Finland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "Why?", composed by , with lyrics by Steven Stewart, and performed by Geir Rönning. The Finnish participating broadcaster, (Yle), organised the national final to select its entry for the contest. 24 entries were selected to compete in the national final, which consisted of four semi-finals and a final, taking place in January and February 2005. Six entries competed in each semi-final and the top three from each semi-final, as selected solely by a public vote, advanced to the final. Twelve entries competed in the final on 19 February where votes from six regional juries first selected the top six to advance to a second round. In the second round, votes from the public selected "Why?" performed by Geir Rönning as the winner with 30,648 votes.

Finland competed in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 19 May 2005. Performing during the show in position 16, "Why?" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Finland placed eighteenth out of the 25 participating countries in the semi-final with 50 points.

Background

Prior to the 2005 contest, (Yle) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Finland thirty-eight times since its first entry in 1961. Its best result in the contest achieved in where the song "Tom Tom Tom" performed by Marion Rung placed sixth.

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, Yle organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster confirmed its intentions to participate at the 2005 contest on 22 June 2004. Yle has been selected its entries through national final competitions that have varied in format over the years. Since 1961, a selection show that was often titled highlighted that the purpose of the program was to select a song for Eurovision. Along with its participation confirmation, the broadcaster announced that it would select its entry for the 2005 contest through the selection show.

Before Eurovision

was the national final organised by Yle to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005. The competition consisted of five shows that commenced with the first of four semi-finals on 14 January 2005 and concluded with a final on 19 February 2005. All shows were broadcast on Yle TV2 and via radio on Yle Radio Suomi and Yle Radio Vega. The final was also broadcast via radio on Yle Radio Suomi. Format The format of the competition consisted of five shows: four semi-finals and a final. Six songs competed in each semi-final and the top three entries from each semi-final qualified to complete the twelve-song lineup in the final. The results for the semi-finals were determined exclusively by a public vote, while the results in the final were determined by public voting and jury voting. Public voting included the options of telephone and SMS.

Competing entries A submission period was opened by Yle which lasted between 22 June 2004 and 1 October 2004. Both the writers and singer(s) had to hold Finnish citizenship or live in Finland permanently in order for the entry to qualify to compete. Song performed in Finnish or Swedish were preferred. A panel of twelve experts appointed by Yle selected sixteen entries for the competition from a record number of 503 received submissions, while an additional eight entries came from composers directly invited by Yle: , Samuli Laiho, , , , Sipe Santapukki, Mikko Tamminen and Arttu Peljo, and . The experts were (Head of Entertainment at Yle), Kjell Ekholm (Director of Entertainment at Yle FST), (Director of Popular Music at Yle Radio Suomi), Mikko Harjunpää (music director of Radio Nova), (music director of Yle Radio Suomi), (record producer), (record producer), Pirkko Kotirinta (editor at Helsingin Sanomat), Pia Ljungman (producer at YLEXQ), (Eurovision expert), Rainer Savander (music director of Sävelradio) and Laura Voutilainen (singer). The competing entries were presented on 1 November 2004.

Prior to the competition, "I Can't Believe It", written by and Ola Larsson, was disqualified due to the song having been released on a compilation album in Sweden and replaced with the song "Kihlaus" performed by . The song "" performed by Geir Rönning and Nina Tapio was translated from Swedish to English and titled "My One and Only Love", while "" performed by was translated from Finnish to English and titled "Yeah, Yeah". Artist Song Songwriter(s) A and N "Miss One-Night Good-Time" Nalle Ahlstedt, Michael Ringström Nielsen Anna Stenlund "One More Chance" Sipe Santapukki "Everything But Still Nothing" , Mats Persson D'Voices "This Is the Song" , Jari Salonen "An Actress" Samuli Laiho Firevision "The Stars Are on Our Side" Mikko Tamminen, Arttu Peljo Gary Revel Jr. "You're a Star" , Steven Stewart Geir Rönning "Why?" Mika Toivanen, Steven Stewart Geir Rönning and Nina Tapio "My One and Only Love" Niklas Rosström, Geir Rönning "Forever and a Day" Hanna-Riikka Siitonen "Yeah, Yeah" , Kevin Walker, Mark Odom, Lotta Svartsjö Jennie "Kiss Me" Jens Smedman, Janne Hyöty Karoliina Kallio "I Need Somebody (Like You)" , Erik Nyholm, Johan Westmar "Deck of Cards" Harri Kentala, Janne Hyöty "My Life, My Love" Linda "Your Lasting One" Janne Hyöty, Jerry Lindqvist Momocat "Europa Europa" Maki Kolehmainen, , Mohammed Quiat "Melody" Petri Munck Place-2-Go "Kissed by a Fool" Jens Smedman, Patrick Linman "Just One Kiss" Fanny Bjurström, Janne Hyöty, Mats Tärnfors Teddy vs. MC Chriss "Unconditional Love" , Theodora Holm, Tommi Läntinen "Mitä vaan" Toni Nygård, Tommi Läntinen, Urban Community "Whole Wide World" , , Cheka Kalupala, Sengi Lukangu "Kihlaus" Petri Savolainen, Mirka Sirkkanen

Shows

Semi-finals The four semi-final shows took place on 14 January, 21 January, 4 February and 11 February 2005, hosted by Finnish presenters Jaana Pelkonen and Heikki Paasonen. The semi-finals took place in different cities across Finland: the Sibelius Hall in Lahti for the first semi-final, the Paviljonki in Jyväskylä for the second semi-final, Hall 994 of the Holiday Club Caribia in Turku for the third semi-final and the Kulttuurikeskus in Imatra for the fourth semi-final. The top three from the six competing entries in each semi-final qualified to the final based on the results from the public vote, which were revealed by Finland's five telephone regions along with the SMS voting results. In addition to the competing entries, Boney M, Frederik and Laura (who represented ) performed as the interval acts in all four semi-finals.

+ Semi-final 1 – 14 January 2005ArtistSongTelevoting Regions rowspan="2" TotalPlace 1 I'Dees "Yeah, Yeah"17%22%18%19%19%21% 19% 2 2 Hanna-Riikka Siitonen "Forever and a Day"9%22%14%10%15%16% 14% 4 3 Place-2-Go "Kissed by a Fool"2%6%19%32%8%9% 14% 5 4 A and N "Miss One-Night Good-Time"56%20%23%20%21%22% 24% 1 5 Petri Munck "Melody"5%12%10%9%15%13% 12% 6 6 Urban Community "Whole Wide World"11%19%16%11%22%18% 17% 3 + Semi-final 2 – 21 January 2005ArtistSongTelevoting Regions rowspan="2" TotalPlace 1 Christian Forss "Everything But Still Nothing"7%17%14%45%22%26% 26% 1 2 Geir Rönning and Nina Tapio "My One and Only Love"5%14%14%11%30%19% 18% 4 3 Sanna Majuri "Just One Kiss"3%18%5%2%5%4% 4% 6 4 Kimmo Kouri "My Life, My Love"76%21%27%10%17%23% 22% 2 5 Anna Stenlund "One More Chance"3%12%29%25%9%13% 18% 3 6 Momocat "Europa Europa"7%17%11%7%15%15% 12% 5 + Semi-final 3 – 4 February 2005ArtistSongTelevoting Regions rowspan="2" TotalPlace 1 Linda "Your Lasting One"1%5%9%10%5%5% 7% 6 2 Tommi Läntinen "Mitä vaan"24%10%10%8%13%15% 12% 5 3 Jennie "Kiss Me"13%17%40%45%20%20% 29% 1 4 Teddy vs. MC Chriss "Unconditional Love"25%29%16%17%26%23% 21% 2 5 Elena Mady "An Actress"18%21%14%13%19%20% 17% 3 6 Gary Revel Jr. "You're a Star"18%18%11%8%18%17% 14% 4 + Semi-final 4 – 11 February 2005ArtistSongTelevoting Regions rowspan="2" TotalPlace 1 Wäinötär "Kihlaus"24%25%17%9%14%14% 14% 4 2 Geir Rönning "Why?"30%21%39%35%36%30% 34% 1 3 Kentala "Deck of Cards"17%13%14%16%15%17% 16% 3 4 Karoliina Kallio "I Need Somebody (Like You)"8%17%9%7%19%10% 12% 5 5 D'Voices "This Is the Song"9%14%5%11%6%6% 7% 6 6 Firevision "The Stars Are on Our Side"12%9%17%23%10%22% 17% 2

Final The final took place on 19 February 2005 at the Tampere Hall in Tampere, hosted by Finnish presenters Jaana Pelkonen, Heikki Paasonen and Antero Mertaranta. The twelve entries that qualified from the preceding four semi-finals competed and the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the top six from the twelve competing entries qualified to the second round based on the votes of six regional juries. Each jury group distributed their points as follows: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 points. In the second round, "Why?" performed by Geir Rönning was selected as the winner based on the results from the public vote, which were revealed by Finland's five telephone regions along with the SMS voting results. A total of 122,008 votes were cast in the superfinal: 67,257 through telephone and 54,751 through SMS. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the show was opened by Laura (who represented Finland in 2002) performing "Imagine", and the interval act featured Frederik performing a medley of "Sheikki Ali Hassan", "Jos jotain yrittää (Harva meistä on rautaa)" and "Titanic", and Jari Sillanpää (who represented ) performing "Takes 2 to Tango". + First Round – 19 February 2005ArtistSongRegional JuriesTotalPlace 1 Christian Forss "Everything But Still Nothing"616 13 6 2 I'Dees "Yeah, Yeah"81144 18 5 3 Geir Rönning "Why?"1828 19 4 4 A and N "Miss One-Night Good-Time"444 12 7 5 Firevision "The Stars Are on Our Side" 0 11 6 Anna Stenlund "One More Chance" 1 1 10 7 Kentala "Deck of Cards"10106102 38 1 8 Elena Mady "An Actress"221021010 36 2 9 Teddy vs. MC Chriss "Unconditional Love" 46 10 8 10 Jennie "Kiss Me"68682 30 3 11 Kimmo Kouri "My Life, My Love" 0 11 12 Urban Community "Whole Wide World" 18 9 9 + Second Round – 19 February 2005ArtistSongTelevoting RegionsSMS TotalPlace 1 Kentala "Deck of Cards" 6002543,0692,5574,77811,145 22,403 2 2 Elena Mady "An Actress" 5503312,8811,7884,16610,491 20,207 4 3 Jennie "Kiss Me" 2972064,9615,1693,5718,072 22,276 3 4 Geir Rönning "Why?"8743514,8473,6927,61913,265 30,648 1 5 I'Dees "Yeah, Yeah" 4481411,6291,2872,2575,979 11,741 6 6 Christian Forss "Everything But Still Nothing" 2921421,9293,5673,0045,799 14,733 5 + Jury Members OuluMarjo Harju Tiina-Leena Kurki Sanna Pirttisalo Maria Perätalo Taina Ronkainen Kati Leinonen Joni Pekkala Ilpo Sulkala Jarkko Halunen Aki Karjalainen VaasaMinna Matintupa Hanne Leiwo Ilpo Karinen

Sam Jansson Tarja Ylimäki Jyrki Rastas Leena Kråknäs Sanna Känsäkangas Erkki AhonenKuopioPetri Julkunen Laura Kaijanen

Sami Vainio Eeva Hynynen Miika Havo Sari Kauhanen Jenny Metsälä Nikke Toivanen Marko Vettenranta LappeenrantaPetri Kivimäki Tarja Nyyssönen

Tuula Peräkasari Raimo Raimesalo Lotta Koponen Susanna Kauppi Timo Lehtonen Jenni Kinnunen Juha Miettinen TurkuJouni Koutonen Timo Selänne Eeva Pekanheimo Kari Toivonen Oili Vainio Anssi Kemppi Marja-Leena Virta Juha Leppäsalo Jorma Lappalainen Maria Puhakka Helsinki Jari Mäkäräinen Suvi Vesalainen Elukka Eskelinen Outi Alander Sanna Monto Tero Luhtala Laura Viljanen Tuija Friman Petri Anttonen Jari Flinkman At Eurovision