Austria participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 with the song "All to You" written by Dave Moskin. The song was performed by the group The Rounder Girls. On 22 February 2000, the Austrian broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) announced that they had internally selected the Rounder Girls to compete at the 2000 contest in Stockholm, Sweden, while "All to You" was presented to the public on 29 February 2000 during the ORF programme Metropol.
Austria competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 13 May 2000. Performing as the closing entry during the show in position 24, Austria placed fourteenth out of the 24 participating countries, scoring 34 points.
Background
Prior to the 2000 contest, Austria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-seven times since its first entry in 1957.[1] The nation has won the contest on one occasion: in 1966 with the song "Merci, Chérie" performed by Udo Jürgens.[2][3] Austria's least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on seven occasions, most recently in 1991.[4] Austria has also received nul points on three occasions; in 1962, 1988 and 1991.[5]
The Austrian national broadcaster, Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), broadcasts the event within Austria and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Since 1995, ORF has held an internal selection to choose the artist and song to represent Austria at the contest, a method which was continued to select the Austrian entry for the 2000 contest.[6]
Before Eurovision
Internal selection
Between December 1999 and January 2000, ORF invited all interested artists to submit their songs to the broadcaster. The broadcaster received 543 submissions at the close of the deadline, which were reviewed by a panel of ORF entertainment editors. 80 entries were longlisted from these submissions before a final shortlist was compiled. The presentation of the Austrian entry was scheduled to take place on 28 February 2000, however ORF announced on 22 February 2000 during their evening news broadcast Zeit im Bild that they had internally selected the group The Rounder Girls to represent Austria in Stockholm following a media leak. The Rounder Girls, which consisted of singers Tini Kainrath, Lynne Kieran and Kim Cooper, was selected by a panel of music and television industry experts, costume designers and choreographers following a live casting round of the shortlisted acts. The Austrian entry for the contest "All to You", written by Dave Moskin who was also behind the 1999 Austrian Eurovision entry "Reflection", was presented on 29 February 2000 during the ORF programme Metropol, hosted by Andi Knoll.[7][8][9]
The decision to select the Rounder Girls, a group that featured two black artists (Kieran and Cooper), as the Austrian representative was viewed as a political statement by ORF as the country's government faced diplomatic sanctions from other EU member states at that time due to the inclusion of the right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) in a coalition government; the group members previously participated in public demonstrations against the formation of the coalition government and the anti-immigration policies of the FPÖ.[10]
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the bottom six countries in the 1999 contest competed in the final on 13 May 2000.[11] On 21 November 1999, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Austria was set to close the show and perform in position 24, following the entry from Ireland.[12][13] Austria finished in fourteenth place with 34 points.[14][15]
The show was broadcast in Austria on ORF 1 with commentary by Andi Knoll and via radio on FM4 with commentary by Stermann and Grissemann.[16][17] The Austrian spokesperson, who announced the Austrian votes during the show, was Dodo Roscic.
Voting
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Austria and awarded by Austria in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to the Germany in the contest.
Austria
