Eurovision Song Contest 2003

48th Eurovision Song Contest
motto	Magical rendezvous
date	May 24, 2003
Host country	Latvia
venue	Skonto Hall , Riga
Broadcasting television station
Moderation	Marie N and Renārs Kaupers
Pause filler	Iļģi , Brainstorm , Marie N and Raimonds Pauls
participating countries	26th
winner	Turkey
First time participation	Ukraine
Returning participants	Portugal
Voting rule	The audience decided by TED how the country awards 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and one point to the ten best songs.
◄ ESC 2002 • ESC 2004 ►

The 48th Eurovision Song Contest took place on May 24, 2003 in the Latvian capital Riga . The evening in the Skonto Arena was moderated by Marie N, winner of the previous year, and Renārs Kaupers , the Latvian lead singer of the group Brainstorm from the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 . The favorites were the entries from Spain , Sweden , Turkey , Iceland and Russia , which with the duo tATu sent internationally successful superstars to the competition. Because the competition won the Turkish singer Sertab Erener with her self-written song Everyway that I Can . It was the first victory for Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest.

venue

The cities of Ventspils , Jūrmala and the Latvian capital Riga applied to host the event. Ventspils applied with the Ventspils Olympic Center. The city's mayor, Aivars Lembergs , asked to accommodate up to 8,000 guests in two cruise ferries during the week of the event. The Jūrmala City Council announced that it would be held in the Dzintaru koncertzāle . A commitment would have involved an expansion and modernization of the facility and the surrounding infrastructure. The public television company Latvijas Televīzija (LTV) selected the cities of Riga and Ventspils for the second round of the selection process. On June 15, 2002, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and LTV announced that Riga would host the competition in the discount hall .

Riga Jurmala Ventspils

Applicant cities: Successful application, unsuccessful applicant cities

city	venue	Maximum capacity (at concerts)
Jurmala	Dzintaru koncertzāle	2,024
Riga	Mežaparka Lielā estrāde	~ 70,000
	Discount hall	6,500
	Ķīpsala International Exhibition Center	3,500-6,500
Ventspils	Ventspils Olympic Center	4,500

particularities

Interpreter of the winning title, Sertab Erener , in 2004

The Austrian participant Alf Poier , a Styrian cabaret artist, caused a sensation during the trial week in Riga . He thought the competition's fan base was humorless and too serious and tried to ridicule them. In the end, Weil der Mensch gehts in sixth place, but Germany's contribution Let's Get Happy (music: Ralph Siegel , text: Bernd Opinion , vocals: Lou ) had to be content with 12th place, tied with Ireland .

Irish entry We've Got the World by Mickey Harte was suspected of being a plagiarism of Fly on the Wings of Love , the 2000 Olsen Brothers winning song . Great Britain , one of the most successful countries to date, received Cry Baby des for its entry Duos Jemini not a single point. In the gradual reading out of the country ratings, Norway initially took the lead. But then Turkey and Belgium, not ranked among the favorites, alternated at the top several times, closely followed by Russia in places 2–3. Only with the very last ranking from Slovenia was the Turkish entry two points ahead of Belgium and three points ahead of Russia as the winner.

This year, the Barbara Dex Award , initiated by a fan site, was presented for the seventh time. The “worst” outfit of the competition is to be awarded with this price, which should not be taken very seriously. This year's winners were tATu from Russia: They appeared in white T-shirts marked “1”.

Attendees

participating countries

Countries that had participated in a previous ESC, but not in 2003

With 26 participating countries, the competition set a new record. The Netherlands, Poland, Ireland, Iceland and Norway were allowed to participate in the competition again after being suspended in 2002 . Macedonia, Finland, Switzerland, Lithuania and Denmark had to sit out due to the poor performance of the previous year. Portugal returned to competition after being voluntarily suspended in 2002. The Ukraine participated for the first time. Albania wanted to take part for the first time, but was rejected by the EBU , as they only wanted to establish a new participant with Ukraine. For the fifth time in total and as in 2001, none of the participants returned to the competition.

Voting procedure

Most participating countries involve television viewers in the awarding of points by means of televoting . In the event of technical problems or in those countries in which televoting could not be carried out due to the insufficiently developed telephone network, a jury awarded the points: In 2003 this was the case in Bosnia and Herzegovina , Ireland and Russia .

Controversy over scoring from Ireland

Immediately after the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, there were debates in Russia about the result. On May 29, the Russian state television broadcaster Pervy Kanal made an official complaint to the European Broadcasting Union . According to the television broadcaster, tATu received an “unlikely low score” from some countries. Great Britain and Ireland were explicitly named, the only ones who had awarded 0 points for the Russian duo. In fact, it turned out that the telephone voting carried out in Ireland, which was actually supposed to determine the awarding of points, was not taken into account, and instead the points were awarded by a jury. The reason given was that there was not enough time to evaluate the telephone voting and that the jury's voting was therefore used. It was later announced that tATu would also have received 0 points, taking into account the telephone voting from Ireland, while Urban Trad from Belgium only received 2 points instead of 10. tATu would have landed in second place ahead of Urban Trad, while Sertab Erener's win from Turkey would not have changed. Nevertheless, the decision of the Irish authorities was correct and the result was therefore not contestable.

Placements

space	Start number	country	Interpreter	Title Music (M) and Text (T)	language	Translation (unofficial)	Points
01.	04th	Turkey	Sertab Erener	Everyway that I Can M: Demir Demirkan , Sertab Erener ; T: Demir Demirkan	English	In every possible way	167
02.	22nd	Belgium	Urban Trad	Sanomi M / T: Yves Barbieux	Constructed language	-	165
03.	11	Russia	tATu Тату	Ne Ver ', Ne Boysia Не верь, не бойся M: Valeriy Polienko; T: Mars Lasar	Russian	Do not believe, do not be afraid	164
04th	18th	Norway	Jostein Hasselgård	I'm Not Afraid to Move On M / T: Arve Furset, VJ Strøm	English	I am not afraid to go any further	123
05.	25th	Sweden	Fame	Give Me Your Love M / T: Carl Lösnitz, Calle Kindbom	English	Give me your love	107
06th	02	Austria	Alf Poier	Because people count M / T: Alf Poier	Styrian	-	101
07th	20th	Poland	I troy	No limits - Żadnych Granic M: André Franke; T: Joachim Horn-Bernges, Michał Krystian Wiśniewski, Jacek Łągwa	German , Polish , Russian	-	090
08th.	01	Iceland	Birgitta	Open Your Heart M: Hallgrímur Óskarsson, Birgitta Haukdal Brynjarsdóttir ; T: Hallgrímur Óskarsson	English	open your heart	081
	12	Spain	Beth	Dime M / T: Jesús María Pérez, Amaya Martínez	Spanish	tell me	081
10.	24	Romania	Nicola	Don't Break My Heart M: Mihai Alexandru; T: Nicola	English	Don't break my heart	073
11.	03	Ireland	Mickey Harte	We've Got the World M / T: Martin Brannigan, Keith Molloy	English	We own the world today	053
	10	Germany	Lou	Let's Get Happy M: Ralph Siegel ; T: Bernd Opinion	English	Let's get happy	053
13.	14th	Netherlands	Esther Hart	One More Night M / T: Tjeerd van Zanen, Alan Michael	English	One more night	045
14th	16	Ukraine	Oleksandr Олександр	Hasta la vista M: Svika Pick; T: Mirit Shem Or	English a.	Goodbye	030th
15th	08th	Croatia	Claudia Beni	Više nisam tvoja M / T: Andrej Babić	Croatian , English	I'm not yours anymore	029
16.	06th	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Mija Martina	Ne brini (Could It Be?) M: Ines Prajo; T: Arjana Kunštek	Croatian, English	Don't you worry (can it be?)	027
17th	17th	Greece	Mando Μαντώ	Never Let You Go M: Mando; T: Teri Siganos	English	Never let you go	025th
18th	19th	France	Louisa Baïleche	Monts et merveilles M / T: Hocine Hallaf	French	The blue of the sky	019th
19th	13	Israel	Lior Narkis ליאור נרקיס	Milim La'Ahava (Words For Love) (מילים לאהבה(Words For Love) M: Yoni Ro`en; T: Yossi Gispan	Hebrew , English b.	Words of love	017th
20th	09	Cyprus	Stelios Konstantas Στέλιος Κωνσταντάς	Feeling Alive M / T: Stelios Konstantas	English	I feel alive	015th
21st	23	Estonia	Ruffus	Eighties Coming Back M / T: Vaiko Eplik	English	The eighties are back	014th
22nd	07th	Portugal	Rita Guerra	Deixa-me sonhar (Só mais uma vez) M / T: Paulo Martins	Portuguese , English	Let me dream (just one more time)	013
23.	26th	Slovenia	Karmen	Nanana M: Martin Štibernik; T: Karmen Stavec	English	Well well	007th
24.	21st	Latvia	FLY	Hello from Mars M / T: Mārtiņš Freimanis, Lauris Reiniks	English	Hello from Mars	005
25th	05	Malta	Lynn Chircop	To Dream Again M: Alfred Zammit; T: Cynthia Sammut	English	To dream again	004th
26th	15th	United Kingdom	Jemini	Cry Baby M / T: Martin Isherwood	English	Cry, darling	000

^a. with Spanish title

^b.in a few words in Greek , French and Spanish

The winner and the countries marked in green were automatically qualified for the final in the following year.

Scoring

country	Points	IS	AT	IE	TR	MT	BA	PT	MR	CY	DE	RU	IT	IL	NL	UK	UA	GR	NO	FR	PL	LV	BE	EE	RO	SE	SI	Voting
Iceland	081		-	7th	8th	12	-	-	6th	5	1	-	-	-	6th	-	4th	-	12	1	1	3	3	1	-	7th	4th	16
Austria	101	10		-	6th	-	5	10	5	4th	2	-	8th	-	8th	8th	-	2	8th	-	-	4th	2	6th	-	6th	7th	17th
Ireland	053	2	-		5	5	-	7th	4th	7th	-	-	-	-	-	12	1	-	6th	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	2	12
Turkey	167	3	12	-		4th	12	8th	10	8th	10	-	3	7th	12	7th	2	7th	10	10	2	-	12	-	10	8th	10	21st
Malta	004th	-	-	3	-		-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	02
Bosnia and Herzegovina	027	-	7th	-	12			-	8th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	03
Portugal	013	-	-	2	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	3	-	-	6th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	04th
Croatia	029	-	5	6th	3	-	6th	-		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8th	06th
Cyprus	015th	-	-		-	2	-	-	-		-	-	-	1	-	-	-	12	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	03
Germany	053	8th	1	4th	-	3	-	-	-	-		7th	4th	-	2	4th	-	-	-	-	5	2	-	2	1	10	-	13
Russia	164	4th	8th	-	10	1	3	4th	12	10	8th		6th	10	1	-	12	10	2	7th	4th	12	7th	12	7th	2	12	23
Spain	081	6th	-	-	2	-	-	12	7th	6th	-	6th		12	5	-	-	5	-	-	-	-	10	-	5	4th	1	13
Israel	017th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	5	1		-	-	-	3	-	8th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	04th
Netherlands	045	-	-	5	-	7th	2	-	-	-	-	10	-	2		1	-	-	5	-	-	-	8th	-	-	5	-	09
United Kingdom	000	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	00
Ukraine	030th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8th	-	4th	-	-		-	-	-	10	5	-	3	-	-	-	05
Greece	025th	-	-	1	4th	-	-	-	-	12	5	1	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	06th
Norway	123	12	2	12	-	6th	-	5	-	-	7th	4th	-	3	7th	6th	7th	-		3	6th	7th	6th	10	3	12	5	19th
France	019th	-	-	-	-	-	8th	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		3	-	-	-	6th	-	-	04th
Poland	090	-	10	-	-	10	-	-	-	-	12	-	5	-	4th	2	8th	6th	4th	5		8th	5	4th	4th	3	-	15th
Latvia	005	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-			-	5	-	-	-	01
Belgium	165	7th	4th	10	7th	-	10	6th	-	3	6th	3	12	8th	10	5	10	8th	3	12	12	10		8th	8th	-	3	22nd
Estonia	014th	1	-	8th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	04th
Romania	073	-	6th	-	1	-	7th	-	1	2	4th	12	10	6th	-	-	6th	4th	1	4th	8th	-	-	-		1	-	15th
Sweden	107	5	3	-	-	8th	1	3	2	1	3	-	7th	5	3	10	5	-	7th	2	7th	6th	4th	7th	12		6th	21st
Slovenia	007th	-	-	-	-	-	4th	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		02

* The table is arranged vertically according to the order of appearance, horizontally according to the chronological scoring.

Map of scoring for the winning title from Turkey by country

Statistics of the twelve-point allocation

number	country	received from
5	Russia	Estonia, Croatia, Latvia, Slovenia, Ukraine
4th	Turkey	Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Netherlands, Austria
3	Belgium	France, Poland, Spain
	Norway	Ireland, Iceland, Sweden
2	Iceland	Malta, Norway
	Spain	Israel, Portugal
1	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Turkey
	Greece	Cyprus
	Ireland	United Kingdom
	Poland	Germany
	Romania	Russia
	Sweden	Romania
	Cyprus	Greece

Marcel Bezençon Prize

The 2003 Song Contest was the last time the Fan Prize was awarded. The winners of the Marcel Bezençon Prize were:

• Press award for the best song: Turkey - Everyway That I Can - Sertab Erener 
• Artist award for the best artist: Netherlands - Esther Hart - One More Night 
• Fan Prize : Spain - Dime - Beth 

See also

• German preliminary decision 2003
• List of winners and events of the Eurovision Song Contest

Web links

• Eurovision.tv
• Eurovision.de
• diggiloo.net

Individual evidence

1. ↑ news.bbc.co.uk
2. ↑ News: 12 points for Austria! Irish televoting results finally announced. (No longer available online.) In: ESCToday. June 23, 2003, archived from the original on May 28, 2004 ; accessed on May 11, 2015 . 
3. ↑ laut.de