The Eurovision Song Contest 1997 was the 42nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held on 3 May 1997 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) and presented by Carrie Crowley and Ronan Keating, the contest was held in Ireland following the country's victory at the 1996 contest with the song "The Voice" by Eimear Quinn. The 1997 contest was the seventh – and to date last – edition to be staged in Ireland, as well as the fourth to be produced by RTÉ in five years. The Point Theatre served as the host venue for the third time, following the 1994 and 1995 contests, becoming the only venue to have been the site of three Eurovision Song Contests.
Twenty-five countries participated in the contest, with a new relegation system introduced to determine which nations could participate, based on each country's average points total in previous contests. Italy made its first appearance since 1993, and Denmark, Germany, Hungary and Russia returned after last competing in 1995, having been prevented from competing the previous year after failing to progress from that event's qualifying round. Belgium, Finland and Slovakia, participants in the previous year's contest, were unable to return after being excluded by the new relegation rules.
The winner was the United Kingdom with the song "Love Shine a Light", written by Kimberley Rew and performed by Katrina and the Waves. Ireland, Turkey, Italy and Cyprus rounded out the top five, with Ireland earning their fifth placing in the top two within six years and Turkey and Cyprus achieving their best results to date. Five of the competing countries used televoting to determine their points, allowing the general viewing public a say in the results for the first time; following this successful trial all countries were encouraged to use this system starting from the following year's event. Entries were also permitted for the first time to feature no live music accompaniment, with each performance being able to use only a backing track rather than utilising any part of the orchestra or any live instrumentation from the performers themselves.
The 1997 event would prove to be a watershed for the contest, with many aspects of this event leaving a lasting impact on future editions of Eurovision. These included: the first openly LGBT artist, Iceland's Paul Oscar, selected to compete in the event; changes to contest rules led to the abandonment of live musical accompaniment in future events; a successful trial of televoting in five countries led to widespread adoption for all countries in 1998.
Results[]
Country in gold is the winning entry and the country in silver is the host country.
| Rank | Country | EBU member station | Artist | Song | Conductor | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | United Kingdom | BBC | Katrina and the Waves | "Love Shine a Light" | Don Airey | 227 |
| 02 | Ireland | RTÉ | Marc Roberts | "Mysterious Woman" | No conductor | 157 |
| 03 | Turkey | TRT | Şebnem Paker and Grup Ethnic | "Dinle" | Levent Çoker | 121 |
| 04 | Italy | RAI | Jalisse | "Fiumi di parole" | Lucio Fabbri | 114 |
| 05 | Cyprus | CyBC | Hara and Andreas Konstantinou | "Mana mou" (Μάνα μου) | Stavros Lantsias | 98 |
| 06 | Spain | TVE | Marcos Llunas | "Sin rencor" | Toni Xuclà | 96 |
| 07 | France | France Télévision | Fanny | "Sentiments songes" | Régis Dupré | 95 |
| 08 | Estonia | ETV | Maarja | "Keelatud maa" | Tarmo Leinatamm | 82 |
| 09 | Malta | PBS | Debbie Scerri | "Let Me Fly" | Ray Agius | 66 |
| 10 | Slovenia | RTVSLO | Tanja Ribič | "Zbudi se" | Mojmir Sepe | 60 |
| 11 | Poland | TVP | Anna Maria Jopek | "Ale jestem" | Krzesimir Dębski | 54 |
| 12 | Greece | ERT | Marianna Zorba | "Horepse" (Χόρεψε) | Anacreon Papageorgiou | 39 |
| Hungary | MTV | V.I.P. | "Miért kell, hogy elmenj?" | Péter Wolf | 39 | |
| 14 | Sweden | SVT | Blond | "Bara hon älskar mig" | Curt-Eric Holmquist | 36 |
| 15 | Russia | ORT | Alla Pugacheva | "Primadonna" (Примадонна) | Rutger Gunnarsson | 33 |
| 16 | Denmark | DR | Kølig Kaj (credited on screen as Thomas Lægaard) |
"Stemmen i mit liv" | Jan Glæsel | 25 |
| 17 | Croatia | HRT | E.N.I. | "Probudi me" | No conductor | 24 |
| 18 | Germany | ARD/NDR | Bianca Shomburg | "Zeit" | No conductor | 22 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | RTVBiH | Alma Čardžić | "Goodbye" | Sinan Alimanović | 22 | |
| 20 | Iceland | RÚV | Paul Oscar | "Minn hinsti dans" | Szymon Kuran | 18 |
| 21 | Austria | ORF | Bettina Soriat | "One Step" | No conductor | 12 |
| 22 | Switzerland | SRG SSR | Barbara Berta | "Dentro di me" | Pietro Damiani | 5 |
| Netherlands | NOS | Mrs. Einstein | "Niemand heeft nog tijd" | Dick Bakker | 5 | |
| 24 | Norway | NRK | Tor Endresen | "San Francisco" | Geir Langslet | 0 |
| Portugal | RTP | Célia Lawson | "Antes do adeus" | Thilo Krasmann | 0 |
Awards[]
Barbara Dex Award[]
| Rank | Country | Artist(s) | Song |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malta | Debbie Scerri | "Let Me Fly" |
Broadcast[]
Participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) | Spokesperson |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | ORF 1 | Ernst Grissemann | Adriana Zartl |
| FM4 | Stermann & Grissemann | ||
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | RTVBiH | Unknown | Segmedina Srna |
| Croatia | HRT 1 | Aleksandar Kostadinov | Davor Meštrović |
| Cyprus | RIK 1 | Evi Papamichael | Marios Skordis |
| Denmark | DR1 | Hans Otto Bisgaard | Bent Henius |
| DR P3 | Katrine Nyland Sørensen, Morten H. Pankoke | ||
| Estonia | ETV | Jüri Pihel | Helene Tedre |
| Vikerraadio | Marko Reikop | ||
| France | France 2 | Olivier Minne | Frédéric Ferrer and Marie Myriam |
| Germany | Das Erste | Peter Urban | Christina Mänz |
| Greece | ET1 | Dafni Bokota | Niki Venega |
| Hungary | MTV 1 | István Vágó | Györgyi Albert |
| Iceland | Sjónvarpið, Rás 2 | Jakob Frímann Magnússon | Svanhildur Konráðsdóttir |
| Ireland | RTÉ One | Pat Kenny | Eileen Dunne |
| RTÉ Radio 1 | Larry Gogan | ||
| Italy | RAI Uno | Ettore Andenna | Peppi Franzelin |
| Malta | TVM | Unknown | Anna Bonanno |
| Netherlands | TV2 | Willem van Beusekom | Corry Brokken |
| Radio 2 | Unknown | ||
| Norway | NRK1 | Jostein Pedersen | Ragnhild Sælthun Fjørtoft |
| NRK P1 | Kristian Lindeman | ||
| Poland | TVP1 | Jan Wilkans | Jan Chojnacki |
| Polskie Radio Bis | Artur Orzech | ||
| Portugal | RTP1, RTP Internacional | Carlos Ribeiro | Cristina Rocha |
| Russia | ORT | Philipp Kirkorov, Sergey Antipov | Arina Sharapova |
| Slovenia | SLO 1 | Unknown | Mojca Mavec |
| TV Koper-Capodistria | Unknown | ||
| Val 202 | Andrej Karoli | ||
| Spain | La Primera, TVE Internacional | José Luis Uribarri | Belén Fernández de Henestrosa |
| Sweden | SVT2 | Janne Jingryd | Gösta Hanson |
| SR P3 | Claes-Johan Larsson, Susan Seidemar | ||
| Switzerland (German) | Schweiz 4 | Heinz Margot, Roman Kilchsperger | Sandy Altermatt |
| Switzerland (French) | TSR | Pierre Grandjean | |
| Switzerland (Italian) | TSI | Jonathan Tedesco | |
| Turkey | TRT 1, TRT Int | Unknown | Ömer Önder |
| United Kingdom | BBC One, BBC Prime, BFBS Television | Terry Wogan | Colin Berry |
| BBC Radio 2 | Ken Bruce |
Non-participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | SBS TV | Unknown |
| Belgium (Dutch) | TV1 | André Vermeulen |
| Belgium (French) | La Une | Jean-Pierre Hautier |
| Faroe Islands | SVF | Hans Otto Bisgaard |
| Finland | TV1 | Aki Sirkesalo, Olli Ahvenlahti |
| Radio Suomi | Iris Mattila, Sanna Kojo | |
| Greenland | KNR | Hans Otto Bisgaard |
| Israel | Channel 1 | No commentator |
| Jordan | JTV2 | Unknown |
| Romania | TVR 1 | Doina Caramzulescu, Costin Grigore |
| Slovakia | STV2 | Unknown |
Broadcast notes[]
- Australia - SBS TV aired the show deferred on 4 May 1997 at 19:00 ACST.
- Faroe Islands - SVF aired the show deferred the following day at 13:00 WET.
- Greenland - KNR aired the show deferred at 22:55 GNST.
- Italy - RAI Uno aired the show deferred at 23:30 CEST.
- Portugal - RTP Internacional aired the show deferred at 21:30 WEST.
- Spain - La Primera aired the show deferred at 21:30 CEST, while TVE Internacional also aired the show deferred at 22:45 CEST.
- Slovakia - STV2 aired the show deferred on 4 June 1997 at 21:35 CEST.
- United Kingdom (Falkland Islands) - BFBS Television aired the show deferred in the Falkland Islands on 17 May 1997 at 21:00 FKST.