Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

Eurolaul 2006 was the thirteenth edition of the Estonian national selection Eurolaul, which selected Estonia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. The competition consisted of a ten-song final on 4 February 2006 at the ETV studios in Tallinn, hosted by Marko Reikop and Gerli Padar and broadcast on ETV.[3] The national final was watched by 268,000 viewers in Estonia.[4]

On 16 October 2005, ETV opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 5 December 2005.[5] 76 submissions were received by the deadline. A 10-member jury panel selected 6 finalists from the submissions, while an additional 4 finalists were selected by ETV via composers directly invited for the competition: Alar Kotkas, Ivar Must, Mikk Targo and Priit Pajusaar.[6] The selected songs were announced on 13 January 2006 and among the competing artists was previous Eurovision Song Contest entrant Ines, who represented Estonia in 2000. Glow, Noorkuu and Sofia Rubina have all competed in previous editions of Eurolaul.[7] The selection jury consisted of Jaak Joala (musician), Priit Hõbemägi (culture critic), Jaan Elgula (musician), Olavi Pihlamägi (journalist), Maarja-Liis Ilus (singer), Maido Maadik (Eesti Raadio sound engineer), Jaan Karp (musician), Heidy Purga (television presenter), Olav Osolin (music critic) and Jaagup Kreem (musician).

The final took place on 4 February 2006. Ten songs competed during the show and a jury selected "Through My Window" performed by Sandra Oxenryd as the winner.[8] A non-competitive public televote which registered 24,756 votes was also held and selected "Mr Right" performed by Meribel as the winner.[9] The jury panel that voted in the final consisted of Maja Tatić (Bosnian singer), Mariija Naumova (Latvian singer), Jürgen Meier-Beer (German television producer), Sietse Bakker (Dutch journalist), Jari Sillanpää (Finnish singer), John Groves (British music producer), Sandra Studer (Swiss singer and television presenter), Urša Vlašic (Slovenian lyricist), Bo Halldórsson (Icelandic singer) and Kobi Oshrat (Israeli conductor).[10]

Detailed International Jury Votes

Draw	Song	BIH	LVA	DEU	NLD	FIN	GBR	CHE	SVN	ISL	ISR	Total
1	"It Was You"	2	2	7	7	6	7	6	8	8	3	56
2	"Open Up Your Heart"	3	4	4	5	7	8	8	3	4	5	51
3	"Everytime I Tell You"	5	3	6	3	3	4	2	2	1	1	30
4	"Iseendale"	4	8	10	12	5	12	12	7	12	2	84
5	"Sweet Separation"	10	1	3	2	1	2	1	4	3	6	33
6	"Through My Window"	8	7	5	6	10	10	10	12	10	12	90
7	"Higher"	7	12	2	10	8	6	3	10	5	10	73
8	"Be 1st"	1	10	1	4	4	5	5	1	2	8	41
9	"Friends Will Be Friends"	6	5	8	8	2	3	7	6	6	4	55
10	"Mr Right"	12	6	12	1	12	1	4	5	7	7	67

Sandra Oxenryd during a rehearsal before the semi-final

Sandra Oxenryd took part in technical rehearsals on 12 and 14 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 17 and 18 May. The Estonian performance featured Sandra Oxenryd performing on stage in a blue dress and white thigh boots with the stage displaying pink, yellow, purple and red colours. Sandra Oxenryd was joined by five backing vocalists, three of them which later joined Oxenryd from the raised parts of the stage that they stood on: Carita Nyström, Emma Andersson, Jacob Gyldenskog, Dagmar Oja and Jelena Juzvik.[13][14][15]

At the end of the show, Estonia was not announced among the top 10 entries in the semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Estonia placed 18th in the semi-final, receiving a total of 28 points.[16]

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