Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998

Eurovision Song Contest 1998
Country	Netherlands
National selection
Selection process	Nationaal Songfestival 1998
Selection date(s)	8 March 1998
Selected entrant	Edsilia Rombley
Selected song	"Hemel en aarde"
Finals performance
Final result	4th, 150 points
Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1997 • 1998 • 1999►

The Netherlands were present at the Eurovision Song Contest 1998, held in Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom.

Before Eurovision

Nationaal Songfestival 1998

The final was held on 8 March at the Rai Congrescentrum in Amsterdam, and was hosted by Paul de Leeuw and Linda de Mol. The final decision was weighted 50-50 between a panel of "experts" and telephone voting across the country. The winning entry was "Hemel en aarde," performed by Edsilia Rombley and written and composed by Eric van Tijn and Jochem Fluitsma.

Final – 8 March 1998
Draw	Artist	Song (English translation)	Songwriter(s)	Jury	Televote	Total	Place
1	Sylvia Samson	"Mijn wens voor 2000" (My wish for 2000)	Henk Temming, Jan de Roos	28	10	38	7
2	Frederique Spigt	"Mijn hart kan dat niet aan" (My heart can't take it anymore)	Leo van de Ketterij, Huub van der Lubbe	49	21	70	3
3	Marco Marle	"Hou me nu maar vast" (Hold me now)	Theo Nabuurs, Ramon Roelofs	9	20	29	8
4	Ryan van den Akker & Lone van Rozendaal	"Over"	Fons Merkies, Jack Pisters, Hans Ravestein, Edwin de Jong	17	31	48	5
5	Edsilia Rombley	"Hemel en aarde" (Heaven and Earth)	Eric van Tijn, Jochem Fluitsma	57	81	138	1
6	Nubia	"Ze kwamen overzee" (They came from over the sea)	Ad van Olm	14	51	65	4
7	Nurlaila	"Alsof je bij me bent" (As if you're with me)	John Ewbank	49	35	84	2
8	Claudia Nelson	"Zintuigen" (Senses)	Harto Soemodihardjo, Derick Stadwijk, Sjon Looy	33	7	40	6

Detailed Jury Votes
Draw	Song	Angela Groothuizen	Cor Bakker	Martin Buitenhuis	Cornald Maas	Sandra Reemer	Albert Verlinde	Ton de Zeeuw	Manuela Kemp	Total
1	"Mijn wens voor 2000"	5	3	10	3	3	2	1	1	28
2	"Mijn hart kan dat niet aan"	4	4	7	10	5	4	5	10	49
3	"Hou me nu maar vast"	1	1	2	1	1	3			9
4	"Over"	2	2	3	2	2	1	3	2	17
5	"Hemel en aarde"	10	7	5	7	7	7	7	7	57
6	"Ze kwamen overzee"			1				10	3	14
7	"Alsof je bij me bent"	7	10		4	10	10	4	4	49
8	"Zintuigen"	3	5	4	5	4	5	2	5	33

At Eurovision

Rombley was the eighteenth performer on the night of the Contest, following Cyprus and preceding Sweden. At the Contest, she performed under her first name only. At the close of the voting the song had received 150 points, placing 4th in a field of 25 competing countries. It was the best placing the Netherlands had seen since their last win in 1975.

The Dutch conductor at the contest was Dick Bakker for the third and last time.

Voting

Points awarded to Netherlands

Points awarded to Netherlands

12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
Belgium Hungary	Croatia Ireland United Kingdom	Greece Israel Norway Sweden	Finland Malta Portugal Switzerland Turkey	Germany Slovakia
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
France Poland	Spain	Macedonia

Points awarded by Netherlands

12 points	Germany
10 points	Belgium
8 points	Malta
7 points	United Kingdom
6 points	Israel
5 points	Sweden
4 points	Croatia
3 points	Norway
2 points	Estonia
1 point	Turkey

External links

• Dutch National Final 1998