Eurovision Song Contest 1994

Eurovision Song Contest 1994
Dates
Final	30 April 1994
Host
Venue	Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland
Presenter(s)	Cynthia Ní Mhurchú Gerry Ryan
Musical director	Noel Kelehan
Directed by	Patrick Cowap
Executive supervisor	Christian Clausen
Executive producer	Moya Doherty
Host broadcaster	Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ)
Website	eurovision.tv/event/dublin-1994
Participants
Number of entries	25
Debuting countries	Estonia  Hungary  Lithuania  Poland  Romania  Russia  Slovakia
Returning countries	None
Non-returning countries	Belgium  Denmark  Israel  Italy  Luxembourg  Slovenia  Turkey
Participation map      Competing countries     Relegated countries unable to participate due to poor results in previous contests     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1994
Vote
Voting system	Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs
Winning song	Ireland "Rock 'n' Roll Kids"
1993 ← Eurovision Song Contest → 1995

The Eurovision Song Contest 1994 was the 39th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 30 April 1994 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ), and presented by Cynthia Ní Mhurchú and Gerry Ryan, the contest was held in Ireland following the country's victory at the 1993 contest with the song "In Your Eyes" by Niamh Kavanagh. It was the first time that any country had hosted two successive editions of the contest, following the previous year's contest held in Millstreet.

Twenty-five countries participated in the contest, which for the first time featured a relegation system to reduce the number of interested participating countries. Seven new countries participated in the event, with entries from Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia and Slovakia featuring for the first time. However, Belgium, Denmark, Israel, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Turkey were unable to compete due to the new relegation rules as the lowest-scoring countries at the previous event, whereas Italy decided against participating by choice.

For the third time in a row, Ireland won the contest with the song "Rock 'n' Roll Kids", written by Brendan Graham and performed by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan. Never before had a country won three times in a row in the history of the contest; at the same time, it was also a record sixth win, cementing Ireland as the country with the most wins in Eurovision history up till that point. Poland, Germany, Hungary and Malta rounded out the top five positions, with Poland achieving the most successful result for a début entry in the contest's history.

The 1994 contest also featured the first appearance of Riverdance. Originally a seven-minute performance of traditional Irish and modern music, choral singing and Irish dancing featured as part of the contest's interval act, it was subsequently developed into a full stage show which has since become a worldwide phenomenon and catapulted the careers of its lead dancers Jean Butler and Michael Flatley.