RTSH, the Albanian broadcaster has officially confirmed the participation at Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in September 2010, when denied rumours in the Albanian media about Albania pulling out of the Eurovision Song Contest and the new system to choose the Albanian representative.
Format
Unlike previous years, RTSH decided to start the year earlier with the preparations of the Albanian national final, Festivali i Këngës 2010 introducing changes in the format as well as the voting system. The semi-finals were held on 23 and 24 December and the grand final took place on 25 December 2010. There is no newcomers category. In each semi final, 14 songs competed and from each semi final 5 songs were eliminated, making it a total of 18 songs competing in the grand final.
Competing entries
The deadline for the submission of the songs was 20 October but RTSH extended this deadline till 6 November. With this extension, RTSH gave the singers who are participating in the other popular music festival, Kënga Magjike, more time to work on their songs. 28 songs were selected by the professional jury to compete in the two semi finals with no division between newcomers and established singers.
Shows
All shows, including the semi-finals and final were hosted by singer and songwriterJonida Maliqi. As customary, the singers sang live due to technical problems with the orchestra. The basic music was in playback. Bojken Lako, Albanian singer and songwriter, is the new producer of this event.
Semi-final 1
Semi-final 2
Final
In the final, all songs were judged by two juries, the central jury and the alternative jury with the representatives of local Radio Televisions. For the first time, the votes were given in Eurovision style: 12, 10, 8-1 points, resulting in a win for "Kënga ime" performed by Aurela Gaçe. Juliana Pasha, Albanian representative in 2010, and maNga, Turkish representative in 2010, were guest performers.
At Eurovision
Albania competed third on the first semi-final of the contest, on 10 May. Aurela placed fourteenth with 47 points and didn't qualify to the final. RTSH this year published two Festivali i Këngës 49 magazines with information of the participants, lyrics, composers. The first one was published in Albanian before Festivali i Këngës. The second magazine was published in Albanian and in English after the Albanian entry was decided. This magazine was used as a promotion of the Albanian representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011.
Split results
In the Semi-final 1 Albania came 14th with 47 points: the public awarded Albania 13th place with 42 points and the jury awarded 11th place with 61 points.
