Eurovision Song Contest 1998

Eurovision Song Contest 1998
Dates
Final date	9 May 1998
Host
Venue	National Indoor Arena Birmingham, United Kingdom
Presenter(s)	Ulrika Jonsson Terry Wogan
Conductor	Martin Koch
Director	Geoff Posner
Host broadcaster	BBC
Interval act	Jupiter, The Bringer of Joviality
Participants
Number of entries	25
Debuting countries	Macedonia
Returning countries	Belgium Finland Israel Romania Slovakia
Withdrawing countries	Austria Bosnia and Herzegovina Denmark Iceland Italy Russia
Participation map      Participating participants     Countries who have participated in the past but did not this year
Vote
Voting system	Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs
Nul points	Switzerland
Winning song	Israel "Diva"
Eurovision Song Contest
◄1997 1999►

The Eurovision Song Contest 1998 was the 43rd Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 9 May 1998 at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, United Kingdom. The presenters were Terry Wogan and Ulrika Jonsson. Despite being one of the presenters, Terry Wogan still managed to provide his trademark screwball commentary to the contest for the BBC.

Dana International from Israel won this year's Eurovision, with the song "Diva", written by Svika Pick and Yoav Ginai. The singer had attracted much media attention both in Israel and Europe since she had undergone gender reassignment in 1993, being the first openly transgender performer to enter the competition.

This year was notable 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 1998 contest was also memorable 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 sang with backing tracks. France did, in fact, use the violin section of the orchestra but as they did not bring a conductor of their own, no conductor was shown before their entry. On the other hand both Germany and Slovenia presented conductors despite using full backing tracks and no orchestra anymore.

Macedonia, participating as Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, took part for the first time, after their 1996 entry did not make it past the internal selection by the EBU. Belgium, Finland, Israel, Romania and Slovakia all participated after their break from the previous 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, a move that would see Italy absent from the contest for 13 years before their return in 2011.

After the points from most of the countries were announced, it was clear that Israel, Malta, and the United Kingdom would be fighting for the top spot. Israel and Malta were apparently tied with 166 points after the penultimate vote (in fact, Spain's vote had been wrongly tallied and the real scores were Malta 165, Israel 164). Everything came down to the vote of Macedonia, who rewarded Israel with 8 points, United Kingdom 10, and in a twist awarded 12 points to Croatia not Malta, leaving Chiara to fall from first place to third. On the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel, Dana International brought the nation their third Song Contest victory. Also, Edsilia Rombley, who placed fourth with 150 points, ensured the best result for the Netherlands since their win in 1975.

For the second year in a row, at least one country went home empty-handed; Switzerland's Gunvor Guggisberg with her composition "Las Ihn" failed to score a single point.

Other notable participants were Germany's Guildo Horn, whose shocking comedic act culminated in his climbing the scaffolding on the side of the stage. Controversially chosen to represent Germany, he was criticised for his lack of seriousness by the German press. However, after winning by 60% of the vote, the German people were firmly on Horn's side. "Guildo-Fever" spread throughout Germany during the weeks leading up to the contest, with Horn becoming front-page material in Germany. He was also noticed in countries around Europe, and the early criticism that had existed in Germany arose in those countries. Even though his 7th place was disappointing, to some Germans it was a revival for the contest in Germany, and was the beginning of 4 consecutive top-ten finishes.

Greece earned only 12 points, all of which came from Cyprus. After the contest, there was a correction made with the Spanish votes, who mistakenly awarded Germany zero points, rather than the 12 that were 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. In fact Conny van den Bos who sang 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 seemingly insulting comment.

Russia and Italy did not broadcast the event due to withdrawals. In 1998 the Russian broadcaster Channel One prepared to run internal preselections, but soon organisers realised that because of low average results in previous years Russia would not qualify to compete in 1998 (though there were rumours that Channel One had planned to name Tatyana Ovsienko as their representative, performing "Solntse moyo"). Because Russia did not participate, Channel One decided not to broadcast the 1998 contest. According to other sources Channel One had expected Channel Russia to broadcast the contest.

Results

Draw	Country	Language	Artist	Song	English translation	Place	Points
01	Croatia	Croatian	Danijela	"Neka mi ne svane"	May the dawn never rise	5	131
02	Greece	Greek	Thalassa	"Mia krifi evesthisia" (Μια κρυφή ευαισθησία)	A secret sensibility	20	12
03	France	French	Marie Line	"Où aller"	Where to go	24	3
04	Spain	Spanish	Mikel Herzog	"¿Qué voy a hacer sin ti?"	What am I going to do without you?	16	21
05	Switzerland	German	Gunvor	"Lass' ihn"	Let him	25	0
06	Slovakia	Slovak	Katarína Hasprová	"Modlitba"	A prayer	21	8
07	Poland	Polish	Sixteen	"To takie proste"	It's easy	17	19
08	Israel	Hebrew	Dana International	"Diva" (דיווה)	—	1	172
09	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 Hatzigiannis	"Genesis" (Γένεσις)	Genesis	11	37
18	Netherlands	Dutch	Edsilia	"Hemel en aarde"	Heaven and Earth	4	150
19	Sweden	Swedish	Jill Johnson	"Kärleken är"	The 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 Fredriksen	"Alltid sommer"	Always summer	8	79
23	Estonia	Estonian	Koit Toome	"Mere lapsed"	Children of the sea	13	36
24	Turkey	Turkish	Tüzmen	"Unutamazsın"	You can't forget	14	25
25	Macedonia	Macedonian	Vlado Janevski	"Ne zori, zoro" (Не зори, зоро)	Dawn, don't rise	19	16

Voting structure

Each country had a televote except Turkey, Romania, Ireland and Hungary, where the top ten most voted for songs were awarded the 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points, with a back-up jury in case of mistakes. A jury was used if there were 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 Macedonia came to award the decisive points, Israel was 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 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.

It is also noteworthy that Israel only received points from 21 of the 24 other countries, whereas the United Kingdom received at least one point from every other country, but finished second. Furthermore, whilst Israel received three sets of 12 points compared to Malta and the United Kingdom who both received four sets of 12 points, Israel received a substantially larger number of 10 points to help seal the win.

Spain originally gave its 12 points to Israel and 10 to Norway. After the broadcast it was announced that Spanish broadcaster wrongly tallied the votes and Germany should have got the top mark - 12 points - instead of being snubbed, as it happened. The mistake was corrected and so Germany was placed 7th over Norway. Israel and Norway both received 2 points less than originally and Croatia, Malta, Portugal, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, Estonia and Turkey all received 1 point less than during the broadcast. Turkey was left with no points as it turned out that Turkish entry placed 11th in Spanish televoting.

Score sheet

Voting procedure used: Red: Televote. Blue: Jury.		Voters
	Croatia	131		5	8	1	5	10	6	10	10	10		12	3	2		2	7	4	3	5	3	6	3	4	12
	Greece	12																	12
	France	3																	1								2
	Spain	21	1		4		6			3									4			3
	Switzerland	0
	Slovakia	8	8
	Poland	19			2						5		2				10
	Israel	172		10	12	10	10		10		7	12		7	6	12	7	5	10	6	5	10	10	3	7	5	8
	Germany	86		3		12	12							8	8	10	6	6		12		7	1		1
	Malta	165	7	6	6	5	8	12	8	7	8		7	3	12	5		12	5	8	6	8	5	12	5	10
	Hungary	4			1												1							2
	Slovenia	17	3	2													5						4			3
	Ireland	64	2				2	4	2		2	6	6	1		1	8	8			1			4	2	8	7
	Portugal	36		1	10	6		2		2		2							2			1				6	4
	Romania	6								6
	United Kingdom	166	12	7	3	3	3	1	7	12	1	8	10	5	5	6	12		8	7	7	6	8	5	8	12	10
	Cyprus	37	4	12				5		1		1	1			4	4	3				2
	Netherlands	150	10	8	5	4	7	6	5	8	6	7	12		10	7		10			8	12	7	8		7	3
	Sweden	53							3			4	8		2			1		5			6	10	12	2
	Belgium	122		4	7	7	4	7	12	5	4	3	3	6	7	8		7	6	10	2			7	6	1	6
	Finland	22																			10			1	10		1
	Norway	79				8	1		4	4	3	5	5	10	4	3		4	3	3	12	4	2		4
	Estonia	36				2		8	1				4	2	1					2	4		12
	Turkey	25	5								12						2			1							5
	Macedonia	16	6					3						4			3

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:

N.	Recipient nation	Voting nation
4
	Malta	Ireland, Norway, Slovakia, United Kingdom
	United Kingdom	Croatia, Israel, Romania, Turkey
3
	Germany	Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland
	Israel	France, Malta, Portugal
2
	Croatia	Macedonia, Slovenia
	Netherlands	Belgium, Hungary
1
	Belgium	Poland
	Cyprus	Greece
	Estonia	Finland
	Greece	Cyprus
	Norway	Sweden
	Sweden	Estonia
	Turkey	Germany

Returning artists

Artist	Country	Previous Year(s)
Danijela	Croatia	1995 (part of Magazin)
José Cid (part of Alma Lusa)	Portugal	1980

International broadcasting

Other involved countries

FR Yugoslavia

After the breakup of Yugoslavia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was last participated in 1992. Third channel of Radio Television of Serbia broadcast the show, although Yugoslavia did not participate.

Commentators

Television

• Croatia - Aleksandar "Aco" Kostadinov (HRT 1)
• Greece - Giorgos Mitropoulos (ET1)
• France - Chris Mayne & Laura Mayne "Native" (France 2)
• Spain - José Luis Uribarri (TVE1)
• Switzerland - Roman Kilchsperger & Heinz Margot (SF 1), Jean-Marc Richard (TSR 1), Jonathan Tedesco (TSI 2)
• Slovakia - Juraj Čurný (STV2)
• Poland - Artur Orzech (TVP1)
• Israel - No commentator
• Germany - Peter Urban (Das Erste)
• Malta - Gino Cauchi
• Hungary - Gábor Gundel Takács (MTV1)
• Slovenia - Miša Molk (SLO1)
• Ireland - Pat Kenny (RTÉ One)
• Portugal - Rui Unas (RTP1)
• Romania - Leonard Miron (TVR2)
• United Kingdom - Terry Wogan (BBC One)
• Cyprus - Evi Papamichail (RIK 1)
• Netherlands - Willem van Beusekom (TV2)
• Sweden - Pernilla Månsson & Christer Björkman (SVT2)
• Belgium - Jean-Pierre Hautier (RTBF La Une), André Vermeulen & Andrea Croonenberghs (VRT TV1)
• Finland - Maria Guzenina & Sami Aaltonen (YLE TV2)
• Norway - Jostein Pedersen (NRK1)
• Estonia - Reet Linna (Eesti Televisioon)
• Turkey - Ömer Önder (TRT 1)
• Macedonia - Milanka Rašik (MTV 3)
• Austria (Non-participating country) - Ernst Grissemann (ORF2)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina (Non-participating country) - Ismeta Dervoz-Krvavac (BHT)
• Denmark (Non-participating country) - Jørgen de Mylius (DR1)
• Iceland (Non-participating country) - Páll Óskar Hjálmtýsson (Sjónvarpið)
• Yugoslavia (Non-participating country) - Mladen Popović & Radoš Bajić (RTS 3K)

Radio

• Croatia - Draginja Balaš (HR 2)
• Greece - Dimitris Konstantaras (ERA1)
• France - François Kevorkian & Michel Field (France Inter)
• Spain - N/A
• Switzerland - N/A
• Slovakia - N/A
• Poland - N/A
• Israel - Daniel Pe'er (Reshet Gimel)
• Germany - Roger Horné (Deutschlandfunk/hr3)
• Malta - N/A
• Hungary - N/A
• Slovenia - N/A
• Ireland - Brendan Balfe (RTÉ Radio 1)
• Portugal - N/A
• Romania - N/A
• United Kingdom - Ken Bruce (BBC Radio 2)
• Cyprus - Pavlos Pavlou (CyBC Radio 2)
• Netherlands - Daniël Dekker & Hijlco Span (Radio 2)
• Sweden - N/A
• Belgium - Alain Gerlache & Adrien Joveneau (RTBF La Première), Julien Put & Michel Follet (VRT Radio 2)
• Finland - N/A
• Norway - N/A
• Estonia - Marko Reikop (Raadio 2)
• Turkey - Fatih Orbay (TRT Radyo 3)
• Macedonia - N/A
• Austria (Non-participating country) - Martin Blumenau (Hitradio Ö3)

Spokespersons

• Croatia - Davor Meštrović
• Greece - Alexis Kostalas
• France - Marie Myriam (Eurovision winner for France in 1977)
• Spain - Belén Fernández de Henestrosa
• Switzerland - Regula Elsener
• Slovakia - Alena Heribanová
• Poland - Jan Chojnacki
• Israel - Yigal Ravid
• Germany - Nena
• Malta - Stephanie Farrugia
• Hungary - Barna Héder
• Slovenia - Mojca Mavec
• Ireland - Eileen Dunne
• Portugal - Lúcia Moniz (Portuguese representative in 1996)
• Romania - Anca Ţurcașiu
• United Kingdom - Ken Bruce
• Cyprus - Marina Maleni
• Netherlands - Conny Vandenbos (Dutch representative in 1965)
• Sweden - Björn Hedman
• Belgium - Marie-Hélène Vanderborght
• Finland - Marjo Wilska
• Norway - Ragnhild Sælthun Fjørtoft
• Estonia - Urve Tiidus
• Turkey - Osman Erkan
• Macedonia - Evgenija Teodosievska