Those of you who follow us regularly will know that we, at Eurovision Ireland, have been looking at the highs and lows of each country in the years they have taken part in the Eurovision Song Contest. Today, we are focusing on our friends from North Macedonia.

North Macedonia at Eurovision

North Macedonia joined the Eurovision family in 1998, when they were still known as FYR Macedonia. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, they haven’t reached the peaks that they would probably like to have done in the contest. They have not won the contest in 21 appearances and from 2007-2012 and 2013-2018, they failed to make it out of their respective semi final. North Macedonia’s first ever entry in the contest was in 1998 , in Birmingham ,UK when Vlado Janevski sang “Ne zori zoro”. He finished in 19th place with 16 points .

North Macedonia’s Highs at Eurovision

Unfortunately North Macedonia have not as yet won the contest and indeed it’s fair to say that they have experienced far more lows than highs .Let’s take a look at the years they have done relatively well.

2019 -Tamara Todevska “Proud“

North Macedonia had to wait until 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel,for their first ever Top 10 placing . Indeed Tamara Todevska actually won the Jury vote that year , with her ballad “Proud”. She finished in 7th place and to date is North Macedonia’s most succesful act at the contest.

2006 -Elena Risteska “Ninanajna”

Elena represented her country in Athens, Greece and was quite well regarded in the pre -contest build -up. She managed to just qualify North Macedonia to the Grand Final and then missed out on a Top 10 placing, finishing in 12th place with 56 points .

2012 Kaliopi “Crno i belo”

Kaliopi managed to bring North Macedonia back to the Grand Final after some years out , in Baku,in 2012, with her song “Crno i Belo”, she came 13th in the Grand Final with 71 points.

2007 Karolina “Mojet Svet”

Karolina had already appeared in the 2002 contest in Tallinn with “It depends on us”. Back in those days there was no semi final , so North Macedonia got through on account of not finishing in the bottom positions the previous year.She finished 19th with just 25 points. She returned to the contest , held in Helsinki , Finland for a second try with her song “Mojet Svet and managed to get North Macedonia out of what was a difficult semi final . However, in the Grand Final, although bettering her previous placing by finishing 14th , with 73 points,once again North Macedonia had failed to make it to the Top 10 .

2004 Tose Proeski “Life”

In 2004 , the first ever Eurovision Semi Final was held in Istanbul, Turkey. Tose Proseki with his song “Life” got North Macedonia through to the Grand Final, where he finished in 14th place. Sadly Tose was killed in a car crash in Croatia in 2007,aged just 26 years old, but the country remembers his participation in Eurovision and North Macedonia’s Sports stadium and arena in Skopje is named in his honour.

North Macedonia’s lows at Eurovision

As we have previously said, North Macedonia sadly have more lows than highs and this includes times when they have got nowhere near qualifying for the Grand Final. Their lowest point came in Lisbon,Portugal, in the 2018 contest , when EyeCue with their song “Lost and Found ” finished 18th and last in their semi final.

2013 Esma and Lozano “Pred da se Razdeni”

After Kaliopi had broken the streak of Macedonian failures to reach the final in 2012, Esma and Lozano went to Malmø with hopes of continuing a qualification run for their country. Sadly the voting public and juries didn’t agree and they finished in 16th place in Semi Final 2 with 28 points.

2011 Vlatko Illievski “Rusinka”

In 2011 , Vatko Illievski tried again to get North Macedonia into the Grand Final but, as with Esma and Lozano in 2013, finished in 16th place in the semi final with 36 points .

2002 Karolina “It depends on us “

With there being no semi finals in Eurovision in 2002, Karolina performed in the 2002 contest with “It depends on us”. She finished 19th with just 25 points.

North Macedonia in 2023

Following another non -qualification from their Semi Final at the contest in Turin in 2022 , when Andrea sang “Circles”,North Macedonia withdrew from the 2023 contest in Liverpool . However they came very close to a place in the 2022 Grand Final, finishing 11th in Semi Final 2. With this in mind, will this give them the incentive to return to the contest in the future?

So that completes our review of the Highs and Lows of North Macedonia at Eurovision . What do you think? Would you like to see North Macedonia return to the contest next year in Malmø or in future years?Do you think their placings over the years in the contest are fair, or do you think they deserved better?

Let us know what you think by dropping us a line in our comments box and you can also find us on our FACEBOOK and X ( Twitter) feeds.

Author: Sarah Rudman

Source: Eurovision Ireland ; Eurovision Song Contest WIKI Fandom

Image Sources : You Tube , Eurovision.TV.