Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

On 3 January 2019, the Greek broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) announced that they would be selecting their act and song internally.[7] An eight-member artistic committee was involved with the selection of the entrant and consisted of chairman, music composer and ERT board member Dimitris Papadimitriou, journalist Fotis Apergis, ERT Director of International Relations Maria Koufopoulou, ERT Head of European and International Affairs Sofia Dranidou, and music producers Petros Adam and Yiannis Petridis.[8]

On 14 February 2019, ERT confirmed Greek-Canadian singer Katerine Duska as the Greek representative for the 2019 contest.[9] The song that Duska participated with in the Eurovision Song Contest, "Better Love", was presented on 6 March 2019 through a special event held at the Athens Concert Hall. The official music video, directed by Efi Gousi, was also screened.[10] "Better Love" was written by Katerine Duska herself together with Leon of Athens, David Sneddon and Phil Cook.[9] In regards to the song, Duska stated: "I wanted to write a song that would sound like an invitation, feel like an embrace. A tender song with a fighting spirit about a word we profusely use, but rarely actually mean. It really is the way to love, whomever you love."[11]

Katerine Duska made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Better Love" as the Greek Eurovision entry. On 6 April, Duska performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the AFAS Live venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Marlayne.[12] She also performed during the Eurovision Pre-Party Madrid event on 21 April which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain and hosted by Tony Aguilar and Julia Varela.[13]

Katerine Duska during a rehearsal before the first semi-final

Katerine Duska took part in technical rehearsals on 5 and 10 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 13 and 14 May. This included the jury show on 13 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.

The Greek performance featured Katerine Duska wearing a white dress with a line of pearls braided in her hair and performing together on stage with five backing vocalists/dancers. The stage presentation featured an ancient Greek fountain-like prop which was later turned to reveal a wall of flowers. Two of the backing performers held swords in each of their hands and performed synchronised ballet and contemporary dance moves, while the other three backing performers interacted with the staging by lying down on the stage floor. The LED screens projected a lotus background.[20][21] The performance was choreographed by Efi Gousi who also directed the music video of "Better Love".[10] The backing performers that performed with Katerine Duska on stage were Dimitra Vlachou, Eleni Pozantzidou, Erasmia Markidi, Evgenia Liakou and Fania Grigoriou.[22]

At the end of the show, Greece was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Greece placed fifth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 185 points: 54 points from the televoting and 131 points from the juries.

Shortly after the first semi-final, a winners' press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the order the countries were announced during the semi-final. Greece was drawn to compete in the second half.[23] Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Greece was subsequently placed to perform in position 13, following the entry from the Netherlands and before the entry from Israel.

Katerine Duska once again took part in dress rehearsals on 17 and 18 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show. Katerine Duska performed a repeat of her semi-final performance during the final on 18 May. Greece placed twenty-first in the final, scoring 74 points: 24 points from the televoting and 50 points from the juries.

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, 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.[24]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Greece and awarded by Greece in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

The following members comprised the Greek jury:[24]

• Nikolaos Nikolakopoulos (Nikos; jury chairperson) – programme director radio station
• Eirini Karagianni – opera singer
• Emmanouil Pantelidakis – costume and set designer
• Stella Chroneou – singer, vocal coach
• Thanasis Alevras – actor, performer

Detailed voting results from Greece (Semi-final 1)[25]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		Nikos	E. Karagianni	E. Pantelidakis	S. Chroneou	T. Alevras	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Cyprus	1	1	1	1	1	1	12	1	12
02	Montenegro	5	7	6	13	5	6	5	16
03	Finland	2	4	15	12	12	7	4	15
04	Poland	7	9	11	9	8	12		13
05	Slovenia	13	15	8	3	10	10	1	6	5
06	Czech Republic	3	2	16	4	13	3	8	10	1
07	Hungary	16	16	14	15	14	16		14
08	Belarus	8	10	3	7	4	4	7	9	2
09	Serbia	4	11	10	8	2	5	6	5	6
10	Belgium	6	13	4	16	16	13		12
11	Georgia	14	6	13	11	9	15		2	10
12	Australia	10	12	2	2	3	2	10	3	8
13	Iceland	11	8	7	6	7	9	2	4	7
14	Estonia	12	14	9	5	11	14		8	3
15	Portugal	9	3	12	10	15	11		11
16	Greece
17	San Marino	15	5	5	14	6	8	3	7	4

Detailed voting results from Greece (Final)[26]

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		Nikos	E. Karagianni	E. Pantelidakis	S. Chroneou	T. Alevras	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Malta	13	3	8	9	6	6	5	22
02	Albania	11	7	7	7	14	8	3	6	5
03	Czech Republic	22	17	3	17	21	13		20
04	Germany	23	12	14	24	24	23		24
05	Russia	2	2	1	1	2	2	10	3	8
06	Denmark	25	22	23	23	25	25		19
07	San Marino	5	9	6	21	4	5	6	21
08	North Macedonia	16	5	12	8	11	10	1	15
09	Sweden	7	23	24	11	19	18		18
10	Slovenia	20	18	9	4	5	7	4	13
11	Cyprus	1	1	2	2	1	1	12	1	12
12	Netherlands	6	11	10	10	17	12		5	6
13	Greece
14	Israel	15	13	4	22	16	14		23
15	Norway	17	25	18	19	10	22		11
16	United Kingdom	14	20	25	16	23	24		25
17	Iceland	18	16	22	6	15	17		9	2
18	Estonia	21	24	16	12	13	21		16
19	Belarus	19	19	13	13	7	16		17
20	Azerbaijan	4	8	5	5	12	3	8	12
21	France	12	4	21	20	22	15		10	1
22	Italy	3	10	15	14	3	4	7	2	10
23	Serbia	24	14	11	18	18	20		14
24	Switzerland	9	21	19	15	20	19		4	7
25	Australia	10	15	20	3	9	9	2	8	3
26	Spain	8	6	17	25	8	11		7	4