3 months ago

Date: 24 May 2003 - Host Venue: Skonto Hall, Riga, Latvia
Presenters: Marie Naumova, Renārs Kaupers
Directed by Sven Stojanovic - Executive supervisor: Sarah Yuen
Executive producer : Brigita Rozenbrika - Host broadcaster: Latvijas Televīzija (LTV)
Interval act: A film showcasing 4 different styles of the Latvian music scene feat. Iļģi, Brainstorm, Marie N and Raimonds Pauls

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.

The contest featured special guests that communicated with the hosts via satellite: Lys Assia, winner of the 1956 contest greeted the hosts and spectators from Nicosia, Elton John spoke to the presenters live from the Life Ball in Vienna and one astronaut and one cosmonaut—Ed Lu and Yuri Malenchenko—gave their greetings from the International Space Station. The interval act for the contest was a short film directed by Anna Viduleja that featured a sequence of performances by Latvian post-folklore group Iļģi, Renārs Kaupers' band Brainstorm, Marie N and piano player Raimonds Pauls.

Results:
R/O Country Artist Song Language Points Place
1 Iceland Birgitta "Open Your Heart" English 81 8
2 Austria Alf Poier "Weil der Mensch zählt" German 101 6
3 Ireland Mickey Harte "We've Got the World" English 53 11
4 Turkey Sertab Erener "Everyway That I Can" English 167 1
5 Malta Lynn Chircop "To Dream Again" English 4 25
6 Bosnia and Herzegovina Mija Martina "Ne brini" Croatian, English 27 16
7 Portugal Rita Guerra "Deixa-me sonhar" Portuguese, English 13 22
8 Croatia Claudia Beni "Više nisam tvoja" Croatian, English 29 15
9 Cyprus Stelios Constantas "Feeling Alive" English 15 20
10 Germany Lou "Let's Get Happy" English 53 11
11 Russia t.A.T.u. "Ne ver', ne boysia" (Не верь, не бойся) Russian 164 3
12 Spain Beth "Dime" Spanish 81 8
13 Israel Lior Narkis "Words for Love" Hebrew 17 19
14 Netherlands Esther Hart "One More Night" English 45 13
15 United Kingdom Jemini "Cry Baby" English 0 26
16 Ukraine Olexandr "Hasta la vista" English 30 14
17 Greece Mando "Never Let You Go" English 25 17
18 Norway Jostein Hasselgård "I'm Not Afraid to Move On" English 123 4
19 France Louisa Baïleche "Monts et merveilles" French 19 18
20 Poland Ich Troje "Keine Grenzen – Żadnych granic" German, Polish, Russian 90 7
21 Latvia F.L.Y. "Hello from Mars" English 5 24
22 Belgium Urban Trad "Sanomi" Imaginary 165 2
23 Estonia Ruffus "Eighties Coming Back" English 14 21
24 Romania Nicola "Don't Break My Heart" English 73 10
25 Sweden Fame "Give Me Your Love" English 107 5
26 Slovenia Karmen "Nanana" English 7 23