Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

De Toppers in February 2009

Dutch Eurovision fans set up an Internet poll in July 2008 with the intent of selecting the best artist for the Eurovision Song Contest.[4] Singer Anouk was selected, who stated that she would participate if only she does not have to participate in a national final.[5][6] On 19 September 2008, NOS confirmed that they had selected the group De Toppers to represent the Netherlands at the 2009 contest.[7] Among the members the group was 1988 Dutch Eurovision entrant Gerard Joling. The selection of De Toppers as the Dutch representative occurred as the broadcaster hoped to boost Eurovision figures and ratings in the Netherlands.[8] On 30 September 2008, it was announced during a press conference that their Eurovision entry would be selected through a live televised national final.[9]

On 5 November 2008, it was revealed that complications within the group and with TROS and NOS mainly of disagreements over the planned docusoap Op weg naar Moskou have resulted in their participation coming under threat. The group's manager, Benno de Leeuw, was hospitalised for a week during the incident and therefore no agreement could be made.[10] On 9 November 2008, Gerard Joling revealed that he had left the group and NOS would have to select another artist for the contest. The broadcaster later stated: "We made a choice for De Toppers, and that means all three of them or none of them."[11][12] On 11 November 2008, the group confirmed that Jeroen van der Boom would take Joling's place, and that they would remain as the Dutch representative at the 2009 contest.[13]

Nationaal Songfestival 2009 was the national final that selected De Toppers' Eurovision entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. Following the press conference on 30 September 2008, a song submission period was opened where composers were able to submit their songs until 23 November 2008.[14] 330 songs were received by the broadcaster at the closing of the deadline. The group selected six songs for the competition without knowing the composers of the received submissions in order to remove possible bias that may arise.[15][16] The group stated that all selected songs were "happy and powerful compositions".[17][18] The six competing songs were announced on 18 December 2008.[19][20]

The final took place on 1 February 2009 at the Studio 22 in Hilversum, hosted by Jack van Gelder and was broadcast on Nederland 1 as well as streamed online via the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.[21] Six songs, all performed by De Toppers, competed and the winning song, "Shine", was selected by the votes of public televoting (2/3) and a five-member jury panel (1/3).[1][2][3] The winning song was written by Bas van den Heuvel and band member Gordon, under the pseudonym Ger van de Westelaken.[22] The viewers had a total of 420 points to award and the juries had a total of 210 points to award. The five-member jury panel consisted of Tony Berk (radio DJ), Tatjana Simić (singer and actress), Daniël Dekker (radio DJ), Getty Kaspers (1975 Eurovision winner as part of Teach-In) and Emile Hartkamp (lyricist and producer), and each juror assigned their points as follows: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 points.[22] Viewers were able to vote via telephone and SMS and the viewer vote was awarded based on the percentage of votes each song achieved. For example, if a song gained 10% of the vote, then that entry would be awarded 10% of 420 points rounded to the nearest integer: 42 points. Past Dutch Eurovision entrants Saskia & Serge, Ben Cramer, Heddy Lester, Getty Kaspers, Bill van Dijk, Laura Vlasblom, Rosina Brochard and Marcha were also present during the show.[23]