, Nenad Ninčević

Semi-final

The semi-final took place on 27 February 2009, hosted by Duško Ćurlić and Nevena Rendelli. The six qualifiers, „Ne damo te pismo naša“ performed by Tomislav Bralić and Klapa Intrade, „Daj mi jedan razlog“ performed by Ivo Gamulin Gianni, „Ma gdje bila“ performed by Mario Battifiaca, „Poljupci u boji“ performed by Feminnem, „Samo ti“ performed by Dražen Žanko, and „Ritam da se ritam“ performed by Čager Zoc and Papak Dance Company, were determined exclusively by a public televote.

Semifinal – 27 February 2009

Draw	Artist	Song	Televote	Place
1	Sandra Bagarić	„Kao jedno“	560	12
2	Maja Vučić	„Tebe imam ja“	489	13
3	Ricardo Luque and Maja Vasilj	„Ljubav ima njeno lice“	616	10
4	Alen Vitasović and Lela Kaplowitz	„Tamo gdje ljubav počinje“	648	9
5	Sane	„Dečko“	837	8
6	Tomislav Bralić and Klapa Intrade	„Ne damo te pismo naša“	3,957	1
7	Dražen Žanko	„Samo ti“	1,202	5
8	Marta Kuliš	„Makni se“	432	14
9	Jelena Radan	„Voljet ću te sutra“	573	11
10	Mario Battifiaca	„Ma gdje bila“	2,38	3
11	Čager Zoc and Papak Dance Company	„Ritam da se ritam“	1,116	6
12	Marko Tolja	„Stranci“	855	7
13	Ivo Gamulin Gianni	„Daj mi jedan razlog“	2,488	2
14	Feminnem	„Poljupci u boji“	1,941	4

Final

The final took place on 28 February 2009, hosted by Duško Ćurlić and Danijela Trbović with Ida Prester and Iva Šulentić hosting segments from the green room. The six semi-final qualifiers and the ten pre-qualified entries competed and the winner, „Lijepa Tena“ performed by Igor Cukrov, was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from a six-member jury panel and a public televote. Ties were decided in favour of the entry ranked higher by the jury.

Final – 28 February 2009

Draw	Artist	Song	Jury	Jury	Televote	Total	Place
			Votes	Points
1	Ana Bebić	„Mrzim spore stvari“	39	2	11	13	12
2	Hari Rončević and Kvartet Bravo	„Još uvik“	46	7	1	8	14
3	Ruswaj	„Što će mi ljubav“	40	3	4	7	15
4	Mijo Lešina	„To nisam ja“	51	12	2	14	10
5	Dražen Žanko	„Samo ti“	47	10	7	17	8
6	Franka Batelić	„Pjesma za kraj“	42	4	14	18	7
7	Mario Battifiaca	„Ma gdje bila“	46	7	10	17	9
8	Viva	„Opet“	37	1	6	7	16
9	Ivo Gamulin Gianni	„Daj mi jedan razlog“	54	14	13	27	4
10	Feminnem	„Poljupci u boji“	57	16	12	28	3
11	Denis Dumančić	„Srce moram seliti“	44	5	5	10	13
12	Danijela Pintarić	„Zlatna rijeka“	47	10	3	13	11
13	Čager Zoc and Papak Dance Company	„Ritam da se ritam“	47	10	9	19	6
14	Tomislav Bralić and Klapa Intrade	„Ne damo te pismo naša“	52	13	16	29	2
15	Igor Cukrov	„Lijepa Tena“	55	15	15	30	1
16	Aria	„Istina je“	50	11	8	19	5

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