Romania in EMF

This page is all about Romania's participation in the 'European Music Festival'. Romania joined the contest on the 3rd edition, and in total has participated in three editions since. Their best result has been 4th with 79 Points, and their worst result has been 16th with 37 Points. Their current national broadcaster is TVRi.

Selection Proccess
The Romanian Broadcaster TVRHD (Televiziunea Română) first participated in the August edition of the contest, after watching the first 2 editions. They have used an internal selection process twice - August (Nicole Cherry) and December (Antonia / Jay Sean) However, the December participation was entered by Romanian Channel TVRi. During the September selection, they launched their Selectia Nationala via the online platform [www.romaniaemf.wordpress.com] of which 4-6 songs are chosen to participate and battle it out in a public vote. The public vote carries a weight of 50% while the other 50% is made up by the professional Romanian jury/delegation members. After a success in September, TVR planned to bring it back for the October edition - which eventually got axed after they later withdrew from the contest.

European Music Festival June/July 2014
In the first two editions of the European Music Festival, Romania did not participate. TVRHD Watched the contest closely to see how it ran and to gather interest. They made their eventual debut at EMF in August.

European Music Festival August 2014
In the third edition of EMF, Romania debuted via broadcaster TVR HD. They chose to enter with an internally selected artist and song. This choice was the young star Nicole Cherry and her new song 'Vara mea' which translates into the English language as 'My Summer'. It was seen as a good choice by the Romanian delegation as it was a Summer contest and seemed to fit the fun vibe they were ai ming for. Unfortunately for TVR HD, Nicole finished just 16th out of 22 in Zurich with a disappointing score of 37 points.

European Music Festival September 2014
Romania (TVR HD) confirmed that they planned to participate in the contest on August 07 through a new national selection process which began the same day. After a slightly disappointing result from their debut they decided to use a new process called Selectia Nationala in hope of a more promising edition. Six songs were entered, 3 in Romanian language, 3 in English. After a successful national selection the winning song was announced to be 'Till the End of Time' sang by the band ONE and written by popular Romanian artists, Play & Win. They won the selection with 70 points - just 6 points ahead of the 2nd place song. It placed 3rd overall with the jury but was the favorite song of the voters and therefore achieved the winning ticket to Andorra.

ONE placed 4th in the contest with a score of 79 points in Andorra, receiving points from 11 countries. This proved a huge success for the Romanian delegation.

European Music Festival October 2014
After originally planning to participate for the third time, by confirming their preliminary application on September 29th along with the launch of Selecita Nationala #2, TVR HD was forced to pull out before the contest started. They stated financial issues and lack of interest shown in viewing figures among the reasons why. Antonia won the national selection by a landslide with her song 'Marionette' it was unfortunate that in the end, she could not go to Stockholm.

European Music Festival November 2014
Romania and TVR HD were invited back to the contest in November, after they withdrew late in the October season. They stated that they would not participate, and turned down the offer of participation for the same reasons. It was also stated at the time that European Music Festival officials had to review their rules for TVR to even think about returning to the contest. They suggested rules on capping past Eurovision and National Selection contestants, to make a fair contest of which every song is new to every participant. The delegation also believed that it would give further diversity to the contest. At this time, TVR HD stepped down as the official broadcaster for Romania's European Music Festival participation - opening the doorway for another.

European Music Festival December 2014
Romania was invited back to the contest by EMF officials, under a new broadcaster. TVRi (International) took the reigns of the contest after two absent editions. The delegation confirmed their participation on 20th November 2014. Although the plan of national selections worked out well for TVRHD in September and October, it was considered again by the new team. After much deliberation they decided on an internal selection, due to this being the first 'trial' edition for them. They stated at the time that they hoped to resume full effort with national selections once more in the new year 2015 given that this edition goes well.

The artist chosen was Antonia. After winning the October national selection and not getting the chance to take part, the Romanian delegation thought it was only right that she finally got her chance. She will be accompanied on stage by a well known American singer, named Jay Sean. The song they will sing together as a duet is called 'Wild Horses'. TVRi hope that this will appeal to both fans of American and European music, it is a beautiful soft ballad that revolves around the theme of love. The results from Romania's first ever participation under TVRi are thought to be announced around 8th December 2014.

European Music Festival January 2015
TVRi confirmed their plans to participate in the new year on 22 November 2014. They plan to make a new national selection named SuperSerbare! (Super Celebration) to choose their entries from now on. More details to come soon, and the first edition to start in Mid-December, ready for the January contest.

Romania's Overall Results
Here are Romania's results throughout the editions in EMF.