Eurovision Song Contest 1997

Eurovision Song Contest 1997
Dates
Final3 May 1997
Host
VenuePoint Theatre,
Dublin, Ireland
Presenter(s)
Musical directorFrank McNamara
Directed byIan McGarry
Executive supervisorMarie-Claire Vionnet
Executive producerNoel Curran
Host broadcasterRadio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ)
Websiteeurovision.tv/event/dublin-1997 Edit this at Wikidata
Participants
Number of entries25
Debuting countriesNone
Returning countries
Non-returning countries
Participation map
  • A coloured map of the countries of EuropeBelgium in the Eurovision Song ContestItaly in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Monaco in the Eurovision Song ContestLuxembourg in the Eurovision Song ContestSpain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Finland in the Eurovision Song ContestNorway in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Israel in the Eurovision Song ContestGreece in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song ContestMorocco in the Eurovision Song ContestCyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Slovakia in the Eurovision Song ContestHungary in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Romania in the Eurovision Song ContestLithuania in the Eurovision Song ContestPoland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
         Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1997
Vote
Voting systemEach country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 points to their ten favourite songs
Winning song
1996 ← Eurovision Song Contest → 1998

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.

Location

Point Theatre, Dublin – host venue of the 1997 contest (pictured following redevelopment)

The 1997 contest took place in Dublin, Ireland, following the country's victory at the 1996 edition with the song "The Voice", performed by Eimear Quinn. It was the seventh time that Ireland had hosted the contest, having previously staged the event in 1971, 1981, 1988, 1993, 1994 and 1995, with all previous events held in Dublin except the 1993 contest which was held in Millstreet. This was the fourth edition of the contest that Ireland had hosted within five years, and with this edition Ireland equalled the record for the nation which had staged the most contests, originally set by the United Kingdom in 1982.

Given the financial impact to staging the contest for a fourth time in five years, there was early speculation following Ireland's win in the 1996 contest that RTÉ might stage the event as a co-production with BBC Northern Ireland, however ultimately the Irish broadcaster decided to organise the event on its own once again. The selected venue was the Point Theatre, a concert and events venue located amongst the Dublin Docklands which had originally been built as a train depot to serve the nearby port. Opened as a music venue in 1988, it was closed for redevelopment and expansion in 2008 and is now known as the 3Arena. The venue had previously hosted the 1994 and 1995 contests, and with this staging it became the only venue to have hosted three Eurovision Song Contests.

Participating countries

Per the rules of the contest twenty-five countries were allowed to participate in the event. Denmark, Germany, Hungary and Russia made a return to the contest after failing to progress from the qualifiying round in the previous year's contest, and Italy returned after last competing in 1993. Conversely Belgium, Finland and Slovakia, participants in the 1996 contest, were relegated and prevented from participating in this year's event.

Three representatives who had previously performed as lead artists in the contest competed again at this year's event. Two artists represented their country for a second consecutive year, with Şebnem Paker returning for Turkey and Maarja-Liis Ilus, after previously participating with Ivo Linna in Oslo, competing as a solo artist for Estonia. Alma Čardžić also made a second appearance in the contest, having previously represented Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1994.

Participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 1997
Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) Conductor
 Austria ORF Bettina Soriat "One Step" German
  • Marc Berry
  • Ina Siber
No conductor
 Bosnia and Herzegovina RTVBiH Alma Čardžić "Goodbye" Bosnian
Sinan Alimanović
 Croatia HRT E.N.I. "Probudi me" Croatian
No conductor
 Cyprus CyBC Hara and Andreas Konstantinou "Mana mou" (Μάνα μου) Greek Constantina Konstantinou Stavros Lantsias
 Denmark DR Kølig Kaj "Stemmen i mit liv" Danish
Jan Glæsel
 Estonia ETV Maarja "Keelatud maa" Estonian
  • Harmo Kallaste
  • Kaari Sillamaa
Tarmo Leinatamm
 France France Télévision Fanny "Sentiments songes" French Jean-Paul Dréau Régis Dupré
 Germany NDR Bianca Shomburg "Zeit" German No conductor
 Greece ERT Marianna Zorba "Horepse" (Χόρεψε) Greek Manolis Manouselis Anacreon Papageorgiou
 Hungary MTV V.I.P. "Miért kell, hogy elmenj?" Hungarian
  • Krisztina Bokor Fekete
  • Sándor Józsa
  • Attila Kornyei
  • Viktor Rakonczai
Péter Wolf
 Iceland RÚV Paul Oscar "Minn hinsti dans" Icelandic
Szymon Kuran
 Ireland RTÉ Marc Roberts "Mysterious Woman" English John Farry No conductor
 Italy RAI Jalisse "Fiumi di parole" Italian
  • Carmen di Domenico
  • Alessandra Drusian
  • Fabio Ricci
Lucio Fabbri
 Malta PBS Debbie Scerri "Let Me Fly" English Ray Agius Ray Agius
 Netherlands NOS Mrs. Einstein "Niemand heeft nog tijd" Dutch Ed Hooijmans Dick Bakker
 Norway NRK Tor Endresen "San Francisco" Norwegian
Geir Langslet
 Poland TVP Anna Maria Jopek "Ale jestem" Polish
  • Magda Czapińska
  • Tomasz Lewandowski
Krzesimir Dębski
 Portugal RTP Célia Lawson "Antes do adeus" Portuguese
Thilo Krasmann
 Russia ORT Alla Pugacheva "Primadonna" (Примадонна) Russian Alla Pugacheva Rutger Gunnarsson
 Slovenia RTVSLO Tanja Ribič "Zbudi se" Slovene Mojmir Sepe
 Spain TVE Marcos Llunas "Sin rencor" Spanish Marcos Llunas Toni Xuclà
 Sweden SVT Blond "Bara hon älskar mig" Swedish Stephan Berg Curt-Eric Holmquist
  Switzerland SRG SSR Barbara Berta "Dentro di me" Italian Barbara Berta Pietro Damiani
 Turkey TRT Şebnem Paker and Grup Ethnic "Dinle" Turkish
Levent Çoker
 United Kingdom BBC Katrina and the Waves "Love Shine a Light" English Kimberley Rew Don Airey

Qualification

Due to the high number of countries wishing to enter the contest a relegation system was introduced in 1993 in order to reduce the number of countries which could compete in each year's contest. Any relegated countries would be able to return the following year, thus allowing all countries the opportunity to compete in at least one in every two editions. The audio-only qualification round used in 1996 had been poorly received among the competing countries, and so a new relegation system was introduced by the European Broadcasting Union for 1997 and future contests. The twenty-five participants in the 1997 contest were made up of the previous year's winning country and host nation Ireland, and the twenty-four countries which had the highest average points total over the preceding four contests. In cases where the average was identical between two or more countries the total number of points scored in the most recent contest determined the final order. Any countries which were not able to compete in the 1997 contest would then be eligible to compete in the 1998 event.

Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Romania and Slovakia were therefore excluded from participating in the 1997 contest; however following Israel's withdrawal due to the date of the final clashing with its Holocaust Remembrance Day Bosnia and Herzegovina was subsequently provided a reprieve and allowed to participate. The calculations used to determine the countries relegated for the 1997 contest are outlined in the table below.

Table key

 Qualifier
 Automatic qualifier
 Replacement qualifier
 Did not enter
Calculation of average points to determine qualification for the 1997 contest
Rank Country Average Yearly Point Totals
1993 1994 1995 1996
1  Ireland 154.75 187 226 44 162
2  Norway 114.50 120 76 148 114
3  United Kingdom 95.00 164 63 76 77
4  Sweden 84.25 89 48 100 100
5  Malta 77.50 69 97 76 68
6  France 76.75 121 74 94 18
7  Poland 70.67 166 15 31
8  Hungary 62.50 122 3 DNQ
9  Croatia 61.75 31 27 91 98
10   Switzerland 61.67 148 15 22
11  Netherlands 58.00 92 4 78
12  Portugal 57.50 60 73 5 92
13  Cyprus 54.75 17 51 79 72
14  Greece 53.00 64 44 68 36
15  Spain 52.75 58 17 119 17
16  Denmark 50.50 9 92 DNQ
17  Germany 49.00 18 128 1 DNQ
18  Estonia 48.00 2 94
19  Austria 46.50 32 19 67 68
20  Italy 45.00 45
21  Russia 43.50 70 17 DNQ
22  Iceland 43.25 42 49 31 51
23  Israel 42.50 4 81 DNQ
24  Slovenia 36.33 9 84 16
25  Turkey 29.33 10 21 57
26  Bosnia and Herzegovina 23.25 27 39 14 13
27  Slovakia 17.00 15 19
28  Romania 14.00 14 DNQ
29  Finland 13.33 20 11 9
30  Belgium 11.00 3 8 22
31  Luxembourg 11.00 11
32  Lithuania 0.00 0
 Macedonia 0.00 DNQ

Production

Ronan Keating served as co-presenter of the 1997 contest and performed during the interval act as lead singer of Boyzone.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1997 was produced by the Irish public broadcaster Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ). Noel Curran served as executive producer, Ian McGarry served as director, Paula Farrell and John Casey served as designers, and Frank McNamara served as musical director, leading the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

Rehearsals in the contest venue for the competing acts began on 28 April 1997. Each country had two technical rehearsals in the week approaching the contest, with countries rehearsing in the order in which they would perform. The first rehearsals took place on 28 and 29 April, with each country allowed 40 minutes total on stage followed by a 20 minute press conference, followed by the second rehearsals on 30 April and 1 May lasting 30 minutes. Times were also arranged during the week for the artists to be recorded in the RTÉ studios, with footage used during the postcards between each song. Three dress rehearsals were held on 2 and 3 May, with an audience in attendance during the evening dress rehearsal on 2 May. The final dress rehearsal on 3 May was also recorded for use as a production stand-by in case of problems during the live contest. A tight security presence was felt during the rehearsal week; emergency drills were held by Gardaí, including evacuations of the Point Theatre, as a precaution against potential disruption from loyalist paramilitaries as part of the wider sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland.

The Irish television and radio presenter Carrie Crowley and the Irish singer Ronan Keating were the presenters of the 1997 contest. The trophy awarded to the winners was designed by Maura Whelan and Luc Racine, and was presented by the previous year's winning artist Eimear Quinn.

Format

Entries

Each participating broadcaster submitted one song, which was required to be no longer than three minutes in duration and performed in the language, or one of the languages, of the country which it represented. Short quotations from another language, no more than a single phrase repeated a maximum of three times, were permitted. A maximum of six performers were allowed on stage during each country's performance, and all participants were required to have reached the age of 16 in the year of the contest. Each entry could utilise all or part of the live orchestra and could use instrumental-only backing tracks. This was the first time that a competing song could be accompanied entirely with a backing track following a change to the contest rules, with the previous rules stating that any backing tracks used could only include the sound of instruments featured on stage being mimed by the performers. For those countries which opted to utilise the orchestra a separate musical director could be nominated to lead the orchestra during their performance, with the host musical director, Frank McNamara, also available to conduct for those countries which did not nominate their own conductor. The entries from Austria, Croatia, Germany and Ireland were performed entirely without live orchestration.

Selected entries were not permitted to be released commercially until after 3 February 1997 and after having been selected for the contest. Each country's participating broadcaster was required to have selected their entry by 10 March, and all entries had to be submitted to the contest organisers by 19 March, including the score of the song for use by the orchestra, a sound recording of the entry and backing track for use during the contest, and the text of the song lyrics in its original language and translations in French and English for distribution to the participating broadcasters, their commentators and juries.

Following the confirmation of the twenty-five competing countries, the draw to determine the running order was held on 28 November 1996.

Voting procedure

The results of the 1997 contest were determined through the same scoring system as had first been introduced in 1975: each country awarded twelve points to its favourite entry, followed by ten points to its second favourite, and then awarded points in decreasing value from eight to one for the remaining songs which featured in the country's top ten, with countries unable to vote for their own entry. The points awarded by the majority of countries were determined by an assembled jury of sixteen individuals, which was required to be split evenly between members of the public and music professionals, comprised additionally of an equal number of men and women, and below and above 30 years of age. Each jury member voted in secret and awarded between one and ten votes to each participating song, excluding that from their own country and with no abstentions permitted. The votes of each member were collected following the country's performance and then tallied by the non-voting jury chairperson to determine the points to be awarded. In any cases where two or more songs in the top ten received the same number of votes, a show of hands by all jury members was used to determine the final placing; if a tie still remained, the youngest jury member would have the deciding vote.

For the first time however, as part of a trial held by the contest organisers, televoting was used to determine the points from five of the participating countries. In these countries viewers had a total of five minutes to register their vote by calling one of twenty-four different telephone numbers to represent the twenty-five competing entries except that which represented their own country. Once the voting phone lines were opened following the performance of the last competing entry, a video recap containing short clips of each competing entry with the accompanying phone number for voting was shown in order to aid viewers during the voting window. In those countries which opted to use televoting to determine their points a jury was still required which would function as a back-up in case technical failure prevented the televote results from being used. The composition of the back-up juries in these countries was identical to the juries in the other countries with regards to profession, gender and age.

Contest overview

Katrina Leskanich (pictured in 2014), lead singer of the 1997 winning performers Katrina and the Waves
Maarja-Liis Ilus (pictured in 2006) represented Estonia in the contest for a second consecutive year.

The contest took place on 3 May 1997 at 20:00 (IST) and lasted 3 hours and 11 minutes.

The show was opened by good luck messages from past Eurovision winners and hosts to the contestants in the contest, and short interviews with previous contestants also featured preceding some of the postcards between the entries. Irish boy band Boyzone, with co-presenter Keating as a member, featured as part of the show's interval act, performing the song "Let the Message Run Free".

The winner was the United Kingdom represented by the song "Love Shine a Light", composed by Kimberley Rew and performed by Katrina and the Waves. This was the United Kingdom's fifth contest win – their first in sixteen years – following victories in 1967, 1969, 1976 and 1981. Ireland's second place finish earned them their fifth placing in the top two within six years, while Turkey and Cyprus achieved their highest placings yet by finishing third and fifth respectively. Norway meanwhile finished in last place for the eighth time and received their fourth nul points. Following this contest Italy's RAI declined to participate in future events and an Italian entry would not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest for 14 years, until the country's return at the 2011 event.

Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1997
R/O Country Artist Song Points Place
1  Cyprus Hara and Andreas Konstantinou "Mana mou" 98 5
2  Turkey Şebnem Paker and Grup Ethnic "Dinle" 121 3
3  Norway Tor Endresen "San Francisco" 0 24
4  Austria Bettina Soriat "One Step" 12 21
5  Ireland Marc Roberts "Mysterious Woman" 157 2
6  Slovenia Tanja Ribič "Zbudi se" 60 10
7   Switzerland Barbara Berta "Dentro di me" 5 22
8  Netherlands Mrs. Einstein "Niemand heeft nog tijd" 5 22
9  Italy Jalisse "Fiumi di parole" 114 4
10  Spain Marcos Llunas "Sin rencor" 96 6
11  Germany Bianca Shomburg "Zeit" 22 18
12  Poland Anna Maria Jopek "Ale jestem" 54 11
13  Estonia Maarja "Keelatud maa" 82 8
14  Bosnia and Herzegovina Alma Čardžić "Goodbye" 22 18
15  Portugal Célia Lawson "Antes do adeus" 0 24
16  Sweden Blond "Bara hon älskar mig" 36 14
17  Greece Marianna Zorba "Horepse" 39 12
18  Malta Debbie Scerri "Let Me Fly" 66 9
19  Hungary V.I.P. "Miért kell, hogy elmenj?" 39 12
20  Russia Alla Pugacheva "Primadonna" 33 15
21  Denmark Kølig Kaj "Stemmen i mit liv" 25 16
22  France Fanny "Sentiments songes" 95 7
23  Croatia E.N.I. "Probudi me" 24 17
24  United Kingdom Katrina and the Waves "Love Shine a Light" 227 1
25  Iceland Paul Oscar "Minn hinsti dans" 18 20

Spokespersons

Marie Myriam (pictured in 2007), winner of the 1977 contest, was one of the French spokespersons at this event.

Each country nominated a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing, in English or French, the votes for their respective country. As had been the case since the 1994 contest, the spokespersons were connected via satellite and appeared in vision during the broadcast. Spokespersons at the 1997 contest are listed below.

  1.  Cyprus – Marios Skordis
  2.  Turkey – Ömer Önder
  3.  Norway – Ragnhild Sælthun Fjørtoft
  4.  Austria – Adriana Zartl [de]
  5.  Ireland – Eileen Dunne
  6.  Slovenia – Mojca Mavec [sl]
  7.   Switzerland – Sandy Altermatt [it]
  8.  Netherlands – Corry Brokken
  9.  Italy – Peppi Franzelin [it]
  10.  Spain – Belén Fernández de Henestrosa
  11.  Germany – Christina Mänz
  12.  Poland – Jan Chojnacki
  13.  Estonia – Helene Tedre
  14.  Bosnia and Herzegovina – Segmedina Srna
  15.  Portugal – Cristina Rocha
  16.  Sweden – Gösta Hanson
  17.  Greece – Niki Venega
  18.  Malta – Anna Bonanno
  19.  Hungary – Györgyi Albert [hu]
  20.  Russia – Arina Sharapova
  21.  Denmark – Bent Henius [da]
  22.  France – Frédéric Ferrer [fr] and Marie Myriam
  23.  Croatia – Davor Meštrović [hr]
  24.  United Kingdom – Colin Berry
  25.  Iceland – Svanhildur Konráðsdóttir

Detailed voting results

Jury voting was used to determine the points awarded by most countries, with televoting used in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The announcement of the results from each country was conducted in the order in which they performed, with the spokespersons announcing their country's points in English or French in ascending order. The detailed breakdown of the points awarded by each country is listed in the tables below.

Detailed voting results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1997
Voting procedure used:
 100% jury vote
 100% televoting
Total score
Cyprus
Turkey
Norway
Austria
Ireland
Slovenia
Switzerland
Netherlands
Italy
Spain
Germany
Poland
Estonia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Portugal
Sweden
Greece
Malta
Hungary
Russia
Denmark
France
Croatia
United Kingdom
Iceland
Contestants
Cyprus 98 2 3 4 4 10 4 10 5 1 3 12 7 1 7 4 4 5 12
Turkey 121 7 2 6 2 7 12 12 6 12 5 6 7 10 6 4 6 4 7
Norway 0
Austria 12 3 1 5 3
Ireland 157 8 6 3 10 1 7 4 10 6 8 7 8 8 10 10 8 5 10 10 6 12
Slovenia 60 2 10 2 4 7 4 3 5 10 7 3 3
Switzerland 5 2 3
Netherlands 5 1 4
Italy 114 6 5 1 1 10 10 7 8 4 8 6 12 3 5 3 7 4 10 3 1
Spain 96 10 4 6 5 8 6 3 2 4 8 6 12 10 8 2 2
Germany 22 3 5 5 3 1 5
Poland 54 4 8 7 1 1 2 6 3 4 2 1 7 5 3
Estonia 82 1 6 8 3 12 4 7 6 1 1 1 4 8 8 10 2
Bosnia and Herzegovina 22 8 4 2 3 4 1
Portugal 0
Sweden 36 8 5 6 6 7 4
Greece 39 12 5 7 6 2 7
Malta 66 5 12 10 7 6 1 5 8 3 1 8
Hungary 39 3 4 5 5 2 5 2 8 5
Russia 33 1 5 12 8 7
Denmark 25 7 1 7 2 2 6
France 95 3 2 12 10 2 3 5 12 12 3 6 2 4 2 6 1 10
Croatia 24 4 1 3 2 5 8 1
United Kingdom 227 7 7 6 12 12 8 12 12 8 5 10 10 10 10 7 12 10 1 12 12 12 12 12 8
Iceland 18 2 2 8 6

12 points

The below table summarises how the maximum 12 points were awarded from one country to another. The winning country is shown in bold. The United Kingdom received the maximum score of 12 points from ten countries, with France and Turkey receiving three sets of 12 points each, Cyprus receiving two sets of 12 points, and Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Russia and Spain each receiving one maximum score.

Distribution of 12 points awarded at the Eurovision Song Contest 1997
N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points
10  United Kingdom  Austria,  Croatia,  Denmark,  France,  Hungary,  Ireland,  Netherlands,  Russia,  Sweden,   Switzerland
3  France  Estonia,  Norway,  Poland
 Turkey  Bosnia and Herzegovina,  Germany,  Spain
2  Cyprus  Greece,  Iceland
1  Estonia  Italy
 Greece  Cyprus
 Ireland  United Kingdom
 Italy  Portugal
 Malta  Turkey
 Russia  Slovenia
 Spain  Malta

Broadcasts

Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest live and in full via television. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants"; any passive countries wishing to participate in the following year's event were also required to provide a live broadcast of the contest or a deferred broadcast within 24 hours. Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their viewers.

Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators, are shown in the tables below:

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Austria ORF ORF 1 Ernst Grissemann
FM4 Stermann & Grissemann
 Bosnia and Herzegovina RTVBiH
 Croatia HRT HRT1 Aleksandar Kostadinov
 Cyprus CyBC Evi Papamichail
 Denmark DR DR1 Hans Otto Bisgaard
DR P3 Katrine Nyland Sørensen and Morten H. Pankoke
 Estonia ETV
ER Vikerraadio
 France France Télévision France 2 Olivier Minne
 Germany ARD Das Erste Peter Urban
 Greece ERT Dafni Bokota
 Hungary MTV MTV 1 István Vágó
 Iceland RÚV Sjónvarpið Jakob Frímann Magnússon
 Ireland RTÉ RTÉ One Pat Kenny
RTÉ Radio 1 Larry Gogan
 Italy RAI RAI Uno Ettore Andenna [it]
 Malta PBS TVM
 Netherlands NOS TV2 Willem van Beusekom
Radio 2
 Norway NRK NRK1 Jostein Pedersen
NRK P1 Kristian Lindeman [no]
 Poland TVP TVP1 Jan Wilkans
Polskie Radio Bis Artur Orzech
 Portugal RTP RTP1, RTP Internacional
 Russia ORT Philipp Kirkorov and Sergey Antipov
 Slovenia RTVSLO SLO 1 [sl]
 Spain TVE La Primera, TVE Internacional José Luis Uribarri
 Sweden SVT SVT2 Janne Jingryd [sv]
SR SR P3 Claes-Johan Larsson and Susan Seidemar
  Switzerland SRG SSR Schweiz 4 [de] Sandra Studer
TSR Pierre Grandjean
TSI
 Turkey TRT TRT 1, TRT Int
 United Kingdom BBC BBC1, BBC Prime Terry Wogan
BBC Radio 2 Ken Bruce
Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries
Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Australia SBS SBS TV
 Belgium BRTN TV1 André Vermeulen
RTBF RTBF La 1 Jean-Pierre Hautier
 Finland YLE TV1 Aki Sirkesalo and Olli Ahvenlahti
Radio Suomi Iris Mattila and Sanna Kojo
 Israel IBA Channel 1
 Romania TVR TVR 1 Doina Caramzulescu and Costin Grigore

Other awards

Barbara Dex Award

The Barbara Dex Award was first organised for artists in this year's contest. The award, created by fansite House of Eurovision, was awarded to the performer deemed to have been the "worst dressed" among the participants. The winner in 1997 was Malta's representative Debbie Scerri, as determined by the founders of the House of Eurovision site Edwin van Thillo and Rob Paardekam.

Legacy

The Eurovision Song Contest has long held a fandom within the LGBT community, however it was not until the 1997 event that an openly LGBT artist was selected to compete in the event. Iceland's Paul Oscar was the first openly gay man to compete as a lead artist in Eurovision. Paul Oscar's participation, as well as changing attitudes to homosexuality in Europe in the following years, marked the beginning of wider visibility of LGBT artists and themes; the following year's event provided the first trans participant in Israel's Dana International, 2002 saw Slovenia's Sestre become the first competing artists to perform in drag, and the 2000 contest contained the first display of same-sex affection on stage through a kiss between the two male members of the Israeli band PingPong. Since the 1997 contest many openly LGBT artists have competed in the contest, including several winners, among them Dana International, Austria's Conchita Wurst in 2014, and the Netherlands' Duncan Laurence in 2019. Paul Oscar's contest performance, which featured four female backing dancers dressed in black latex clothing and sexually suggestive choreography, pushed the boundaries for sexual expression on the Eurovision stage for the first time.

Iceland's Paul Oscar was the first openly LGBT artist to compete at Eurovision

The changes in the rules regarding the use of orchestra for this contest would eventually lead to the complete abandonment of live musical accompaniment in the Eurovision Song Contest. Ahead of the 1999 event the rules were modified again to make the procurement of an orchestra an optional component to staging the event, with that year's event becoming the first to have all competing entries performed to pre-recorded backing tracks. The rules of the contest have since been modified further, and no live musical accompaniment is now allowed for any competing entries. The abolishment of the orchestra proved controversial among some circles, with three-time, former Eurovision winner Johnny Logan referring to the modified event as "karaoke" in 2000.

The introduction of televoting to the contest followed several years of successive Irish wins, with the national juries typically voting for more traditional, middle-of-the-road songs than those that represented the wider tastes of the general public, as was the case in 1996 when Eimear Quinn's "The Voice" was victorious over more modern entries such as Gina G's "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit", which represented the United Kingdom at that year's event and would go on to receive a nomination for Best Dance Recording at the 1998 Grammy Awards. The successful trial of televoting in five countries led to widespread adoption for all countries in 1998, and public voting continues to play a part in determining the result of the contest to the present day. The widespread use of televoting in the following years would however lead to accusations of greater political bias and "bloc voting", with the perception that neighbouring countries swap points and large diasporas are able to vote en masse for their native countries, skewing the results in their favour. Controversy over the perceived unfairness of the voting system reached a head in 2007, when the public vote largely rewarded the entries from Eastern European countries over those from Western Europe. The EBU would ultimately make changes to mitigate the impact of neighbourly voting by splitting countries by geographical location and voting history in the semi-finals from 2008 and re-introducing juries to account for 50% of each country's points in 2009.


This page was last updated at 2023-12-22 11:32 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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