It’s the long-running national final that Croatia used to select its Eurovision act from 1993 to 2011. Now Croatian media is claiming that broadcaster HRT will return to the Dora national final to select its act for Eurovision 2018.

Croatian newspaper Jutarnji list has claimed that HRT will “definitely” revive Dora for 2018. The paper claims the national final will be held in either late February or early March 2018, and will involve one semi-final and a grand final.

The big unknown is where the national final will be held. Traditionally the home of Dora is the Crystal Ballroom at the Hotel Kvarner in the seaside resort town of Opatija. While not all previous Dora shows have been hosted in Opatija, the location has an iconic association with Dora, much like the Ariston Theatre for Sanremo.

However, hosting the contest in Opatija would be “five times more expensive” than hosting in the capital city, Zagreb. Jutarnji‘s source said, “Everyone would like to respect tradition and have Dora return to Opatija, but we have to be aware that it costs a lot.”

The cheaper option would be to host Dora at HRT’s Studio Anton Marti. This large television studio was also the home of The Voice of Croatia.

Jutarnji says that details of Dora 2018 will be confirmed by “mid-January at the latest”. It is expected that at this time, HRT will make a call for interested songwriters to submit entries.

If Dora is revived, Croatia will join Cyprus, France, Montenegro, San Marino and Serbia in moving from internal selection to a new national final to select their act for Eurovision 2018.

Dora and the Eurovision Song Contest

Dora was launched in 1993 to select Croatia’s first Eurovision entry as an independent nation. The national final was used consistently from 1993 to 2011.

Croatia’s best Eurovision results came from the Dora years. In 1996, Maja Blagdan placed fourth with “Sveta ljubav”, then in 1999 Doris Dragovic also placed fourth with “Marija Magdalena”.

Daria Kinzer was the last Dora winner to go to Eurovision. Her song “Celebrate” placed only 15th in the Düsseldorf semi-final.

In 2012 and 2013, HRT internally selected their acts for Eurovision. However, neither Nina Badric nor Klapa s Mora qualified for the grand final.

Croatia took a two-year break from Eurovision and returned in 2016. Their acts for Stockholm and Kyiv were both internally selected. Nina Kraljic made it to the grand final and placed 23rd, while Jacques Houdek took home an impressive 13th place — Croatia’s best Eurovision result in more than a decade.

The success of Houdek may have fuelled the return of Dora. He had previously competed at Dora six times, including placing second in 2011. His Eurovision success perhaps demonstrated that there was plenty of talent in the Dora system.

What do you think? Should HRT revive Dora? Or should they stick with internal selection? Share your thoughts below!

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Music is the key
Music is the key
6 years ago

I agree, but some countries have done great choices when selecting internally too. France, Bosnia, and Turkey especally. Sadly the two latter don’t take part anymore though.

What happened with the archieve at their site with old NFs btw?

Music is the key
Music is the key
6 years ago

This is not a reply for the page, but a polite question to Wiwibloggs: What is the reason why I get this “your message is awaiting moderation” thing? It happened yesterday in another thread. My reply was never posted. And it happened here, when I (again) write about the Croatian final.I’m not saying the same will happen again necessary, but there is a risk. I hope you treat all peole who post here equally, respecting every message, so that it should not have to go through some sort of “cencorship”. I can’t see how polite posts about a Croatian national… Read more »

Music is the key
Music is the key
6 years ago

Will be very nice if they will have a national final. I suppose the Croatian pop / rock scene has a lot to offer. At least going by the standard of Dora during it’s heday

nauportus
nauportus
6 years ago

Croatia’s 95, 96, 98 and 99 entries were all amazing and would make awesome Eurovision winners, but all their songs since then (with the exception of 2005) were bloody awful. I still can’t believe how tacky their 2011 song was.

Croatia has some amazingly talented songwriters but it seems they mostly stay away from Eurovision.

Craig Armerio
Craig Armerio
6 years ago

BREAKING NEWS:
The girl rock band “Luminize” will most likely represent Croatia at the ESC in Portugal, pending confirmation from the Croatian national broadcaster.
Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO2N5yAU-jQ

Music is the key
Music is the key
6 years ago
Reply to  Craig Armerio

As much as I like national final, this sounds very promissing! Maybe it will be a NF with some songs by them, or they might just pick a song which suits them well.

Do you have any source for this rumour Craig?

Rock on Croatia!

Craig Armerio
Craig Armerio
6 years ago

I’d call this a reliable rumour, though it’s a bit too early to say anything concrete. All I dare say at this time is that it seems it is all up to the Croatian National Broadcaster as the girls would surely be very happy and enthusiastic to represent their homeland and possibly bring the ESC victory back to Croatia, hosting the contest in Croatia for the second time after 30 years of “fasting”. Knock wood! 😉

Craig Armerio
Craig Armerio
6 years ago

BREAKING NEWS:
The girl rock band “Luminize” will most likely represnet Croatia at the ESC in Portugal, pending confirmation from the Croatian national broadcaster.
Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO2N5yAU-jQ

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
6 years ago

I liked both of Croatia’s internally selected songs in the last couple of years. I really liked Nina Badric, too!

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
6 years ago

So it seems that Croatia was not so happy with last year’s song… and I don’t blame them…

James
James
6 years ago
Reply to  L'oiseau

Considering Croatia reached a contest high with the help of “My Friend”, that may not be the case.

Colin
Colin
6 years ago
Reply to  L'oiseau

We are mostly quite happy with Jacques and his result. Dora will just bring in a new flavor and showcase more than one artist from Croatia.

Michael Adam
Michael Adam
6 years ago

I’d love to see Dora come back!!! It’s proven to be successful so go Croatia!

Jo
Jo
6 years ago

For Croatia, I’d stick with the internal selection.

Erasmus
Erasmus
6 years ago

So many NFs ufff….

Michael Adam
Michael Adam
6 years ago
Reply to  Erasmus

Why uff? I myself think this is more fun than just selecting internally. Plus the people in a country actually get to have a say in what will happen.

Erasmus
Erasmus
6 years ago
Reply to  Michael Adam

I think so too, but I won’t be able to watch all of them, that’s so frustrating…