Slovenia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 with the song "Samo ljubezen" written by Robert Pešut and Barbara Pešut. The song was performed by the drag act Sestre. Slovenian broadcaster Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV Slovenija) organised the national final EMA 2002 in order to select the Slovenian entry for the 2002 contest in Tallinn, Estonia. 18 entries competed in the national final which consisted of two shows: a semi-final and a final. Entries were selected to advance from the semi-final based on a public televote and a jury panel. Ten entries qualified to compete in the final where "Samo ljubezen" performed by Sestre was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from two thematical juries.
Slovenia competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 25 May 2002. Performing during the show in position 22, Slovenia placed thirteenth out of the 24 participating countries, scoring 33 points.
Background
Prior to the 2002 contest, Slovenia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest seven times since its first entry in . Slovenia's highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been seventh place, which the nation achieved on two occasions: in 1995 with the song "Prisluhni mi" performed by Darja Švajger and in 2001 with the song "Energy" performed by Nuša Derenda. The country's only other top ten result was achieved in 1997 when Tanja Ribič performing "Zbudi se" placed tenth.
The Slovenian national broadcaster, Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV Slovenija), broadcasts the event within Slovenia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. The Slovenian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest has traditionally been selected through a national final entitled Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA), which has been produced with variable formats. For 2002, the broadcaster opted to organise EMA 2002 to select the Slovenian entry.
Before Eurovision
EMA 2002
EMA 2002 was the seventh edition of the Slovenian national final format Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA). The competition was used by RTV Slovenija to select Slovenia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2002, and consisted of two shows on 15 and 16 February 2002. Both shows of the competition took place at the RTV Slovenija Studio 1 in Ljubljana and were broadcast on TV SLO1.
Format
The format of the competition consisted of two televised shows: a semi-final held on 15 February 2002 and a final held on 16 February 2002. Eighteen songs competed in the semi-final where a public televote first selected the top five entries to proceed to the final. An expert jury then selected an additional five finalists out of the thirteen remaining songs. Ten songs competed in the final where the winner was selected by two thematical juries. Each jury group assigned points as follows: 1–8, 10 and 12, with the song that received the highest overall score when the votes were combined being determined the winner.
Competing entries
Artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster until 25 October 2001. 75 entries were received by the broadcaster during the submission period. An expert committee consisting of Mojmir Sepe (conductor and composer), Aleš Strajnar (musician and composer), Jaka Pucihar (composer), Aleksander Radić (Head of the Slovenian delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest) and Peter Juratovec (television director) selected eighteen artists and songs for the competition from the received submissions. The competing artists were announced on 23 November 2001. Among the competing artists was former Slovenian Eurovision contestant Regina who represented Slovenia in 1996.
Shows
Semi-final
The semi-final of EMA 2002 took place on 15 February 2002, hosted by Andrea F. and former Slovenian Eurovision entrants Darja Švajger (1995, 1999) and Nuša Derenda (2001). The eighteen competing entries first faced a public televote where the top five proceeded to the final; an additional five qualifiers were then selected out of the remaining thirteen entries by an expert jury.