Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
9 May 1998
Host
Venue
Presenter(s)
Ulrika Jonsson
Terry Wogan
Conductor
Martin Koch
Director
Geoff Posner
Executive supervisor
Hostbroadcaster
Intervalact
Christine Marchal-Ortiz
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Jupiter, The Bringer of Joviality
Participants
Numberofentries
25
Debutingcountries
none
Returningcountries
Withdrawingcountries
Belgium
Finland
Macedonia
Israel
Romania
Slovakia
Austria
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Denmark
Iceland
Italy
Russia
Vote
Votingsystem
Nulpoints
Winningsong
Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs
Switzerland
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 comedy commentary to the
contest for the BBC.
Winner
Dana International from Israel narrowly 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 12 points. Greece, Germany, Slovenia, Switzerland, Malta, Israel
and Belgium did not sing with an orchestra, they sang with fully backing tracks (although this did not stop both
Germany and Slovenia presenting 'conductors' at the start of their performances). France utilised the violin section of
the orchestra but as they did not bring a conductor of their own, no conductor was shown before their entry.
Ironically, the contest was held in an English speaking country for the last time the contest was run without the free
language rule so only the UK and Ireland performed in English.
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 164Wikipedia:Disputed
statement). 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.
Notable participants
For the second year in a row, at least one country went home empty-handed; Switzerland's Gunvor Guggisberg with
her composition "Lass 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, ranking Greece 20th by the end of the broadcast , her
worst result till 1998. Greece will be ranked 20th again in 2014's edition at Denmark with 35 points. 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 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 ORT 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"
131
02
Greece
Greek
Thalassa
A secret sensibility
20
12
03
France
French
Marie Line
"O aller"
Where to go
24
04
Spain
Spanish
Mikel Herzog
What am I going to do
without you?
16
21
"Lass' ihn"
Let him
25
05
Switzerland
German
Gunvor
06
Slovakia
Slovak
A prayer
21
07
Poland
Polish
Sixteen
It's easy
17
19
08
Israel
Hebrew
Dana
International
"Diva" ()
172
09
Germany
German
Guildo Horn
86
10
Malta
English
Chiara
165
11
Hungary
Hungarian
Charlie
23
12
Slovenia
Slovene
Vili Resnik
18
17
13
Ireland
English
Dawn Martin
64
14
Portugal
Portuguese
Alma Lusa
12
36
15
Romania
Romanian
Mlina Olinescu
"Eu cred"
I believe
22
English
Imaani
166
16
United
Kingdom
17
Cyprus
Greek
Michalis
Hatzigiannis
"Genesis" ()
Genesis
11
37
18
Netherlands
Dutch
Edsilia
"Hemel en aarde"
150
19
Sweden
Swedish
Jill Johnson
"Krleken r"
The love is
10
53
20
Belgium
French
Mlanie Cohl
"Dis oui"
Say yes
122
21
Finland
Finnish
Edea
"Aava"
Open landscape
15
22
22
Norway
Norwegian
Lars Fredriksen
"Alltid sommer"
Always summer
79
23
Estonia
Estonian
Koit Toome
"Mere lapsed"
12
36
24
Turkey
Turkish
Tzmen
"Unutamazsn"
14
25
25
Macedonia
19
16
Voting structure
Each country had a televote except Turkey, Romania 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.
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 one point less than indicated during the broadcast.
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 with the scoreboard showing them with the same points total (although, due to the error above, Malta
actually one point ahead), and the United Kingdom apparently nine points behind. 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 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
seven sets of 10 points to help seal the win.
Score sheet
Voting procedure used:
Red: Televote.
Blue: Jury.
Voters
Croatia
131
Greece
12
12
France
Spain
21
Switzerland
Slovakia
Poland
19
Israel
172
Germany
86
10
10 10 10
12
12
8
2
10 12 10 10
3
12 12
10
2
12
10
7
12
10
10
6
12
10 10
7
7
1
Malta
5
165
Hungary
Slovenia
17
Ireland
64
Portugal
36
Romania
12
12
10
2
2
12
10
5
2
12
1
4
8
1
2
3
4
6
7
Cyprus
12
150 10
Netherlands
5
5
Sweden
53
Belgium
122
Finland
22
Norway
79
Estonia
36
Turkey
25
Macedonia
16
12
1
5
3
4
12
4
8
10
12
10
10
12
12 points
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:
N.
4
Contestant
Malta
Voting nation
Ireland, Norway, Slovakia, United Kingdom
Germany
Israel
Croatia
Macedonia, Slovenia
Netherlands
Belgium, Hungary
Belgium
Poland
Cyprus
Greece
Estonia
Finland
Greece
Cyprus
Norway
Sweden
Sweden
Estonia
Turkey
Germany
12 10
10 12
10
10
10
3
8
12
12
5
6
10
12
6
1
12
5
Returning artists
Artist
Danijela
Egon Egemann (Gunvor's violinist)
Country
Croatia
Previous Year(s)
1995 (part of Magazin)
Switzerland 1990
Portugal
1980
Ireland
Commentators
Notes
* 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.
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eurovision Song Contest 1998.
License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
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