Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002

Slovenia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 with the song "Samo ljubezen" written by Robert Pešut and Barbara Pešut. The song was performed by the drag act Sestre. Slovenian broadcaster Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV Slovenija) organised the national final EMA 2002 in order to select the Slovenian entry for the 2002 contest in Tallinn, Estonia. 18 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 "Samo ljubezen" performed by Sestre was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from two thematical juries.

Slovenia competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 25 May 2002. Performing during the show in position 22, Slovenia placed thirteenth out of the 24 participating countries, scoring 33 points.

Background
Prior to the 2002 contest, Slovenia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest seven times since its first entry in. Slovenia's highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been seventh place, which the nation achieved on two occasions: in 1995 with the song "Prisluhni mi" performed by Darja Švajger and in 2001 with the song "Energy" performed by Nuša Derenda. The country's only other top ten result was achieved in 1997 when Tanja Ribič performing "Zbudi se" placed tenth.

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 2002 to select the Slovenian entry.

EMA 2002
EMA 2002 was the seventh 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 2002, and consisted of two shows on 15 and 16 February 2002. 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 15 February 2002 and a final held on 16 February 2002. Eighteen songs competed in the semi-final where a public televote first selected the top five entries to proceed to the final. An expert jury then selected an additional five finalists out of the thirteen remaining songs. Ten songs competed in the final where the winner was selected by two thematical juries. Each jury group 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
Artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster until 25 October 2001. 75 entries were received by the broadcaster during the submission period. An expert committee consisting of Mojmir Sepe (conductor and composer), Aleš Strajnar (musician and composer), Jaka Pucihar (composer), Aleksander Radić (Head of the Slovenian delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest) and Peter Juratovec (television director) selected eighteen artists and songs for the competition from the received submissions. The competing artists were announced on 23 November 2001. Among the competing artists was former Slovenian Eurovision contestant Regina who represented Slovenia in 1996.

Semi-final
The semi-final of EMA 2002 took place on 15 February 2002, hosted by Andrea F. and former Slovenian Eurovision entrants Darja Švajger (1995, 1999) and Nuša Derenda (2001). The eighteen competing entries first faced a public televote where the top five proceeded to the final; an additional five qualifiers were then selected out of the remaining thirteen entries by an expert jury.

Final
The final of EMA 2002 took place on 16 February 2002 and was hosted by Miša Molk and Andrea F. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2000 Estonian Eurovision entrant Ines performed as a guest. The points from two thematical juries selected "Samo ljubezen" performed by Sestre as the winner. The juries consisted of experts and representatives of the entertainment programme of RTV Slovenija. A public televote was also held during the show and originally had a weighting equal to the votes of a single jury, however its results were announced to have been invalidated in its entirety on 19 February as the voting lines were open for eight minutes instead of five as prescribed. Karmen Stavec was the winner of the televote with 31,944 votes, with Sestre was only ranked sixth by the televote with 8,454 votes.

Controversy
The victory of Sestre at EMA 2002 was heavily criticised in Slovenia, mainly due to the votes from the two juries being sufficient in determining the final winner. A group of Slovenian singers, composers and record labels published a protest letter following the competition threatening to never again appear at any event organised by the entertainment department of RTV Slovenija, while questions were also raised in the country's parliament regarding the broadcaster's image as the controversy garnered international media attention. A new voting round was planned to be held with the winner being exclusively determined by public televoting, but this did not materialise and Sestre ultimately remained as the Slovenian Eurovision representative.

At Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest 2002 took place at Saku Suurhall in Tallinn, Estonia, on 25 May 2002. The participants list included the previous year's winning country, the "Big Four" countries, consisting of, , and the , any eligible countries which did not compete in the 2001 contest, and countries which had obtained the highest average points total at the previous year's contest, up to 24 total participants. According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the bottom six countries in the 2001 contest competed in the final. On 9 November 2001, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Slovenia was set to perform in position 22, following the entry from Romania and before the entry from Latvia. Slovenia finished in thirteenth place with 33 points.

The show was televised in Slovenia on RTV SLO1. The Slovenian spokesperson, who announced the Slovenian votes during the show, was Nuša Derenda who represented Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001.

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