Prior to the 2019 contest, Austria had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 51 times since its first entry in. The nation had won the contest on two occasions: in with the song "Merci, Chérie" performed by Udo Jürgens and in with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" performed by Conchita Wurst. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the, Austria had featured in five finals. Austria's least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on eight occasions, most recently in the. Austria has also received nul points on four occasions; in,, and. The Austrian national broadcaster, Österreichischer Rundfunk, broadcasts the event within Austria and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. ORF confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest on 21 September 2018. From 2011 to 2013, ORF had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Austria, with both the public and a panel of jury members involved in the selection. For the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, ORF held an internal selection to choose the artist and song to represent Austria at the contest. In 2015 and 2016, the broadcaster returned to selecting the Austrian entry through a national final. For the 2017 and 2018 contests, ORF opted for an internal selection to select their artist and song. On 21 November 2018, ORF announced that they would opt for an internal selection again in order to select their act and entry for the 2019 Contest.
Before Eurovision
Internal selection
On 29 January 2019, ORF announced Paenda as the Austrian entrant at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 during radio showÖ3-Wecker, aired on Ö3. Her song "Limits" was released on 8 March 2019.
Promotion
Paenda made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Limits" as the Austrian Eurovision entry. On 6 April, she performed at the Eurovision in Concert event in Amsterdam, hosted by Cornald Maas and Marlayne, to over 4500 spectators. She also performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London on 14 April.
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Austria was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 16 May 2019, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show. Once all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Austria was set to perform in position 9, following the entry from Sweden and preceding the entry from Croatia.
Semi-final
Austria performed ninth in the second semi-final, following the entry from Sweden and preceding the entry from Croatia. At the end of the show, Austria was not announced among the top 10 entries in the second semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that country placed seventeenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 21 points: 0 points from the televoting and 21 points from the juries. With the old voting system, Austria would have ranked 18th with 1 point.
Voting
Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.
Points awarded to Austria
Points awarded by Austria
Split voting results
The following five members comprised the Austrian jury:
