Norway

Norway
Member station	NRK
Current selection	Internal Selection (SF27, SF36-37)
Former selection	Norge Sin Sangutvalget (SF28-29) Gjor Ditt Sinn Opp (SF30-35)
Appearances
First appearance	Song Festival 1
Best result	1st: SF12
Worst result	DSQ: SF8

Norway in Song Festival

Norway has participated in Song Festival 36 times since making its debut in Song Festival 1 and has only been absent twice since then. In SF9, the country declined the invitation to participate in the contest, and in SF11, they had a break from the contest. Norway has won the contest once, with Alida and 'Feathers'.

Throughout their time in the contest, Norway has enjoyed success and edured failures in equal measures. Under the current Head of Delegation, Jonathan, the Nordic nation has entered the competition nine times, sending entries which have recieved mostly success at the contest.

In it's history of participation, Norway has had nine entries which have reached the top ten; Monika May (SF6) came thrid with 'Ghost',  Gabrielle (SF10) came seventh with 'Reign Fra Bla Himmel',  Alida placed first in the twelvth contest with her song 'Feathers' which scored 336 points, making it the Scandinavian nation's highest scoring entry to date. Staut finished tenth in SF13 with 'Stugureit', Alida came back to the contest in Song Festival 16 where she sang 'Some Of Us' and finished sixth with 207 points. The last contestant that Norway sent who finished within the top ten was Eurovision Song Contest 2009 winner Alexander Rybak who sang his upbeat song 'Into A Fantasy'. The song finished second, giving Norway it's overall second best placing to date.The eighth entry to reach the top ten came in SF35 when AURORA took the Nordic nation to a resounding third place with her pop-synth ballad 'Running Witth The Wolves'. The Nordic nation was again brought to the top ten in Song Festival 38 when Mørland sang 'Skin' and received a solid 100 points from 32 voting juries and received a sixth place.

Norway has also sent fifteen entries which have not made the final, for various reasons. Some of these entries have been shock non-qualifiers including; Susanne Sundfor (SF29), Broiler ft. Anna Bergendahl (SF25) and Morgan Sulele (SF30) who represented his homeland with his number-one single 'Bare Min'. Before the contest, it had been favoured by many as being a certain qualifier however, the up-tempo pop song failed to make qualifying status and finished 6th in Heat 2 (one place behind the last qualifier Finland).

The entry for SF39 was released in early July. The internally selected Ina Wroldsen ft. Broiler will sing 'Lay It On Me' and Norway has the hope that they will again reach the final and the top five.

National Selections

Under the current delegation, there has been a number of selection methods used to determine the participant for Norway in SF. The first entry 'Next To You', sang by Jenny Langlo was chosen by internal selection. For the next two editions of Song Festival (SF28 and SF29) the representative was chsoen via the televised National Final Norge Sin Sangutvalget. This process selected Erelend Bratland and 'Thunderstruck' (12th place finish with 97 points) and Susanne Sundfor and 'Delirious' (10th in Heat 3 with 45 points). Due to the failure of Susanne to reach the Grand Final and the special edition-nature of the Song Contest 30, it was decided by the Head of Delegation that the Norwegian National Selection process needed to have a revamp. It was revealed that the Norwegian delegation would host a national final entitled Gjor Ditt Sinn Opp for SF30. Gjor Ditt Sinn Opp has had four series, selecting four entries for Norway; Morgan Sulele with 'Bare Min' and Morland with 'No Firewall'. Morland was the first Norwegian representative in two editions of the contest to make the Grand Final for Norway, where he placed 15th with 81 points. Next came Sval with 'To År Tilbake', who continued Norway's success in the contest doing better than her predecessor Morland and coming eleventh in the final with 95 points. The fourth act to be selected via Gjor Ditt Sinn Opp IV was a returnee to the contest, Jenny Langlo, with returned with her song 'Paper Love'. Sadly, she did not improve on her first-time placing of 15th, eventually placing 17th with 81 points. Gjor Ditt Sinn Opp changed its format for the fourth edition, which saw Jenny Langlo return to the contest as it was revealed that there were not enough competing nations who voted in the international televote and therefore the votes that were cast were taken as a direct influence over the broadcaster and HoD's decision on who to sing for Norway. Eva and The Heartmaker went on to represent Norway when they won the fifth edition of the GDSO. They ultimately failed to reach the final and did not improve on their previous placing in the contest. The selection process evolved again for the sixth edition, with the introduction of regional juries and the pre-qualifying round where ten artists were shortened to five which would go on to compete for the crown. AURORA won the contest despite placing second with the Juries and placing second in the pre-qualifying round. She would go on to recieve the best Norwegian result since Alexander Rybak in SF23.

Gjor Ditt Sinn Opp VI will be making a comeback in future contests, after NRK sent the song 'Wolf' internally to Song Fest 36 and also internally selected their artist for SF37 which was revealed to be Astrid S who sang the song 'Hurts So Good'. The decision, after the success of successive internally selected entries, over the last editions of the contest, of consistently qualifying for the final and receiving a good points base was met with good review. The Nordic broadcaster have decided that it is wise for them to continue this approach to their selection process for the forecoming two episodes of the contests. These two acts will be performed by Ina Wroldsen and Broiler and MIIA who will sing the songs 'Lay It On Me' and 'Dynasty'. Norway has high hopes for both.

Entries into Song Festival

Edition	Artist	Song	Final	Points	Semi	Points
1	Alexandra Joner ft. Madcon	Sunrise	13	29	03	68
2	Tone Damli ft. Eric Saade	Imagine	14	48	03	96
3	Mayk	En Bit Av Meg	17	45	03	126
4	Karpe Diem	Toyota'n Til Magdi	Failed to qualify		06	64
5	Alexandra Joner	Come Inside Me	Failed to qualify		04	108
6	Monika May	Ghost	03	319	01	170
7	Eva & the Heartmaker	Traces of You	12	143	03	58
8	Datarock	The Underground	Disqualified
10	Gabrielle	Regn Fra Bla Himmel	07	184	01	86
12	Alida	Feathers	01	336	01	36
13	Staut	Stugureint	10	114	Host	Nation
14	Sigrid Raabe	Sun	17	107	10	114
15	Ylvis	The Fox	Failed to qualify		11	142
16	Alida	Some of Us	06	207	03	36
17	Carina Dahl	If that's the only way	14	140	05	55
18	Julie Bergan	Younger	Failed to qualify		05	56
19	Linnea Dela	High Hopes	Failed to qualify		06	29
20	Katastrofe	Maria	06	234	04	44
21	Anders Nilson	Salsa Tequila	Failed to qualify		08	10
22	Gabrielle	5 Fine Frøkner	Failed to qualify		04	44
23	Alexander Rybak	Into A Fantasy	02	320	01	86
24	Stella Mwangi	Bouncer Ræva	Failed to qualify		05	50
25	Broiler Feat. Anna Bergendahl	For You	Failed to qualify		07	48
26	Ina Wroldsen	Aliens (Her Er Jeg)	Failed to qualify		10	38
27	Jenny Langlo	Next to You	15	82	05	51
28	Erland Bratland	Thunderstruck	12	97	04	69
29	Sussane Sundfor	Delirious	Failed to qualify		10	45
30	Morgan Sulele	Bare Min	Failed to qualify		06	38
31	Mørland	No Firewall	15	81	02	64
32	Sval	To År Tilbake	11	95	03	60
33	Jenny Langlo	Paper Love	17	81	09	69
34	Eva & The Heartmaker	Give In	Failed to qualify		09	56
35	Aurora	Running With The Wolves	03	145	01	119
36	Tunevaag and Raaban	Wolf	20	30	Automatic	Qualifier
37	Astrid S	Hurt So Good	19	66	09	65
38	Mørland	Skin	06	100	07	63
39	Ina Wroldsen ft. Broiler	Lay It On Me	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA
40	Served	Psycho	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA

Voting History

Norway has only missed two editions of the contest and therefore seen the various changes that the contest has gone through. Under the current Head of Delegation, Norway has amassed a total point score from their appearances in each respective Grand Final of 611 points. When added to the 571 points that Norway have scored in each respective Semi Final (27-36), the Nordic nation has scored an impressive 1,182 points. This gives an average score of 118.2 points for each entry sent between Song Festival 27 and 36, in terms of both Semi Finals and Grand Finals. 

The current voting system has only been in use since SF26, the data below is exclusive to post-SF25 and contains data from SF26, SF27, SF28, SF29, SF30, Sf31, Sf32, SF33, SF34 and SF35.

Most points given in the heats and finals (since 26)
Rank	Country	Points
1	England	60
2	Ukraine	57
3	Sweden	56
4	Italy	53
5	Poland	46

Most points given in the heats only (since 26)
Rank	Country	Points
1	Germany	32
2	Ukraine	30
3	New Zealand	28
4	Poland	26
5	Finland	24

Most points given in the final only (since 26)
Rank	Country	Points
1	England	42
2	Sweden	32
3	Switzerland	30
4	Italy	29
5	Ukraine	27

Most points received in the heats and finals (since 26)
Rank	Country	Points
1	New Zealand	81
2	Scotland	61
3	Albania	52
4	Germany	48
5	Ukraine	43

Most points received in the heats only (since 26)
Rank	Country	Points
1	New Zealand	47
2	Germany	42
3	Scotland	38
4	Albania	30
5	Japan	25

Most points given in the final only (since 26)
Rank	Country	Points
1	New Zealand	34
2	Luxembourg	30
3	England	29
4	Denmark	28
5	Finland	23

Norway in Second Chance

During Song Contest 26, plans were made for a contest to run concurrently to the Song Festival, but this new contest would be a platfrom for which artists who did not win their National Finals to still represent their country in a contest designed specifically for those artists who did not win the ticket to represent their nation at the actual contest.  The inaugural contest began running alongside the main contest in the 27th edition however, Norway were not eligable to participate because they had pre-selected, internally, their entry for SF27 as Jenny Langlo and therefore had not held a national final.

Their first participation came in the second edition of the Second Chance. They have entered the contest every edition since. They had announced that they were withdrawing for the third contest however, they did officially confirm their participation into the contest, held in Amsterdam, Netherlands where they would go on to win the whole contest.

Since their inaugural entry into the contest, in the Second edition of the contest, they have gone on to be the most successful nation in the history of the contest. They have never placed outside of the top two (as of SFSC5) and have won the contest twice. Their first victory was brought to them by Froder and 'Over The Sea' who won with the joint largest point score the contest has ever seen winning with 125 points (joint with Australia in SFSC5). Their second victory came with Tooji who sang the song 'Father' in Bergen. He won with 93 points, beating second placed The Netherlands by only six points.

They have also placed second twice, in their first participation in the contest, where Karin Park was selected to represent the nation in host nation Sweden. Karin was beaten into second place by eventual winners Australia. Karin recieved 105 points from seventeen voting nations. Australia won with a margin of only eleven points. And in the fitth edition of the contest, where Alexander Rybak placed second with 96 points. They again lost out to Australia, who won with 125 points.

Norway has recieved a total of eight twelve points over the course of the three contests they've entered. One from edtition two of the contest (from Denmark), two sets of twelve in edition three (from Hungary and Iceland), a further two sets in the forth contest (from the Netherlands and Israel). The last three came in the fifth contest (recieved from Belgium, Luxembourg and Ukraine). Overall, Norway has a collective points total (from all 4 participations) of 419 points.

Their most recent participant was Alexander Rybak with 'KOTIK'. The song is an up-tempo number which is sang in Russian, in an ode to his country of birth- Belarus! He finished second, continuing the success of Norway in the contest

Norway had also confirmed that it would take part in the sixth edition of the contest, which is returning after a two contest break. The contest will be staged in the Czech Republic. Upon officially that Snadra Lyng and 'Night After Night' would be the Norwegian representative in SFSC6, the Head of Delegation was quoted saying 'As it stands, Norway is the most successful nation in the SFSC contest, it would be foolish of us to think we would not try our luck at a much desired third win'.

Entries into Song Festival Second Chance 

Edition	Artist	Song	Points	Placing
2, Karlskrona	Karin Park	Human Beings	105	2nd
3, Amsterdam	Froder	Over The Sea	125	1st
4, Bergen	Tooji	Father	93	1st
5, Olso	Alexander Rybak	KOTIK	96	2nd
6, Czech Republic	Sandra Lyng	Night After Night	TBD