Croatia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song "Celebrate" written by Boris Đurđević and Marina Mudrinić. The song was performed by Daria. The Croatian broadcaster Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) organised the national final Dora 2011 to select the Croatian entry for the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf, Germany. Twenty-four artists competed in the national final which consisted of seven shows: four heats, a quarter-final, a semi-final and a final. Contestants were selected to advance in the competition based on the votes of a public televote. Two contestants qualified to compete in the final on 5 March 2011 where the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, each finalist performed the three candidate Eurovision songs and one song per finalist advanced to the superfinal following the combination of votes from a three-member judging panel and a public televote. In the superfinal, "Lahor" performed by Daria was selected as the winner based entirely on a public televote. The song was later translated from Croatian to English for the Eurovision Song Contest and was titled "Celebrate".
Croatia was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2011. Performing during the show in position 13, "Celebrate" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Croatia placed fifteenth out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 41 points.
Background
Prior to the 2011 contest, Croatia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eighteen times since its first entry in . The nation's best result in the contest was fourth, which it achieved on two occasions: in 1996 with the song "Sveta ljubav" performed by Maja Blagdan and in 1999 with the song "Marija Magdalena" performed by Doris Dragović. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the , Croatia had thus far featured in five finals. In 2010, Croatia failed to qualify to the final with Feminnem and the song "Lako je sve".
The Croatian national broadcaster, Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT), broadcasts the event within Croatia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. HRT confirmed Croatia's participation in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest on 23 October 2010. Since 1993, HRT organised the national final Dora in order to select the Croatian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, a method that was continued for their 2011 participation.
Before Eurovision
Dora 2011 Dora 2011 was the nineteenth edition of the Croatian national selection Dora which selected Croatia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. Under the slogan Idemo na Eurosong! (Let's go to Eurovision!), the competition consisted of seven shows between 22 January and 5 March 2011 all taking place at the Studio 10 of HRT in Zagreb, hosted by Aleksandar Kostadinov, Leona Paraminski and Monika Lelas and broadcast on HRT 1 as well as online via the broadcaster's official website hrt.hr. The final was also streamed online via the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.
Format Dora 2011 consisted of seven shows: four heats, a quarter-final, a semi-final and a final. In each of the first two heats on 22 and 29 January 2011, twelve contestants performed a song of their choice and seven were eliminated from the competition. An additional seven contestants were eliminated in the third heat on 5 February 2011, while three were eliminated in the fourth heat on 12 February 2011 and the top three proceeded to the quarter-final. Two contestants were eliminated in the quarter-final on 19 February 2011, while one was eliminated in the semi-final on 26 February 2011. The results of the first six shows were determined by public televoting, while in the first five shows, one contestant was saved by a weekly public vote among those eliminated to remain in the competition as a wildcard. The remaining two contestants proceeded to the final on 5 March 2011 where they performed their versions of the three songs bidding for Eurovision and the Croatian entry was selected by votes from the public and a judging panel. Ties in the final were decided in favour of the entry that was awarded the most points from the jury. Public voting included options for telephone and SMS voting.
Competing entries Singers being citizens of the Republic of Croatia were able to attend auditions between 9 December 2010 and 11 December 2010. A six-member expert committee consisting of Željen Klašterka (HRT), Branka Muvrin (HRT), Hrid Matić (HRT), Željimir Babogredac (HDU), Zvonimir Bučević (HDU) and Hrvoje Hegedušić (HDS) reviewed the 150 applicants and selected twenty-four contestants for the competition. HRT announced the contestants on 21 December 2010, while the three candidate Eurovision songs to be performed by the finalists of the competition, written by composers invited by HRT: Ante Pecotić, Boris Đurđević and Lea Dekleva, were announced on 28 February 2011. + Competing songs Song Songwriter(s) "Još ima nas" Lea Dekleva "Lahor" Boris Đurđević, Andrea Čubrić "Stotinama godina" Ante Pecotić, Predrag Martinjak Results summary Colour key – Contestant received the most public votes – Contestant received the fewest public votes and was eliminated – Contestant received the public wildcard Contestant Show 1 Show 2 Show 3 Show 4 Show 5(Quarter-final) Show 6(Semi-final) Show 7(Final) Daria Kinzer Safe Safe Safe 3rd 1st 1st Jacques Houdek Safe Safe Safe 2nd 2nd 2nd Mirko Švenda Safe Safe Safe 1st 3rd Eliminated(Show 6) Katica Marinović Safe Safe Safe 4th Eliminated(Show 5) Ana Eškinja Safe Safe 5th-6th Eliminated(Show 4) Doris Teur Safe Safe 5th-6th Eliminated(Show 4) Dora Benc Safe 7th-12th Eliminated(Show 3) Sabrina Hebiri Safe 7th-12th Eliminated(Show 3) Saša Lozar Safe 7th-12th Eliminated(Show 3) Miro Tomić Safe 7th-12th Eliminated(Show 3) Jelena Vanjek Safe 7th-12th Eliminated(Show 3) Tina Vukov Safe 7th-12th Eliminated(Show 3) Diana Heraković 7th-12th Eliminated(Show 2) Filip Dizdar 7th-12th Eliminated(Show 2) Manuela Svorcan 7th-12th Eliminated(Show 2) Marija Rubčić 7th-12th Eliminated(Show 2) Mijo Lešina 7th-12th Eliminated(Show 2) Renata Holi 7th-12th Eliminated(Show 2) Artemija Stanić 7th-12th Eliminated(Show 1) Damir Kedžo 7th-12th Eliminated(Show 1) Ivana Brkašić 7th-12th Eliminated(Show 1) Mario Sambrailo 7th-12th Eliminated(Show 1) Mila Soldatić 7th-12th Eliminated(Show 1) Valentina Briški 7th-12th Eliminated(Show 1)
Shows
Heats The four heats took place on 22 January, 29 January, 5 February and 12 February 2011. Following the first heat, HRT announced during a press conference that the votes were incorrectly analysed and that Jelena Vanjek had qualified instead of Damir Kedžo. Three guest judges also participated in each heat, which were Gabi Novak, Dino Jelusić and Milana Vlaović for the first heat, Vanna, Luka Nižetić and Sandra Bagarić for the second heat, Tereza Kesovija, Maja Blagdan and Hari Varešanović for the third heat, and Ivana Banfić, Mirjana Bohanec and Tomislav Bralić for the fourth heat. + Heat 122 January 2011 Artist Song Place Result 1 Damir Kedžo "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (Queen) 2 Ivana Brkašić "Iznad oblaka" (Nola) 3 Artemija Stanić "Believe" (Cher) 4 Miro Tomić "Sjećam se provog poljupca" (Film) Safe 5 Mila Soldatić "Wuthering Heights" (Kate Bush) 6 Tina Vukov "S vremena na vrijeme" (Prljavo kazalište) Wildcard 7 Mario Sambrailo "Sway" (Michael Bublé) 8 Sabrina Hebiri "Tempera" (Gibonni) Safe 9 Dora Benc "This Is the Life" (Amy Macdonald) Safe 10 Jelena Vanjek "Gdje Dunav ljubi nebo" (Josipa Lisac) Safe 11 Valentina Briški "Monday Morning" (Melanie Fiona) 12 Jacques Houdek "Molitva" (Parni Valjak) 1 Safe
+ Heat 229 January 2011 Artist Song Televote Place Result 1 Renata Holi "Ja za ljubav neću moliti" (Nina Badrić) 2 Mijo Lešina "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" (Stevie Wonder) 3 Manuela Svorcan "Da smo se voljeli manje" (Jinx) 4 Daria Kinzer "A New Day Has Come" (Celine Dion) Wildcard 5 Doris Teur "Stop" (Natali Dizdar) Safe 6 Diana Heraković "Respect" (Aretha Franklin) 7 Mirko Švenda "Da li znaš da te volim" (Time) 2,969 1 Safe 8 Katica Marinović "I'm Outta Love" (Anastacia) Safe 9 Ana Eškinja "Kao da me nema tu" (Vanna) Safe 10 Marija Rubčić "If I Ain't Got You" (Alicia Keys) 11 Filip Dizdar "Nebo iznad nas" (Tony Cetinski) 12 Saša Lozar "Billie Jean" (Michael Jackson) Safe
+ Heat 35 February 2011 Artist Song Televote Place Result 1 Mirko Švenda "I'm Still Standing" (Elton John) 3,978 1 Safe 2 Doris Teur "Tako lako" (Cacadou Look) Wildcard 3 Saša Lozar "Stars" (Simply Red) 4 Dora Benc "Mjesec" (DeTour) 5 Sabrina Hebiri "Mercy" (Duffy) 6 Miro Tomić "Nitko kao ti" (Songkillers) 7 Jacques Houdek "Right Here Waiting" (Richard Marx) Safe 8 Katica Marinović "Vatra i led" (Colonia) Safe 9 Tina Vukov "Cry Cry" (Oceana) 10 Jelena Vanjek "Valerie" (Amy Winehouse) 11 Ana Eškinja "Alejandro" (Lady Gaga) Safe 12 Daria Kinzer "Ugasi me" (Parni Valjak) Safe
+ Heat 412 February 2011 Artist Song Place Result 1 Katica Marinović "Tvoja ljubav" (The Bastardz) Wildcard 2 Jacques Houdek "Oprosti" (Gibonni) Safe 3 Ana Eškinja "Čarobno jutro" (Nina Badrić) 4 Mirko Švenda "U ljubav vjere nemam" (Oliver Dragojević) 1 Safe 5 Daria Kinzer "Da ti nisam bila dovoljna" (Electro Team) Safe 6 Doris Teur "Danas sam luda" (Josipa Lisac)
Quarter-final The quarter-final took place on 19 February 2011. The three guest judges that participated in the quarter-final were Danijela Martinović, Miran Veljković and . In addition to the performances of the contestants, Danijela Martinović and 2006 Croatian Eurovision entrant Severina performed as the interval acts during the show. + Quarter-final19 February 2011 Artist Song Song Televote Place Result 1 Katica Marinović "Idem tamo gdje je sve po mom" (Jinx) 5 "I'm So Excited" (The Pointer Sisters) 2 Daria Kinzer "If I Could Turn Back Time" (Cher) 6 "Kao rijeka" (Vanna) Wildcard 3 Mirko Švenda "Svi tvoji poljupci" (Boa) 7 "Help!" (Beatles) 6,707 1 Safe 4 Jacques Houdek "Kiss" (Prince) 8 "Nek' ti bude ljubav sva" (Tony Cetinski) 6,504 2 Safe
Semi-final The semi-final took place on 26 February 2011. The three guest judges that participated in the semi-final were Josipa Lisac, Emilija Kokić and Branko Bubica. In addition to the performances of the contestants, the show was opened by Doris Karamatić and 1983 Yugoslav Eurovision entrant Danijel Popović, while 1999 and 2011 Bosnian Eurovision entrant Dino Merlin as well as Emilija Kokić performed as the interval acts. + Semi-final26 February 2011 Artist Song Song Televote Place Result 1 Daria Kinzer "Žena za sva vremena" (Zorica Brunclik) 4 "The Best" (Tina Turner) 11,844 1 Safe 2 Jacques Houdek "Dvije duše" (Gibonni) 5 "You Raise Me Up" (Secret Garden) 8,937 2 Safe 3 Mirko Švenda "You Raise Me Up" (Secret Garden) 6 "Bitanga i princeza" (Bijelo Dugme) 3
Final