The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 was the 48th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Riga, Latvia, following the country's victory at the 2002 contest with the song "I Wanna" by Marie N. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Latvijas Televīzija (LTV), the contest was held at the Skonto Hall on 24 May 2003. The contest was presented by last year's winner Marie N and former contestant Renārs Kaupers.
Twenty-six countries participated in the contest, beating the record of twenty-five first set in 1993. It saw the return of Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Poland after having been relegated from competing the previous year. Portugal also returned to the contest after being absent the previous year, while Ukraine participated in the contest for the first time. Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Macedonia and Switzerland were relegated due to their poor results in 2002.
The winner was Turkey with the song "Everyway That I Can", performed by Sertab Erener who wrote it with Demir Demirkan. This was Turkey's first victory in the contest after 28 years of participation. Belgium, Russia, Norway and Sweden rounded out the top five. Further down the table, the United Kingdom achieved their worst result to date, finishing twenty-sixth (last place) with no points. However, they avoided relegation due to being one of the "Big Four" countries at the time. The host country Latvia placed twenty-fourth (third from last) – this was the first time since 1995 that the host entry did not place in the top 10, and it was, overall, the worst result for a host entry since 1992.
This was the last contest to take place on one evening. The EBU revealed that it would be adding a semi-final show to the competition in order to accommodate the growing number of interested countries wishing to take part in the contest. This was also the last contest in which a relegation system was used to determine which countries would participate in the following year's contest. As the Belgian entry was sung in an imaginary language, this was also the first time the contest featured a song with no parts performed in English or a language native to the country.
Results[]
Country in gold is the winning entry, the country in silver is the host country, the countries in lime are the "Big 4" countries which are rewarded with automatic spots in the finals.
| Rank | Country | EBU member station | Artist | Song | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Turkey | TRT | Sertab Erener | "Everyway That I Can" | 167 |
| 02 | Belgium | RTBF | Urban Trad | "Sanomi" | 165 |
| 03 | Russia | Channel One | t.A.T.u. | "Ne ver', ne boysia" (Не верь, не бойся) | 164 |
| 04 | Norway | NRK | Jostein Hasselgård | "I'm Not Afraid to Move On" | 123 |
| 05 | Sweden | SVT | Fame | "Give Me Your Love" | 107 |
| 06 | Austria | ORF | Alf Poier | "Weil der Mensch zählt" | 101 |
| 07 | Poland | TVP | Ich Troje | "Keine Grenzen – Żadnych granic" | 90 |
| 08 | Iceland | RÚV | Birgitta | "Open Your Heart" | 81 |
| Spain | TVE | Beth | "Dime" | 81 | |
| 10 | Romania | TVR | Nicola | "Don't Break My Heart" | 73 |
| 11 | Ireland | RTÉ | Mickey Harte | "We've Got the World" | 53 |
| Germany | ARD/NDR | Lou | "Let's Get Happy" | 53 | |
| 13 | Netherlands | NOS | Esther Hart | "One More Night" | 45 |
| 14 | Ukraine | NTU | Olexandr | "Hasta la vista" | 30 |
| 15 | Croatia | HRT | Claudia Beni | "Više nisam tvoja" | 29 |
| 16 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | PBSBiH | Mija Martina | "Ne brini" | 27 |
| 17 | Greece | ERT | Mando | "Never Let You Go" | 25 |
| 18 | France | France Télévisions | Louisa Baïleche | "Monts et merveilles" | 19 |
| 19 | Israel | IBA | Lior Narkis | "Words for Love" | 17 |
| 20 | Cyprus | CyBC | Stelios Constantas | "Feeling Alive" | 15 |
| 21 | Estonia | ETV | Ruffus | "Eighties Coming Back" | 14 |
| 22 | Portugal | RTP | Rita Guerra | "Deixa-me sonhar" | 13 |
| 23 | Slovenia | RTVSLO | Karmen | "Nanana" | 7 |
| 24 | Latvia | LTV | F.L.Y. | "Hello from Mars" | 5 |
| 25 | Malta | PBS | Lynn Chircop | "To Dream Again" | 4 |
| 26 | United Kingdom | BBC | Jemini | "Cry Baby" | 0 |
Awards[]
Marcel Bezençon Awards[]
- Artistic Award - "One More Night" by Esther Hart (Netherlands)
- Fan Award - "Dime" by Beth (Spain)
- Press Award - "Everyway That I Can" by Sertab Erener (Turkey)
Barbara Dex Award[]
| Rank | Country | Artist(s) | Song |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Russia | t.A.T.u. | "Ne ver', ne boysia" |
Broadcast[]
Participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) | Spokesperson |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | ORF 1 | Andi Knoll | Dodo Roscic |
| Belgium (French) | La Une, RTBF Sat | Jean-Pierre Hautier | Corinne Boulangier |
| Belgium (Dutch) | TV1 | André Vermeulen, Anja Daems | |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | BHTV1 | Dejan Kukrić | Ana Vilenica |
| Federalna TV | |||
| Croatia | HRT 1 | Daniela Trbović | Davor Meštrović |
| Cyprus | RIK Ena | Evi Papamichael | Loukas Hamatsos |
| Estonia | ETV | Marko Reikop | Ines |
| France | France 3 | Laurent Ruquier, Isabelle Mergault | Sandrine François |
| Germany | Das Erste | Peter Urban | Axel Bulthaupt |
| Greece | ET1 | Dafni Bokota | Alexis Kostalas |
| First Programme | Nikos Triboulidis | ||
| Iceland | Sjónvarpið | Gísli Marteinn Baldursson | Eva María Jónsdóttir |
| Ireland | RTÉ One | Marty Whelan, Phil Coulter | Pamela Flood |
| Israel | IBA | No commentator | Michal Zo'aretz |
| Latvia | LTV1 | Kārlis Streips | Ģirts Līcis |
| Malta | TVM | John Bundy | Sharon Borg |
| Netherlands | Nederland 2 | Willem van Beusekom | Marlayne |
| Radio 2 | Unknown | ||
| Norway | NRK1 | Jostein Pedersen | Roald Øyen |
| NRK P1 | Unknown | ||
| Poland | TVP1 | Artur Orzech | Maciej Orłoś |
| Portugal | RTP | Margarida Mercês de Melo | Helena Ramos |
| Romania | TVR | Unknown | Leonard Miron |
| Russia | Channel One | Yuriy Aksyuta, Yelena Batinova | Yana Churikova |
| Slovenia | SLO 2 | Andrea F | Peter Poles |
| Spain | La Primera, TVE Internacional | José Luis Uribarri | Anne Igartiburu |
| Sweden | SVT1 | Pekka Heino | Kattis Ahlström |
| SR P4 | Carolina Norén, Björn Kjellman | ||
| Turkey | TRT 1, TRT Int | Bülend Özveren | Meltem Ersan Yazgan |
| Ukraine | Pershyi Natsionalnyi | Dmytro Kryzhanivskyi | Lyudmyla Hariv |
| United Kingdom | BBC One, BBC Prime | Terry Wogan | Lorraine Kelly |
| BBC Radio 2 | Ken Bruce |
Non-participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Andorra | ATV | Meri Picart, Albert Roig |
| Australia | SBS TV | Des Mangan |
| Belarus | Belarus-1 | Ales Kruglyakov, Tatyana Yakusheva |
| Finland (Finnish) | YLE TV2 | Maria Guzenina, Asko Murtomäki |
| YLE Radio Suomi | Unknown | |
| Finland (Swedish) | YLE FST | Thomas Lundin |
| YLE Radio Vega | Unknown | |
| Italy | GAY.tv | Fabio Canino, Paolo Quilici |
| Lithuania | LTV | Darius Užkuraitis |
| Switzerland (German) | SF 2 | Roman Kilchsperger |
| Switzerland (French) | TSR 1 | Jean-Marc Richard, Alain Morisod |
| Switzerland (Italian) | TSI 1 | Daniele Rauseo |
Broadcast notes[]
- Australia - SBS TV broadcast the show deferred on 25 May 2003 at 20:30 AEST (10:30 UTC).