RULES of the PRESELECTION of SONGS THAT TAKE PART in the NATIONAL SELECTION and RULES of the VOTING SYSTEM for the NATIONAL S

RADIOTELEVIZIJA SLOVENIJA javni zavod, Ljubljana Kolodvorska 2 1550 Ljubljana

RULES OF THE PRESELECTION OF SONGS THAT TAKE PART IN THE NATIONAL SELECTION OF THE SLOVENIAN ENTRY FOR THE 54 th EUROVISION SONG CONTEST (2009) – EMA 2009

and

RULES OF THE VOTING SYSTEM FOR THE NATIONAL SELECTION OF THE SLOVENIAN ENTRY FOR THE 54 th EUROVISION SONG CONTEST (2009) – EMA 2009

I. GENERAL AND INTRODUCTORY PROVISIONS

INTRODUCTORY PROVISION

Article 1

RTV Slovenija organizes a national selection of the song that will represent Slovenia in the 54th Eurovision song contest Eurosong 2009 (in further text EMA 2009).

RTV Slovenija has adopted these rules that apply to the following two procedures:

• the selection of songs that will take part in EMA 2009; • the voting system on EMA 2009 contest.

BASIC PRINCIPLE

Article 2

The songs that will take part in EMA 2009 are selected by the selection committee and the professional jury whose their decisions are based excusively on artistic, production and quality criteria.

THE CRITERIA AND PROCEDURE FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF SELECTION COMMITTEE AND PROFESSIONAL JURY MEMBERS

Article 3

A person appointed to the selection committee or to the professional jury must:

• not be the author of music, lyrics or arrangement, or the performer of any song submitted for EMA 2009 contest; • not be in a relative in direct blood line or a relative less than four times removed in indirect blood line, or must not have any matrimonial bonds (at present or at any time in the past) to the author of music, lyrics or arrangement, or the performer of any song submitted for EMA 2009 contest.

Article 4

Members of the EMA 2009 selection committee and professional jury are officially appointed by director general of RTV Slovenija, following a proposal submitted by the editor in chief of TVSLO Entertainment Programmes and a written approval by the director of TV Slovenija.

2 Article 5

The names of selection committee members will be published after the decisions of the selection committee will be made public. The names of members of the jury will be announced during the EMA 2009 PRESELECTION and FINAL SELECTION shows.

II. THE PROCEDURE FOR THE SELECTION OF ENTRIES FOR EMA 2009

Article 6

The selection of songs to take part in qualifications for EMA 2009 is made by the selection committee.

Article 7

Prior to the evaluation of songs the selection committee has to check whether the songs have been entered for the contest according to the rules and by the deadline. The rules and the deadline for entering songs for EMA 2009 are published in the EMA 2009 official call for entries.

Article 8

From all regular entries, the selection committee will select:

• fourteen (14) most appropriate songs that will take part in EMA 2009 QUALIFICATIONS AND FINAL SELECTION shows. • four (4) additional "stand by" songs that may take part in the EMA 2009 QUALIFICATIONS in case one, two, three or four selected songs are disqualified or their entrant withdraws the song from the EMA 2009 contest.

COMPOSITION OF THE SELECTION COMMITTEE

Article 9

The selection committee is composed of three (3) members, who are proposed by the editor- in-chief of the TVSLO Entertainment Programmes, and the nominations approved in writing by the director of RTV Slovenija. The members are then officially appointed by director general of RTV Slovenija.

THE PROCEDURE FOR SELECTING SONGS THAT MEET THE REQUIREMENTS FOR TAKING PART IN THE EMA 2009 CONTEST; EMA 2009 QUALIFICATIONS AND EMA 2009 PRESELECTION

Article 10

Members of the selection committee convene and listen to all duly entered songs together.

Article 11

After having heard all entered songs, the selection committee selects fourteen (14) most appropriate songs based on their total score (as each member allocates from 1 to 14 points to songs by his/her choice). Similarly, four additional songs are selected and marked 1 to 4, as to the amount of points received. In case one of the 14 originally selected songs is disqualified or withdrawn from the competition, the additional song that has scored the highest takes among the four »stand by« songs takes part in the competition EMA 2009: PRESELECTION.

Article 12

The selection committee keeps record on its work in the form of Minutes for the official archive.

The Minutes must include the results of the selection but without the correct running order or the amount of points received per song.

By signing the minutes each member of the selection committee verifies that the minutes are genuine and that the selection is final and was carried out in accordance with the rules.

Article 13

Within seven workdays after the selection, RTV Slovenija notifies per registered mail all entrants of selected songs that their song has been selected and invites them to sign the enclosed contract on taking part in the EMA 2009 contest. The contracts must be duly signed by the entrant(s) and returned to RTV Slovenija within seven (7) days. The entrants whose songs have not been selected are informed that their song has not been selected in writing without enclosing any statement of reasons.

Article 14

RTV Slovenija will invite up to 6 renowned Slovene authors of popular music to the EMA 2009 FINAL SELECTION.

CONDITIONS FOR TAKING PART IN THE CONTEST FOR THE SLOVENE REPRESENTATIVE(S) AT THE 54 TH EUROVISION SONG CONTEST, EMA 2009

Article 15

Only the songs chosen by the selection committee and songs whose entrants have duly signed the contract with the organiser (RTV Slovenija) on taking part in the EMA 2009 contest are eligible to participate in the EMA 2009 QUALIFICATIONS show.

Performers performing songs written by the authors that have been invited to participate in the EMA 2009 contest by RTV Slovenija do not perform in the QUALIFICATIONS but enter the EMA 2009 FINAL SELECTION directly, as they perform original songs that have never been performed publicly before.

III. THE SYSTEM AND PROCEDURE OF VOTING AT THE SELECTION OF THE SLOVENE REPRESENTATIVE(S) FOR THE 54 TH EUROSONG CONTEST 2009

Article 16

EMA 2009 features two parts, the qualifications and the final selection: - EMA 09: PRESELECTION ( qualifications show) - EMA 09: FINALS (final selection show)

Article 17

The order of appearance on EMA 2009 is determined by lot.

VOTING IN QUALIFICATIONS FOR EMA 2009 PRESELECTION AND EMA 2009 FINALS

Article 18

The voting in EMA 2009 PRESELECTION will be carried out in a single round.

5 THE SYSTEM AND RULES OF VOTING IN QUALIFICATIONS FOR EMA 2009: PRESELECTION

Article 19

Voting includes: • televoting (votes from the audience communicated via telephone and cell phone) • jury

Article 20

Following the performance of all fourteen songs, televoting is open for 10 minutes (for classical and mobile telephones). Like in the Eurovision song contest, the number of calls in favour of individual songs determines the number of points allocated to them: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12. The song with the highest number of votes in televoting, receives 12 points, the song with the second highest score receives 10 points, and the song with the third highest score 8 points; and songs ranked by their totals in televoting from the fourth to the tenth place, receive from 7 to 1 point respectively.

After each performed song, each member of the EMA 2009 jury marks the song, giving it from 1 to 10 points (1 being the lowest and 10 the highest mark). Total of the marks a song receives is the quantitative value of the song. If two or more songs reach the same total, the song that received more higher marks ranks higher. If the ranking is still a draw, the jury decides on the winner by raising hands. Like in the Eurovision scoring, the marks songs receive are translated into points: the song with the highest mark receives 12 points, the song with the second highest mark receives 10 points, the song with the third highest mark receives 8 points and songs from the fourth to the tenth place according to their totals of marks received from the jury, get from 7 to 1 point respectively.

Article 21

Televoting is open ten minutes precisely. The beginning and the end of televoting and the telephone numbers that need to be dialled for each song are announced in the direct transmission and shown on the screen.

Televoting prices per telephone call and per SMS message will be written on the screen at the beginning of televoting.

Article 22

Eight (8) or more songs with the highest total, which is the sum of points received in televoting and points received from the jury, enter the finals EMA 2009 FINAL SELECTION.

Article 23

In case of technical problems in one of the televoting systems, the votes received in the system that experienced no technical problems are taken into account.

6 In case technical problems occur in both televoting systems, the points allocated by the jury prevail.

Article 24

If two or more songs receive the same total of votes, the songs are ranked by the number of points received from the jury.

THE RULES OF VOTING AT THE FINAL SELECTION FOR EMA 2009: FINALS

Article 25

Following the performance of all songs participating in the final selection for EMA 2009, the winner is selected on the basis of: - televoting (votes from the audience communicated by classical and mobile telephone lines) - votes from the jury

Article 26

Following the performance of all fourteen songs participating in the finals, televoting is announced. Commercial lines for televoting are open ten minutes precisely (for classical and cell phones). Following the Eurovision system, the number of call in favour of each song is translated into 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 10 and 12 points. The song with the highest number of calls receives 12 points, the song with the second highest number of calls 10 points, the song with the third highest number of calls receives 8 points and songs from the fourth to the tenth place according to their totals of calls received, get from 7 to 1 point respectively.

After each performed song, each member of the EMA 2009 jury marks the song by giving it from 1 to 10 points (1 being the lowest and 10 the highest mark). Total of the marks a song receives is the quantitative evaluation of the song. If two or more songs reach the same total, the song that received more higher marks ranks higher. If the ranking is still a draw, the jury decides on the winner by raising hands. Like in the Eurovision scoring, the marks songs receive are translated into points: the song with the highest mark receives 12 points, the song with the second highest mark receives 10 points, the song with the third highest mark receives 8 points and songs from the fourth to the tenth place according to their totals of marks received from the jury, get from 7 to 1 point respectively.

Article 27

In case of technical problems in one of the televoting systems, the votes received in the system that experienced no technical problems are taken into account.

7 In case technical problems occur in both televoting systems, the points allocated by the jury prevail.

Article 28

The song that reaches the highest total calculated from points received in televoting and points received from the jury is the winner of the contest.

Article 29

If two or more songs reach the same total, the song that received higher number of points from the jury is ranked higher.

Article 30

Each member of the jury signs a document on the voting, in which individual votes of all members of the jury are recorded. Only the final result of the jury based on totals of allocated points per song is made public.

COMPOSITION OF THE JURY

Article 31

The jury is composed of three (3) members, who are officially appointed by director general of RTV Slovenija, following a proposal submitted by the editor in chief of TVSLO Entertainment Programmes and written approval by the director of TV Slovenija.

IV. SUPERVISION OF THE VOTING

Article 32

Regularity of the voting procedure, the correctness of translation of incoming calls into points and translation of votes allocated by the jury into points are supervised by a notary and by a representative of RTV Slovenija legal department.

The notary writes down the minutes on the execution and correctness of voting.

V. FINAL PROVISION

Article 33

These Rules enter into force on the day they are signed by the director of TV Slovenija and by the general manager of RTV Slovenija.

These Rules are implemented from the day after their publication on RTV Slovenija web pages.

Director of TV Slovenija General Manager of RTV Slovenija Jože Možina Anton Guzej