San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024

San Marino participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö, Sweden, with "11:11" performed by Megara. The Sammarinese broadcaster San Marino RTV (SMRTV) organised the national final format Una voce per San Marino in collaboration with Media Evolution S.r.l. to select the country's representative.

Background
Prior to the 2024 contest, San Marino had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 13 times since its first entry in. The nation's debut entry in the 2008 contest, "Complice" performed by Miodio, failed to qualify for the final and placed last in the semi-final it competed in. San Marino subsequently did not participate in both the and  contests, citing financial difficulties. It returned in with Italian singer Senit performing "Stand By", which also failed to take the nation to the final. From 2012 to 2014, San Marino sent Valentina Monetta to the contest on three consecutive occasions. Monetta's first two entries failed to qualify San Marino to the final, however in, she managed to bring the nation to the final for the first time with "Maybe", which eventually placed 24th. Following four consecutive non-qualifying years, San Marino qualified for the final for its second time in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, where Serhat represented the nation for his second time and finished in 19th place with "Say Na Na Na". For the 2020 contest, Senhit and her song "Freaky!" were to represent the nation, though following its cancellation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, San Marino re-selected Senhit for. Her 2021 song, "Adrenalina", performed alongside American rapper Flo Rida, qualified for the final, eventually placing 22nd. The Sammarinese and  entrants, Achille Lauro with "Stripper" and Piqued Jacks with "Like an Animal", both failed to qualify for the final. Since the 2022 contest, Sammarinese national broadcaster San Marino RTV (SMRTV), has used the selection event Una voce per San Marino to select their entry, and in August 2023 they confirmed that the selection event would continue to be used for the 2024 contest.

Una voce per San Marino


Una voce per San Marino 2024 was the third edition of the national selection format developed by SMRTV and Media Evolution S.r.l. to determine the Sammarinese entry to the Eurovision Song Contest. It consisted of four semi-finals for foreign nationals – followed by a second chance round – and one semi-final reserved to Sammarinese nationals, all taking place at the Sala Polivalente Little Tony in Serravalle on 15 and 16 February 2024 and hosted by Ilenia De Sena and Camilla Spinelli; these were aired daily between 19 and 23 February and were followed by a final at the Teatro Nuovo in Dogana on 24 February 2024, hosted by Fabrizio Biggio and Melissa Greta Marchetto, which saw eight established artists and eight newcomers (one being from San Marino) compete. A jury vote determined the qualifiers from the semi-finals and the winner of the final.

The selection of semi-finalists, also conducted by a jury, consisted of an audition phase for emerging artists between 10 November 2023 and 23 January 2024, where 129 entries qualified to the semi-finals; applications were open between 10 October 2023 and 14 January 2024, by which date over 700 submissions had been received from at least 31 countries. There were no restrictions on the nationality of the performer nor the language of the song. Established artists were instead directly invited to the final by Media Evolution S.r.l.  The live auditions took place at San Marino Outlet Experience in four rounds: the first from 10 to 12 November 2023, the second from 1 to 3 December 2023, the third from 12 to 14 January 2024 and the fourth from 18 to 20 January 2024; an additional online round was held on 22 and 23 January 2024. The professional jury who selected the semi-finalists was composed of music producers Domenico "Mimmo" Paganelli, Domenico "Mimmo" Gallotti and Nabuk. In addition to the regular selection process, SMRTV also launched a collaboration with London-based music tech startup Casperaki, named The San Marino Sessions, to determine an additional finalist.

Starting on 19 November 2023 and until the final of 24 February 2024, SMRTV aired a 15-minute daily broadcast presenting the participating artists, hosted by rapper Irol. Outside San Marino, the final was broadcast on GlitterBeam Radio in the United Kingdom.

Semi-finals
On 30 January 2024, SMRTV announced the names of the 129 acts that had been selected to progress to the semi-final stage, most being from Italy, as well as the semi-final they would take part in. The shows were filmed on 15 and 16 February 2024 and aired between 19 and 23 February 2024.

Key: Finalist Second chance Absent

Second chance
The second chance round was held on 16 February 2024 and aired on 23 February 2024, with a further three artists advancing to the final.

The San Marino Sessions
The San Marino Sessions was an experimental selection launched by SMRTV in collaboration with Casperaki to determine one of the finalists of Una voce per San Marino 2024. From 27 November 2023 until January 2024, interested artists could submit anything from short recordings to complete compositions, with the dedicated platform, powered by artificial intelligence, helping to enhance them. By 9 January 2024, a committee selected the ten best suggestions to take part in a songwriting camp hosted by producers TommyD and Stefan Moessle in London between 18 and 21 January 2024, where they came down to four full compositions; the jury of Una voce per San Marino, helped by feedback from the public, then selected one of these to qualify for the final, announced along the other pre-qualifiers on 19 February 2024.

Final
The final of Una voce per San Marino took place on 24 February 2024, with the eight competing established artists plus the San Marino Sessions qualifier announced on 19 February 2024 at a press conference in Milan. The winner of the final was Megara with the song "11:11". The professional jury consisted of Celso Valli (chair), Anna Bianchi, Clarissa Martinelli, John Vignola and Steve Lyon. Mogol and Al Bano, who chaired the jury in the two previous editions, made an appearance as guests. Piqued Jacks opened the show performing their winning entry "Like an Animal", they also performed their new release "Aria" during the interval; Piccolo Coro dell'Antoniano, Riccardo Cocciante and Filippo Graziani also performed as interval acts.

The final also saw several acts receive special awards for their participation. These included the San Marino Outlet Experience prize for the best look to Jalisse, the OGAE Italy prize and the Critics' prize to Loredana Bertè, the Febal Casa prize (awarded by Radio San Marino) for the most radio-friendly song to La Rua, and the Ludovico Di Meo prize (awarded by San Marino RTV) for the best emerging act to Megara.

Promotion and preparation
As part of the promotion of their participation in the contest, Megara attended the PrePartyES in Madrid on 30 March 2024, the Barcelona Eurovision Party on 6 April 2024, the London Eurovision Party on 7 April 2024, the Eurovision in Concert event in Amsterdam on 13 April 2024, the Nordic Eurovision Party in Stockholm on 14 April 2024 and the Copenhagen Eurovision Party (Malmöhagen) on 4 May 2024. In late April 2024, "11:11" was revamped in collaboration with producer Jose Pablo Polo ahead of the contest, with the new version to premiere directly at Eurovision.

At Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 is taking place at the Malmö Arena in Malmö, Sweden, and consists of two semi-finals held on the respective dates of 7 and 9 May and the final on 11 May 2024. All nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete in the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. On 30 January 2024, an allocation draw was held to determine which of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show, each country would perform in; the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. San Marino was scheduled for the second half of the second semi-final. The shows' producers then decided the running order for the semi-finals; San Marino was set to perform in position 10.

In San Marino, all the shows of the contest are being broadcast on San Marino RTV, as well as on the broadcaster's streaming platform RTV Play, with commentary by Lia Fiorio and Gigi Restivo. As part of the Eurovision programming, from 23 April until the contest SMRTV broadcast Ticket to Eurovision, discussing the participating countries.

Performance
Megara took part in technical rehearsals on 30 April and 3 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 8 and 9 May. Their performance of "11:11" at the contest was staged by Javier Pageo among others, and featured black and pink outfits, LED lighting and pyrotechnics. The theme was set around a fantasy world with dragons and trees.

Semi-final
San Marino performed in position 10, following the entry from and before the entry from. The country was not announced among the top 10 entries in the semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final.

Voting
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to and by San Marino in the second semi-final and in the final. Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting in the final vote, while the semi-final vote was based entirely on the vote of the public. As San Marino shares its telephone system with Italy, the country's jury votes were used during the semi-final, while at the final an aggregate televote created using the televotes of neighbouring countries was used. The Sammarinese jury consisted of Augusto Ciavatta, Viola Conti, Michele Giardi, Nicola Giaquinto, and Camilla Ortolani. In the second semi-final, San Marino placed 14th with 16 points. Over the course of the contest, San Marino awarded its 12 points to the in the second semi-final, and to Switzerland (jury) and  (aggregate televote) in the final.

The spokesperson for the Sammarinese jury at the final was Kida.

Detailed voting results
Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent. Each jury, and individual jury member, is required to meet a strict set of criteria regarding professional background, as well as diversity in gender and age. No member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.

The following members comprised the Sammarinese jury:
 * Augusto Ciavatta
 * Viola Conti
 * Michele Giardi
 * Nicola Giaquinto
 * Camilla Ortolani