Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001

Slovenia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 with the song "Energy" written by Matjaž Vlašič and Lucienne Lončina. The song was performed by Nuša Derenda. Slovenian broadcaster Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV Slovenija) returned to the Eurovision Song Contest after a one-year absence following their relegation in 2000 as one of the six countries with the lowest average scores over the previous five contests. RTV Slovenija organised the national final EMA 2001 in order to select the Slovenian entry for the 2001 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark. 22 entries competed in the national final which consisted of two shows: a semi-final and a final. Entries were selected to advance from the semi-final based on a public televote and a jury panel. Ten entries qualified to compete in the final where "Ne, ni res" performed by Nuša Derenda was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from two thematical juries and a public televote. The song was later translated from Slovene to English for the Eurovision Song Contest and was titled "Energy".

Slovenia competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2001. Performing during the show in position 17, Slovenia placed seventh out of the 23 participating countries, scoring 70 points.

Background
Prior to the 2001 contest, Slovenia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest six times since its first entry in. Slovenia's highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been seventh place, which the nation achieved in 1995 with the song "Prisluhni mi" performed by Darja Švajger. The country's only other top ten result was achieved in 1997 when Tanja Ribič performing "Zbudi se" placed tenth. In 1999, "For a Thousand Years" performed by Švajger placed eleventh.

The Slovenian national broadcaster, Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV Slovenija), broadcasts the event within Slovenia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. The Slovenian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest has traditionally been selected through a national final entitled Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA), which has been produced with variable formats. For 2002, the broadcaster opted to organise EMA 2001 to select the Slovenian entry.

EMA 2001
EMA 2001 was the sixth edition of the Slovenian national final format Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA). The competition was used by RTV Slovenija to select Slovenia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2001, and consisted of two shows on 23 and 24 February 2001. Both shows of the competition took place at the RTV Slovenija Studio 1 in Ljubljana and were broadcast on TV SLO1.

Format
The format of the competition consisted of two televised shows: a semi-final held on 23 February 2001 and a final held on 24 February 2001. Twenty-two songs competed in the semi-final where a public televote first selected the top six entries to proceed to the final. An expert jury then selected an additional six finalists out of the thirteen remaining songs. Ten songs competed in the final where the winner was selected following the combination of points from two thematical juries and a public televote. The jury groups and the televote each assigned points as follows: 1–8, 10 and 12, with the song that received the highest overall score when the votes were combined being determined the winner.

Competing entries
An expert committee consisting of Mojca Menart (music editor for Radio Slovenija), Mojmir Sepe (conductor and composer), Jaka Pucihar (composer) and Aleš Strajnar (musician and composer) selected twenty-two artists and songs for the competition from 98 received submissions. The competing artists were announced on 18 December 2000. Among the competing artists was former Slovenian Eurovision contestants 1X Orchestra which represented Slovenia in 1993 as 1X Band, and Regina who represented Slovenia in 1996.

Semi-final
The semi-final of EMA 2001 took place on 23 February 2001 and was hosted by Mojca Mavec. The twenty-two competing entries first faced a public televote where the top six proceeded to the final; an additional six qualifiers were then selected out of the remaining sixteen entries by an expert jury.

Final
The final of EMA 2001 took place on 24 February 2001 and was hosted by Mojca Mavec, Miša Molk and Marcel Štefančič. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Jette Ostan Vejrup, 1999 Danish Eurovision entrants Trine Jepsen and Michael Teschl and 2000 German Eurovision entrant Stefan Raab performed as guests. The combination of points from two thematical juries (2/3) and a public televote (1/3) selected "Ne, ni res" performed Nuša Derenda as the winner. The juries consisted of experts and representatives of the entertainment programme of RTV Slovenija.

At Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest 2001 took place at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 12 May 2001. The relegation rules introduced for the 1997 contest were again utilised ahead of the 2001 contest, based on each country's average points total in previous contests. The 23 participants were made up of the host country, the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom), and the 12 countries with the highest average scores between the 1996 and 2000 contests competed in the final. On 21 November 2000, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Slovenia was set to perform in position 17, following the entry from the United Kingdom and before the entry from Poland. At the contest, Nuša Derenda performed the English version of "Ne, ni res", titled "Energy". Slovenia finished in seventh place with 70 points.

The show was televised in Slovenia on RTV SLO1. The Slovenian spokesperson, who announced the Slovenian votes during the show, was Mojca Mavec.

Voting
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Slovenia and awarded by Slovenia in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Estonia in the contest.