Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest
Austria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 52 times since its debut in. The country has won twice, in and, and currently holds the record for the longest gap between wins, with 48 years between victories. The contest is broadcast in Austria by ORF. Vienna was the host city on both of the occasions that the contest was held in Austria, in and.
Having finished sixth at the contest and fourth in, Udo Jurgens won at his third attempt in with the song "Merci Chérie". This was Austria's only top three result of the 20th century. Austria won again in, with Conchita Wurst and "Rise Like a Phoenix". Austria has finished last in the contest final seven times and finished last in the semifinal in 2012. Cesár Sampson achieved Austria's eighth top five result and second-best result of the 21st century at the contest, finishing third with the song "Nobody But You".
History
Austria finished last at its first attempt in the contest in 1957, before Liane Augustin gave the country the first of its eight top five results in, with fifth. Having finished sixth in and fourth in, Udo Jürgens won the contest at his third attempt in 1966. This would be Austria's only top three result of 20th century. The country's best result over the next 46 years would be fifth place, which it achieved with Milestones in, Waterloo & Robinson in and Thomas Forstner in. Austria has finished last in the final a total of seven times, in 1957, 1961, 1962, 1979, 1984, 1988, 1991. The country also finished last in the semi-final in 2012. Austria's best result of the 1990s was four tenth-place finishes, in,, and. Austria's best result of the 2000s was Alf Poier's sixth-place in, which was Austria's best placement since 1989.After a three-year absence, ORF announced on 28 July 2010 that Austria would return to the contest in, where the country reached the final for the first time since 2004, finishing 18th.
Austria achieved its second victory in the contest at the contest, with Conchita Wurst winning with 290 points. In a complete reversal of fortunes in 2015, following a tie-break rule Austria was placed 26th and scored nul points along with Germany, they became the first countries since the United Kingdom in 2003 to score nul points at the final. Because of this, Austria became the first host country to receive nul points. Austria qualified for the final for the next three years, finishing 13th in 2016, 16th in 2017 and 3rd in 2018, until where they placed 17th in the second semifinal. Austria's third Top 3 result came in 2018, with "Nobody but You" by Cesár Sampson finishing third in Lisbon, the country's third-best result in the history of the contest.
Absences
Austria has opted out of participation in several Contests. The first of these was the 1969 Contest, which was staged in Madrid. As Spain was ruled at that time by Francisco Franco, Austria chose to boycott the Contest. Contest historian John Kennedy O'Connor points out, however, that Austria had given Spain two points in the previous event and since Spain only won by one point, the political protest was perhaps disingenuous.The following year, Austria was again absent. This was due to the unprecedented result in 1969 in which four songs tied for first place, a result which prompted several other countries to opt out as well.
From 1973 to 1975, Austria stayed away as well. The exact reason for this is unclear, however the scoring system in use at one of these Contests - allowing all entrants a guaranteed number of points - may have been a factor.
The country was ineligible to compete in 1998 and 2001, as it had not achieved sufficiently high placings in the five previous years.
Prior to the 2006 contest, Austria announced that they would not enter a performer in protest at their poor results in previous years, arguing that the musical talent of the performers was no longer the determining factor in Contest success. They returned for the 2007 contest in Helsinki, but came second to last in the semi-final. National broadcaster ORF cited the 2007 result, as well as declining interest in the Contest among Austrian viewers, as the reason Austria would not return to the contest in 2008. ORF programme director Wolfgang Lorenz also hinted that Austria may withdraw from the contest indefinitely, stating "ORF has no desire to send more talent out of Austria to a competition where they have no chances...Should the situation change, we'll be happy to take part again".
Despite withdrawing, the final of the 2008 contest was screened on ORF.
In 2008, the EBU introduced two semi-finals to the contest, hoping that spreading countries out by random draw would prevent the kind of bloc voting that had warded Austria off. Additionally, they reintroduced juries to determine 50% of each country's result in 2009. However, Edgar Böhm, director of entertainment for ORF, said that the semi-final format "still incorporates a mix of countries who will be politically favoured in the voting process" and "that, unless a clear guideline as to how the semifinals are organised is made by the EBU, Austria will not be taking part in Moscow 2009". ORF decided not to participate in the 2009 contest, but did broadcast the final as in 2008. The EBU announced that they would work harder to bring Austria back to the contest in 2010, along with former participants Monaco and Italy. It was, however, confirmed that Austria would not participate in the 2010 Contest in Bærum. In July 2010, the chairman of ORF, Alexander Wrabetz, stated that Austria would return for the 2011 contest, due to it being held in its neighbour Germany. In 2011, Austria reached the final for the first time since 2004.
Contestants
Hostings
| Year | Location | Venue | Presenter | Photo |
| Vienna | Großer Festsaal der Wiener Hofburg | Erica Vaal | ||
| Vienna | Wiener Stadthalle | Mirjam Weichselbraun, Alice Tumler and Arabella Kiesbauer |
Awards
Marcel Bezençon Awards
| Year | Category | Song | Performer | Composer | Host city | |
| Press Award | "Rise Like a Phoenix" | Conchita Wurst | Charley Mason, Joey Patulka, Ali Zuckowski, Julian Maas |  Copenhagen |
Related involvement
Heads of delegation
Commentators and spokespersons
Between the and contests, every contest was commentated by Austrian radio journalist and actor Ernst Grissemann, with the exception of the and contests. Grissemann admitted to future German commentator Peter Urban in 1995 that he only stayed for the dress rehearsal and then provided the Austrian commentary live from the ORF studios. After 1998 Grissemann stepped down from the commentary and was replaced by Andi Knoll. Austria has also broadcast the contests which it did not compete in, except for the contest.| Year | Television commentator | Radio commentator | Spokesperson | |
| rowspan="7" | rowspan="14" | Karl Bruck | ||
| - | Karl Bruck | - | ||
| - | Karl Bruck | - | ||
| Emil Kollpacher | - | - | ||
| Emil Kollpacher | - | - | ||
| Emil Kollpacher | - | - | ||
| Emil Kollpacher | - | - | ||
| Willy Kralik | Walter Richard Langer | - | ||
| Willy Kralik | Walter Richard Langer | - | ||
| Willy Kralik | Walter Richard Langer | - | ||
| Emil Kollpacher | Walter Richard Langer | - | ||
| Willy Kralik | Walter Richard Langer | - | ||
| Willy Kralik | rowspan="2" | - | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | - | - | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | Hubert Gaisbauer | rowspan="2" | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | Hubert Gaisbauer | - | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | rowspan="3" | rowspan="3" | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | - | - | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | - | - | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | Hubert Gaisbauer | Jenny Pippal | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | Hubert Gaisbauer | Jenny Pippal | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | Walter Richard Langer | Jenny Pippal | ||
| Max Schautzer | Walter Richard Langer | Jenny Pippal | ||
| Günther Ziesel | Walter Richard Langer | Jenny Pippal | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | Walter Richard Langer | Jenny Pippal | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | Walter Richard Langer | Tilia Herold | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | Rudolf Klausnitzer | Tilia Herold | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | Tilia Herold | |||
| Ernst Grissemann | Walter Richard Langer | Chris Lohner | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | Hans Leitinger | Tilia Herold | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | Hans Leitinger | Tilia Herold | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | Hans Leitinger | Tilia Herold | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | Hans Leitinger | Tilia Herold | ||
| Barbara Stöckl | Walter Richard Langer | Tilia Herold | ||
| Herbert Dobrovolny | Walter Richard Langer | Gabriele Haring | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | Martin Blumenau | Andy Lee | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | Martin Blumenau | Andy Lee | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | Martin Blumenau | Tilia Herold | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | Stermann & Grissemann | Tilia Herold | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | Stermann & Grissemann | Martina Rupp | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | Stermann & Grissemann | Adriana Zartl | ||
| Ernst Grissemann | Stermann & Grissemann | |||
| Andi Knoll | Stermann & Grissemann | Dodo Roščić | ||
| Andi Knoll | Stermann & Grissemann | Dodo Roščić | ||
| Andi Knoll | Stermann & Grissemann | |||
| Andi Knoll | Stermann & Grissemann | Dodo Roščić | ||
| Andi Knoll | Martin Blumenau | Dodo Roščić | ||
| Andi Knoll | Martin Blumenau | Dodo Roščić | ||
| Andi Knoll | Martin Blumenau | Dodo Roščić | ||
| Andi Knoll | rowspan="5" | |||
| Andi Knoll | Eva Pölzl | - | ||
| Andi Knoll | rowspan="3" | - | ||
| Benny Hörtnagl | - | - | ||
| - | - | |||
| Andi Knoll | Martin Blumenau & Benny Hörtnagl | Kati Bellowitsch | ||
| Andi Knoll | Stermann & Grissemann | Kati Bellowitsch | ||
| Andi Knoll | rowspan="7" | Kati Bellowitsch | ||
| Andi Knoll | Kati Bellowitsch | - | ||
| Andi Knoll | Kati Bellowitsch | - | ||
| Andi Knoll | Kati Bellowitsch | - | ||
| Andi Knoll | Kristina Inhof | - | ||
| Andi Knoll | Kati Bellowitsch | - | ||
| Andi Knoll | Philipp Hansa | - |