Eurovision Song Contest 1998
| File:ESC1998.jpg | |
| Date | 9 May 1998 |
|---|---|
| Presenter | Ulrika Jonsson & Terry Wogan |
| Host Conductor | James McMillan |
| Host Broadcaster | BBC |
| Venue | National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, England |
| Winning Song | Diva (Israel) |
| Voting system | Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs |
| Number of Songs | 25 |
| Countries Making Debut | FYR Macedonia |
| Nul points | Switzerland |
| Interval Act | Jupiter, The Bringer of Joviality |
The Eurovision Song Contest 1998 was the 43rd Eurovision Song Contest and was held on May 9, 1998 at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England. The presenters were Terry Wogan and Ulrika Jonsson. Despite being one of the presenters, Terry Wogan still managed to provide commentary to the contest for the BBC. Dana International from Israel won this year's Eurovision, with the song Diva, following much pre-contest hype and publicity due to the fact that she is a male-to-female transsexual. This year will be remembered for several reasons: this was the last year with an orchestra, the first year with mass televoting, and the last year with language restriction. The contest will never be forgotten because of the suspenseful voting, where the winner was decided on the last nation's points. Greece, France, Switzerland, Malta, Israel and Belgium did not sing with an orchestra, they sung with backing tracks.
The Republic of Macedonia was present for the first time, after their participation failed in 1996 during the internal selection by the EBU. Belgium, Finland, Israel, Romania and Slovakia all participated after their break from last year's contest; Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Russia and Iceland could not participate because of their low average scores from the past five years. The Italian broadcaster, RAI, decided to withdraw from the contest and stay away from it in the future.
After the points from some countries were announced, it was clear that Israel, Malta, and the United Kingdom would be fighting for the top spot. Israel remained in the lead at the end of the voting, but only by two to three points. Everything came down to the vote of Macedonia, who rewarded Israel with 8 points, United Kingdom 10, and Croatia 12, giving zero to Malta, which left Chiara in third place after being second throughout the entire voting process. On the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel, Dana International brought the nation their third victory. Also, Edsilia Rombley, who placed fourth with 150 points, ensured the best result that the Netherlands have had since their win in 1975.
Other notable participants were Germany, who entered Guildo Horn, who provided a shocking comedic act, eventually climbing the scaffolding on the side of the stage. Greece earned only 12 points, which all came from Cyprus. After the contest, there was a correction made with the Spanish votes, who made a mistake in awarding Germany with zero points, rather than the 12 that was rightfully theirs.
In a BBC interview, future Eurovision entrant Nicki French said that one of her most memorable Eurovision moments was Ulrika's infamous faux pas during the voting. On hearing that the Dutch lady announcing the Netherlands' votes had previously been a contestant in Eurovision, Ulrika replied, "A long time ago, was it?" which was followed by much laughter and booing from the audience. [1] In fact Conny Van Den Bos who sung for the Netherlands in 1965 said that she had gone to the contest many years ago; unfortunately for both Conny and Ulrika this wasn't heard above the noise of the audience. What was heard, however, was Ulrika's comment.
Results
| Draw | Country | Language | Artist | Song | Translation | Place | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Croatia |
Croatian | Danijela | Neka mi ne svane | May The Dawn Never Come | 5 | 131 |
| 2 |  Greece |
Greek | Thalassa | Mia Krifi Evesthisia | A Secret Illusion | 20 | 12 |
| 3 |  France |
French | Marie Line | Où Aller | Where To Go | 24 | 3 |
| 4 |  Spain |
Spanish | Mikel Herzog | ¿Qué voy a hacer sin ti? | What Am I Going To Do Without You? | 16 | 21 |
| 5 |  Switzerland |
German | Gunvor | Lass ihn | Let Him | 25 | 0 |
| 6 |  Slovakia |
Slovak | Katarína Hasprová | Modlitba | A Prayer | 21 | 8 |
| 7 |  Poland |
Polish | Sixteen | To takie proste | It's Easy | 17 | 19 |
| 8 |  Israel |
Hebrew | Dana International | Diva | - | 1 | 172 |
| 9 |  Germany |
German | Guildo Horn | Guildo hat euch lieb! | Guildo Loves You! | 7 | 86 |
| 10 |  Malta |
English | Chiara | The One That I Love | - | 3 | 165 |
| 11 |  Hungary |
Hungarian | Charlie | A holnap már nem lesz szomorú | Sadness Will Be Over Tomorrow | 23 | 4 |
| 12 |  Slovenia |
Slovene | Vili Resnik | Naj bogovi slišijo | Let The Gods Hear | 18 | 17 |
| 13 |  Ireland |
English | Dawn Martin | Is Always Over Now? | - | 9 | 64 |
| 14 |  Portugal |
Portuguese | Alma Lusa | Se eu te pudesse abraçar | If I Could Embrace You | 12 | 36 |
| 15 |  Romania |
Romanian | Mălina Olinescu | Eu cred | I Believe | 22 | 6 |
| 16 |  United Kingdom |
English | Imaani | Where Are You? | - | 2 | 166 |
| 17 |  Cyprus |
Greek | Michalis Hadjiyiannis | Yenesis | Genesis | 11 | 37 |
| 18 |  Netherlands |
Dutch | Edsilia | Hemel en aarde | Heaven and Earth | 4 | 150 |
| 19 |  Sweden |
Swedish | Jill Johnson | Kärleken är | Love Is | 10 | 53 |
| 20 |  Belgium |
French | Mélanie Cohl | Dis oui | Say Yes | 6 | 122 |
| 21 |  Finland |
Finnish | Edea | Aava | Open Landscape | 15 | 22 |
| 22 |  Norway |
Norwegian | Lars A. Fredriksen | Alltid sommer | Always Summer | 8 | 79 |
| 23 |  Estonia |
Estonian | Koit Toome | Mere lapsed | Children Of The Sea | 12 | 36 |
| 24 |  Turkey |
Turkish | Tüzmen | Unutamazsın | You Can't Forget | 14 | 25 |
| 25 | Template:FYRM | Macedonian | Vlado Janevski | Ne zori, zoro | Dawn, Do Not Rise | 19 | 16 |
Voting structure
Each country had a televote except Turkey, Romania and some others , where the top ten most voted for songs were awarded the 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points, with a backup jury in case of mistakes. A Jury was used if there was exceptional reasons not to use a televote.
With just one country left to vote, it was anyone's guess as to who was going to prevail, with Israel and Malta locked in battle on the same points total (or so the scoreboard said - in fact, Spain's vote had been wrongly tallied and Malta was really one point ahead), and the United Kingdom apparently nine points behind (really nine behind Malta and eight behind Israel). When FYR Macedonia came to award the decisive points, Israel were the first of the three contenders to be mentioned, receiving eight points. That was enough to knock the UK out of contention for victory, but left plenty of room for Israel to be overtaken by their principal rival. Next, the ten points went to the UK, nudging them into what looked like being an extremely fleeting spell in second place, since most of the audience assumed the twelve points were destined for Malta. Instead, there were gasps as FYR Macedonia sent the final points of the evening to fellow Balkan nation Croatia, handing Israel their first win in the contest since "Hallelujah" in 1979.
Score sheet
External links
Map
* Green = Participating countries
* Yellow = Countries who have participated in the past but don't this year
