Eurovision Song Contest 2012
Country	Norway
National selection
Selection process	Melodi Grand Prix 2012
Selection date(s)	Semi-finals: 21 January 2012 28 January 2012 4 February 2012 Final: 11 February 2012
Selected entrant	Tooji
Selected song	"Stay"
Selected songwriter(s)	Tooji Peter Boström Figge Boström
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Qualified (10th, 45 points)
Final result	26th, 7 points
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2011 • 2012 • 2013►

Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song "Stay" written by Tooji, Peter Boström and Figge Boström. The song was performed by Tooji. The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2012 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2012 contest in Baku, Azerbaijan. 24 entries competed in the national final that consisted of three semi-finals and a final. Ten entries ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 11 February 2012 where the winner was determined over two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, a public televote exclusively selected the top four entries to advance to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of voting, "Stay" performed by Tooji was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from three regional jury groups and a public vote.

Norway was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 24 May 2012. Performing during the show in position 16, "Stay" was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 26 May. It was later revealed that Norway placed tenth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 45 points. In the final, Norway performed in position 12 and placed twenty-sixth (last) out of the 26 participating countries with 7 points.

Background

Prior to the 2012 contest, Norway had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 50 times since its first entry in 1960. Norway had won the contest on two occasions: in 1985 with the song "La det swinge" performed by Bobbysocks! and in 1995 with the song "Nocturne" performed by Secret Garden.^[1] Norway also had the two dubious distinctions of having finished last in the Eurovision final more than any other country and for having the most "nul points" (zero points) in the contest, the latter being a record the nation shared together with Austria. The country had finished last eleven times and had failed to score a point during four contests. Following the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Norway has, to this point, finished in the top 10 three times: Wig Wam finished ninth with the song "In My Dreams" in 2005, Maria Haukaas Storeng was fifth in 2008 with "Hold On Be Strong", and Alexander Rybak won in 2009.

The Norwegian national broadcaster, Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK), broadcasts the event within Norway and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. NRK confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest on 30 June 2011.^[2][3] The broadcaster has traditionally organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix, which has selected the Norwegian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in all but one of their participation. Along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster revealed details regarding their selection procedure and announced the organization of Melodi Grand Prix 2012 in order to select the 2012 Norwegian entry.^[2][3]

Before Eurovision

Melodi Grand Prix 2012

Melodi Grand Prix 2012 was the 50th edition of the Norwegian national final Melodi Grand Prix and selected Norway's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. 24 songs were selected to compete in a four-week-long process that commenced on 21 January 2012 and concluded with the final on 11 February 2012. All shows were hosted by Per Sundnes and Marte Stokstad and televised on NRK1 as well as streamed online at NRK's official website nrk.no.^[4] The final was also broadcast online at the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.^[5]

Format

The competition consisted of four shows: three semi-finals on 21 January 2012, 28 January 2012 and 4 February 2012 and a final on 11 February 2012.^[6] Eight songs competed in each semi-final and the top three entries qualified to the final. The results of the semi-finals were determined exclusively by public televoting, while a jury also awarded one of the eliminated acts a wildcard to proceed to the final. The results in the final were determined by jury voting and public televoting. Viewers could cast their votes through telephone and SMS voting.^[7]

Competing entries

A submission period was opened by NRK between 30 June 2011 and 2 September 2011. Songwriters of any nationality were allowed to submit entries, while performers of the selected songs would be chosen by NRK in consultation with the songwriters. In addition to the public call for submissions, NRK reserved the right to directly invite certain artists and composers to compete.^[2][3] At the close of the deadline, over 800 submissions were received.^[8] 24 songs were selected for the competition by an eight-member jury panel consisting of representatives of NRK, record labels and production companies.^[9] The competing acts were revealed between 27 October 2011 and 16 December 2011, while their songs were revealed on 20 December 2011.^[10][11][12] Among the artists was past Norwegian Eurovision entrant Benedicte Adrian (member of the group United) who represented the country in 1984 as part of the duo Dollie de Luxe, and Malin Reitan who represented Norway at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2005.^[13][14]

Shows

Semi-finals

Eight songs competed in each of the three semi-finals that took place on 21 January, 28 January and 4 February 2012. The first semi-final took place at the Hangar E of the Ørland Hovedflystasjon in Ørland, the second semi-final took place at the Arena Larvik in Larvik, and the third semi-final took place at the Florø Idrettssenter in Florø. The top three advanced to the final from each semi-final, and "Sailors" performed by Lise Karlsnes was announced on 31 January 2011 to have received the jury wildcard to also proceed to the final.^[15][16]

Final

Ten songs that qualified from the preceding three semi-finals competed during the final at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo on 11 February 2012. The winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the top four entries were selected by public televoting to proceed to the second round, the Gold Final. In the Gold Final, three regional juries from the three semi-final host cities each distributed points as follows: 2,000, 4,000, 6,000 and 8,000 points. The results of the public televote were then revealed by Norway's five regions and added to the jury scores, leading to the victory of "Stay" performed by Tooji with 155,480 votes.^[17] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval acts featured the ten artists performing the 1960 Norwegian Eurovision entry "Voi Voi" together, and Norwegian Eurovision 2009 winner Alexander Rybak performing a medley of past Eurovision entries, including his entry "Fairytale".^[18]