Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011

The logo of "Die grosse Entscheidungs Show".

Die grosse Entscheidungs Show 2011 was the first edition of the Swiss national final format that selected Switzerland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. The national final was a collaboration between three broadcasters in Switzerland: the Swiss-German broadcaster Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SF), the Swiss-French broadcaster Télévision Suisse Romande (TSR) and the Swiss-Italian broadcaster Radiotelevisione svizzera (RSI), and radio broadcaster DRS 3.

The selection process took place in two stages before the finalists for the live show and ultimately the winner are selected. The first stage of the competition included SF, DRS 3, TSR and RSI each conducting varying selections in order to determine the candidates they submitted for the second stage of the competition. SF submitted seven candidates, DRS 3 submitted three candidates, and TSR and RSI each submitted one candidate. The twelve artists and songs proceed to the second stage, the televised national final, where the winning artist and song was selected to represent Switzerland in Düsseldorf.[2][3]

The SF selection involved an online internet voting platform where interested artists could submit their songs and have them listed for public listening. The platform began accepting entries on 1 October 2010 and concluded on 30 October 2010. 327 entries were submitted following the submission deadline, including entries from 1983 and 1985 Swiss entrant Mariella Farré, 2004 Swiss entrant Piero Esteriore, 2007 Danish entrant DQ (Peter Andersen) and 2008 Sammarinese entrants Miodio.[4][5] Internet users had between 1 and 10 November 2010 to vote for their favourite entries. The internet votes were combined with the votes from an expert jury and on 16 November 2010, the top seven entries were announced.[6] The seven candidates ultimately selected from the SF selection for the national final were "Drop of Drizzle" performed by Andrina, "In Love for a While" performed by Anna Rossinelli, "Confidence" performed by Bernarda Brunović, "Gib nid uf" performed by CH, "Up to You" performed by Polly Duster, "Just Me" performed by Sarah Burgess and "Come What May" performed by The Glue.[7][8]

A submission period was opened by DRS 3 for artists and composers to submit their entries from 1 October 2010 to 30 October 2010. Over four weeks, the received submissions were commented on by radio listeners and a jury that consisted of DRS 3 music editor and host Sascha Rossier, DRS 3 music editor Tamara Steffen and Eurovision expert Patrik Lütolf during the DRS 3 programme ESC-Club who selected ten entries for an internet vote. Users had between 2 and 12 November 2010 to vote for their favourite entries and on 12 November 2010, and the top three entries were announced.[9] The three candidates ultimately selected from the RTS selection for the national final were "Il ritmo dentro di noi" performed by Dominique Borriello, "Waiting for Ya" performed by Duke and "Home" performed by Ilira and the Colors.[10][11] DRS 3 later stated that one user had tried to manipulate the voting, but was spotted in time and the results were corrected after the voting had closed.

The TSR selection involved an internal selection with a selection committee selecting one candidate. The candidate ultimately selected from the TSR selection for the national final was "Sur les pavés" performed by Aliose.[12][13][14]

RSI opened a submission period between 1 October 2010 and 30 October 2010 for interested artists and composers to submit their entries.[15] On 3 November 2010, a jury panel consisting of Marco Trovesi, Mauro Ravarelli and Nicola Albertoni evaluated the 46 entry submissions received and selected the five candidates that proceeded to the RSI selection.[16] RSI Eurosong Contest, broadcast via radio on RSI Rete Tre, took place on 10 November 2010 at the Hotel Besso in Lugano. The combination of internet voting (10%), SMS voting (50%) and the votes of an expert jury (40%) consisting of 1997 Swiss entrant Barbara Berta, Giuliana Castellani and Renato Reichlin originally selected "Surrender" performed by Orpheline as the winner, however on 23 November 2010, she withdrew due to personal reasons.[17][18] Runner-up "Play the Trumpet" performed by Vittoria Hyde was originally selected as the replacement entry, however the song was later disqualified as it was published prior to the 1 September 2010 deadline, making it ineligible for the Eurovision Song Contest.[19][20] "Barbie Doll" performed by Scilla, which came third, was ultimately selected as the candidate from the RSI selection for the national final.

Die grosse Entscheidungs Show 2011 took place on 11 December 2010 at the Bodensee Arena in Kreuzlingen, hosted by Sven Epiney.[21][22] The show was televised on SRF 1, RSI La 2 and TSR2.[23] The competition was also broadcast via radio on DRS 3 and streamed online at the respective official website of each Swiss broadcaster.[24] The twelve candidate songs in contention to represent Switzerland were performed and an expert panel provided commentary and feedback to the competing artists.[25] The expert panel consisted of Baschi (singer), Nik Hartmann (television and radio host) and former Swiss Eurovision contestants Pepe Lienhard (1977), Peter Reber (1971, 1976, 1979 and 1981 as part of Peter, Sue and Marc) and Francine Jordi (2002).[26][27] In addition to the performances from the competing artists, Baschi performed "Ha di nit vergässe" as the interval act. Public televoting solely selected "In Love for a While" performed by Anna Rossinelli as the winner.