Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996
Introduction For the first time since 1992, a national final was held in '''Germany''' to select their entry for the '''Eurovision Song Contest'''. At the contest, represented by Leon with "Planet of Blue", Germany failed to progress from the pre-qualification round, leading to the first, and so far only time that Germany failed to participate at Eurovision.
Before Eurovision === Ein bisschen Glück ===The German national final for the 1996 Eurovision, organised by ARD, was held on 1 March at the Friedrich-Ebert-Halle in Hamburg, presented by Jens Riewa. 10 songs competed, and a public televote was held to select the winner: this was Leon with "Planet of Blue", which received 37.9% of the vote. Only the top three songs were announced during the show, however the placings of all the songs are known.+ Final – 1 March 1996 Draw Artist Song Songwriter(s) Televote Place 1 Ibo "Der liebe Gott ist ganz begeistert" Walter Gerke, Mick Hannes — 5 2 Anett Kölpin "Für dich, mein Kind" Thomas Natschinski, Ingeburg Branoner — 4 3 Enzo "Wo bist du?" Michael Reinecke — 10 4 Rendezvouz "Ohne dich" Werner Petersburg — 7 5 Nina Falk "Immer nur du" Klaus-Peter Schweizer — 8 6 Leon "Planet of Blue" Hanne Haller, Anna Rubach 37.9% 1 7 Angela Wiedl and Dalila Cernatescu "Echos" Ralph Siegel, Bernd Meinunger 11.9% 3 8 André Stade "Jeanny, wach auf!" Jean Frankfurter, Irma Holder 16.4% 2 9 Euro-Cats "Surfen-Multimedia" Erich Offierowski — 6 10 Jacques van Eijck "Ja, das kann nur Liebe sein" Jacques van Eijck, John Möring — 9
At Eurovision The 1996 Contest implemented an audio-only qualifying round for all competing countries (except for host country Norway). 22 songs from the 29 competing could join Norway in the live final on 16 May. However, Germany was not among those to qualify, placing 24th in the line-up.This caused some discontent between ARD and the EBU, the contest's organisers, because, due to its population size, Germany was one of the biggest financial contributors to the contest. This qualification failure, among other things, led to the formation of the "Big Five" status.Due to Germany's non-participation in the final, it was broadcast by ARD only after midnight (It was, however, broadcast live in Northern and Western Germany on its regional channels). The final was watched by 0.37 million viewers in Germany, the lowest TV rating ever recorded in Germany for a Eurovision final.=== Voting ===+ Points awarded to Germany (qualifying round) Score Country 12 points 10 points  8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points  4 points 3 points  2 points 1 point + Points awarded by Germany (qualifying round) Score Country 12 points  10 points  8 points  7 points  6 points  5 points  4 points  3 points  2 points  1 point
References
External links *  German National Final 1996