In September 2008, the Slovak broadcaster Slovenská televízia (STV) announced that they would return to the Eurovision Song Contest after an eleven-year absence.

In the second round of voting, "Leť tmou" performed by Kamil Mikulčík and Nela Pocisková was selected as the winner after scoring the most points from the jury.

Performing during the show in position 7, "Leť tmou" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final.

The nation's best placing in the contest was eighteenth, which it achieved in 1996 with the song "Kým nás máš" performed by Marcel Palonder.

In 1999, Slovakia was relegated as one of the seven countries with the lowest average scores over the previous five years, while in 2000, nation withdrew from the competition, citing financial reasons.

[2][3] The program director of STV Roman Lipták stated that the pressure from local artists was the driving force behind the country's return.

[4] Eurosong 2009 was the national final format developed by STV in order to select Slovakia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009.

[11] The broadcaster received 177 submissions at the closing of the deadline and an expert committee selected fifty entries for the competition.

[18][19][20] In the superfinal, the jury selected "Leť tmou" performed by Kamil Mikulčík and Nela Pocisková as the winner.

[21] According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) 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.

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.