Yesterday in the first two hour show of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, broadcast LIVE from the B&W Hallerne, Copenhagen, 16 countries took part in the First Semi-Final in order to qualify for 10 places available in Saturday's final. The ten winners are Montenegro, Hungary, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, San Marino, Ukraine, Sweden, Netherlands, and Iceland.
The first ten finalists (beside those already known, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom and last year’s winning country Denmark), will take part in the Grand Final of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, which takes place on Saturday the 10h of May. Another ten finalists will be chosen in the Second Semi-Final on 8th of May.
The result was determined by way of a 50/50 split between national expert juries and televoting. The combined scores created the final outcome. In yesterday's Jury Final, the expert juries already determined their votes for the First Semi-Final by watching the live performances. Televoting took place tonight during the live show.
EBU Executive Supervisor, Jon Ola Sand, said the 59th Eurovision Song Contest promises two more excellent shows. "Tonight's semi-final got the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest off to a flying start, with some wonderful performances from the artists and, of course, world-class TV pictures from Danish EBU Member DR. I'm eager to see the story of this year's contest unfold with the second Semi-Final on Thursday and the Grand Final on Saturday."