Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

Nationaal Songfestival 2006 was the national final developed by NOS that selected the Dutch entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. Nine entries competed in the competition that consisted of a final on 12 March 2006 which took place at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam, hosted by Paul de Leeuw.[9] The show was broadcast on Nederland 2 as well as streamed online via the broadcaster's website nos.nl.[10] The national final was watched by 1.26 million viewers in the Netherlands with a market share of 16.2%.[11]

Three artists invited by NOS competed in the national final where the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, each artist performed three candidate Eurovision songs and a nine-member jury selected one song for each act to proceed to the superfinal. In the superfinal, the winner was selected exclusively by public televoting. Each juror awarded a point for their favourite song of each artist in the first round, while viewers were able to vote via telephone and SMS in the superfinal.[12]

The jury panel consisted of:[12]

On 22 November 2005, the three selected competing artists were announced during a press conference that took place in Amsterdam.[13] A submission period was opened on the same day where composers from or with a link to the Netherlands were able to submit their songs for the artists until 16 January 2006.[14] 174 songs were received by the broadcaster at the closing of the deadline: 82 for Maud, 47 for Behave and 45 for Treble.[15] Each of the artists selected three songs for the competition, two of them being self-provided and one of them from the open submissions in consultation with NOS and their record companies.[13][16] The nine songs were announced on 15 February 2006.[17]

The final took place on 12 March 2006. In the first round, each of the three acts performed their three candidate Eurovision songs and the votes of a nine-member expert jury selected one song per artist to proceed to the superfinal. In the superfinal, the winner, "Amambanda" performed by Treble, was selected exclusively by a public televote. Approximately 126,000 votes were cast by the public in the superfinal.[18][19] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the show featured a guest performance by the Greek dance group Evropi.[20]

Treble specifically promoted "Amambanda" as the Dutch Eurovision entry by taking part in a six-week promotional tour where they performed at live events, radio shows and talk shows across Europe between March and May.[21]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to the Netherlands and awarded by the Netherlands in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Armenia in the semi-final and to Turkey in the final of the contest.