Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006
Belgium participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "Je t'adore" written by Kate Ryan, Niklas Bergwall, Niclas Kings and Lisa Greene. The song was performed by Kate Ryan. The Belgian entry for the 2006 contest in Athens, Greece was selected through the national final Eurosong '06, organised by the Flemish broadcaster Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT). The competition featured twenty-eight competing entries and consisted of seven shows. In the final on 19 February 2006, "Je t'adore" performed by Kate Ryan was selected as the winner via the votes of seven jury groups and a public televote. Belgium competed in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 18 May 2006. Performing during the show in position 7, "Je t'adore" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Belgium placed twelfth out of the 23 participating countries in the semi-final with 69 points. Background Prior to the 2006 contest, Belgium had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-seven times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in . Since then, the country has won the contest on one occasion in with the song "J'aime la vie" performed by Sandra Kim. Following the introduction of semi-finals for , Belgium had been featured in only one final. In 2005, Nuno Resende represented the country with the song "Le grand soir", placing twenty-second in the semi-final and failing to advance to the final. The Belgian broadcaster for the 2006 contest, who broadcasts the event in Belgium and organises the selection process for its entry, was Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT). The Belgian participation in the contest alternates between two broadcasters: the Flemish VRT and the Walloon Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française (RTBF). Both broadcasters have selected the Belgian entry using national finals and internal selections in the past. In 2004 and 2005, both VRT and RTBF organised a national final in order to select the Belgian entry. On 19 June 2005, VRT confirmed Belgium's participation in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest and announced that the Eurosong national final would be held to select their entry. Before Eurovision Eurosong '06 Eurosong '06 was the national final that selected Belgium's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. The competition consisted of seven shows that commenced on 8 January 2006 and concluded with a final on 19 February 2006 where the winning song and artist were selected. All shows took place at the Studio 100 in Schelle, hosted by Bart Peeters and were broadcast on Eén. Format Twenty-eight entries were selected to compete in Eurosong. Four heats took place on 8, 15, 22 and 29 January 2006 with each show featuring seven entries. The top three as determined by an expert jury, a press jury, two radio jury groups from the stations Radio 2 and Radio Donna and public televoting qualified to the semi-finals. The expert jury