Eurovision Song Contest 2005

Eurovision Song Contest 2005 Awakening
Dates
Semi-final	19 May 2005 (2005-05-19)
Final	21 May 2005 (2005-05-21)
Host
Venue	Palace of Sports Kiev, Ukraine
Presenter(s)	Maria Efrosinina Pavlo Shylko
Director	Sven Stojanovic
Executive supervisor	Svante Stockselius
Executive producer	Pavlo Grytsak
Host broadcaster	National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU)
Opening act	Semi-final: The Song and Dance Company of Ukraine Military Forces, A-6 Ballet and Diezel DJ Power (Freak show) Final: Ruslana performing a medley of "Wild Dances" and "Heart on Fire"
Interval act	Semi-final: Irina Mazur's Ballet "Life" Final: Kiev Percussion Ensemble ARS NOVA, Anatoliy Zalevskiy and Ruslana performing "The Same Star"
Participants
Number of entries	39
Debuting countries	Bulgaria  Moldova
Returning countries	Hungary
Withdrawing countries	None
Participation map      Participating countries     Did not qualify from the semi final     Countries that participated in the past but not in 2005
Vote
Voting system	Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 points to their 10 favourite songs.
Nul points	None
Winning song	Greece "My Number One"
Eurovision Song Contest
◄2004 • 2005 • 2006►

The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place at the Palace of Sports in Kiev, Ukraine, following Ruslana's win in the 2004 Contest with the song "Wild Dances". The contest consisted of two shows: the semi-final and final, which took place on 19 and 21 May 2005, respectively. The shows were hosted by Maria Efrosinina and Pavlo Shylko. Thirty-nine countries participated, including the débuts of Bulgaria and Moldova and the return of Hungary, which was last represented in 1998.

Organizers hoped that this event would boost Ukraine's image abroad and increase tourism, while the country's new government hoped that it would also give a modest boost to the long-term goal of acquiring European Union membership.

The winner for 2005 was Greece with the song "My Number One" performed by Helena Paparizou, written by Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou, both successful singer-songwriters in Greece. It scored 230 points, beating Malta into second place by a margin of 38 points. This was the first victory for Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest. Romania, Israel and Latvia rounded out the top five. The "Big Four" countries (France, Germany, Spain and United Kingdom) ended up as the "Last Four", all placing in the bottom four position of the scoreboard in the final.

Overview

The official logo of the contest remained the same from the 2004 contest with the country's flag in the heart being changed. Following Istanbul's 'Under The Same Sky', the slogan for the 2005 show was 'Awakening', which symbolised the awakening of the country and city ready to present itself to Europe. The postcards (short clips shown between performances) for the 2005 show illustrated Ukraine’s culture and heritage along with a more modern and industrial side to the country.

The hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev were television presenter Maria "Masha" Efrosinina and DJ Pavlo "Pasha" Shylko. Previous winner Ruslana returned to the stage in Kiev to perform in the interval act and to interview the contestants backstage in the 'green room'. The famous Ukrainian boxers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko opened the televoting, while a special trophy was presented to the winner by Ukraine's president, Viktor Yushchenko.

Publicity

An official CD and DVD was released and a new introduction was an official pin set, which contains heart-shaped pins with the flags of all thirty-nine participating countries. The EBU also commissioned a book "The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History" by British/American author John Kennedy O'Connor to celebrate the contest's fiftieth anniversary.^[1] The book was presented on screen during the break between songs 12 and 13 (Serbia and Montenegro, Denmark). The book was published in English, German, French, Dutch, Swedish, Danish and Finnish.

During the semi final, there were a few volume falls in the sound, most notably during the Norwegian song, shortly after the intro. These were not fixed for the DVD release.

Incidents

2005 was no exception for scandals regarding the representatives from the countries participating. Germany's entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest rejected calls to quit after her producer admitted manipulating the country's pop charts with mass purchases of her single. Gracia Baur defended her producer David Brandes, also behind Swiss entry Vanilla Ninja, and said she would go to the finals in Kiev despite complaints from other German singers. Bulgaria's debut was overshadowed by a scandal. The song "Lorraine" by Kaffe was accused of plagiarism. The song sounded too similar to another one released by Ruslan Mainov in 2001. There were also problems in Malta with the electricity supply during the contest, so TV viewers were unable to watch their national selection from the very beginning. There was a controversy regarding the Turkish entry: TRT got a false jury which led to the victory of the song Gülseren, which the 2003 winner Sertab Erener said was not the best choice. There were similar controversies in Macedonia which led to an eventual victory for Martin Vučić. The Ukrainian song had to be changed because it would bring a political message to the people, and EBU stated that no politics could be involved in the contest. The entry for Serbia and Montenegro was also overshadowed by a scandal and an accusation of plagiarism. Portugal's entry, "Amar", had very poor sound quality, with the female singer's microphone failing many times on stage.

It is also notable that the programme lasted just short of 3.5 hours. This was mainly due to the extremely long voting procedure, where 39 countries voted, reading out every single score. Many people, including United Kingdom commentator Terry Wogan, noticed this and commented about the marathon-like voting procedure, when Russia voted he stated "How many more [countries] have we got to go? What time is it?". Because the show overran so badly, the EBU changed the way the votes were announced in 2006 into a much shorter method, where only the top 3 scores were read out (the rest appeared on the scoreboard automatically).

Ruslana was also intended to be a presenter for the show, but was pulled out before the contest for numerous reasons, including her poor English skills. She opened the contest, and did do a few brief interviews in the green room at a few different stages in the event.

Participating countries

Ruslana performing at the opening of the final

Thirty-nine countries participated in the 2005 Contest. Hungary returned to the contest after a six-year absence, last competing in 1998. Bulgaria and Moldova competed in the contest for the first time.

Returning artists

Constantinos Christoforou represented Cyprus for the third time, having previously represented the nation at the 1996 contest as a solo artist and at the 2002 contest as part of the group One. Helena Paparizou previously represented Greece in 2001 as part of the duo Antique. Selma previously represented Iceland in 1999. Chiara previously represented Malta in 1998. Anabel Conde, who represented Spain in 1995, returned as a backing vocalist for Andorra.

Results

Semi-final

The semi-final was held on 19 May 2005 at 21:00 (CET). 25 countries performed and all 39 participants voted.

Shaded countries qualified for the Eurovision Final

Draw	Country	Artist	Song	Language[2]	Place	Points
01	Austria	Global.Kryner	"Y así"	English, Spanish	21	30
02	Lithuania	Laura & The Lovers	"Little by Little"	English	25	17
03	Portugal	2B	"Amar"	Portuguese, English	17	51
04	Moldova	Zdob și Zdub	"Boonika bate toba"	English, Romanian	2	207
05	Latvia	Walters & Kazha	"The War Is Not Over"	English	10	85
06	Monaco	Lise Darly	"Tout de moi"	French	24	22
07	Israel	Shiri Maimon	"Hasheket Shenish'ar" (השקט שנשאר)	Hebrew, English	7	158
08	Belarus	Angelica Agurbash	"Love Me Tonight"	English	13	67
09	Netherlands	Glennis Grace	"My Impossible Dream"	English	14	53
10	Iceland	Selma	"If I Had Your Love"	English	16	52
11	Belgium	Nuno Resende	"Le grand soir"	French	22	29
12	Estonia	Suntribe	"Let's Get Loud"	English	20	31
13	Norway	Wig Wam	"In My Dreams"	English	6	164
14	Romania	Luminița Anghel & Sistem	"Let Me Try"	English	1	235
15	Hungary	NOX	"Forogj, világ!"	Hungarian	5	167
16	Finland	Geir Rönning	"Why?"	English	18	50
17	Macedonia	Martin Vučić	"Make My Day"	English	9	97
18	Andorra	Marian van de Wal	"La mirada interior"	Catalan	23	27
19	Switzerland	Vanilla Ninja	"Cool Vibes"	English	8	114
20	Croatia	Boris Novković feat. Lado Members	"Vukovi umiru sami"	Croatian	4	169
21	Bulgaria	Kaffe	"Lorraine"	English	19	49
22	Ireland	Donna and Joe	"Love?"	English	14	53
23	Slovenia	Omar Naber	"Stop"	Slovene	12	69
24	Denmark	Jakob Sveistrup	"Talking to You"	English	3	185
25	Poland	Ivan & Delfin	"Czarna dziewczyna"	Polish, Russian	11	81

Final

The finalists were:

• the four automatic qualifiers France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom;
• the top 10 countries from the 2004 final (other than the automatic qualifiers);
• the top 10 countries from the 2005 semi-final.

The final was held on 21 May 2005 at 21:00 (CET) and was won by Greece.

Countries in bold automatically qualified for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 Final.

Draw	Country	Artist	Song	Language[2]	Place	Points
01	Hungary	NOX	"Forogj, világ!"	Hungarian	12	97
02	United Kingdom	Javine	"Touch My Fire"	English	22	18
03	Malta	Chiara	"Angel"	English	2	192
04	Romania	Luminița Anghel & Sistem	"Let Me Try"	English	3	158
05	Norway	Wig Wam	"In My Dreams"	English	9	125
06	Turkey	Gülseren	"Rimi Rimi Ley"	Turkish	13	92
07	Moldova	Zdob și Zdub	"Boonika bate toba"	English, Romanian	6	148
08	Albania	Ledina Çelo	"Tomorrow I Go"	English	16	53
09	Cyprus	Constantinos Christoforou	"Ela Ela"	English	18	46
10	Spain	Son de Sol	"Brujería"	Spanish	21	28
11	Israel	Shiri Maimon	"Hasheket Shenish'ar" (השקט שנשאר)	Hebrew, English	4	154
12	Serbia and Montenegro	No Name	"Zauvijek moja" (Заувијек моја)	Montenegrin	7	137
13	Denmark	Jakob Sveistrup	"Talking to You"	English	9	125
14	Sweden	Martin Stenmarck	"Las Vegas"	English	19	30
15	Macedonia	Martin Vučić	"Make My Day"	English	17	52
16	Ukraine	GreenJolly	"Razom nas bahato" (Разом нас багато)	Ukrainian, English1	19	30
17	Germany	Gracia	"Run and Hide"	English	24	4
18	Croatia	Boris Novković feat. Lado Members	"Vukovi umiru sami"	Croatian	11	115
19	Greece	Helena Paparizou	"My Number One"	English	1	230
20	Russia	Natalia Podolskaya	"Nobody Hurt No One"	English	15	57
21	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Feminnem	"Call Me"	English	14	79
22	Switzerland	Vanilla Ninja	"Cool Vibes"	English	8	128
23	Latvia	Walters & Kazha	"The War Is Not Over"	English	5	153
24	France	Ortal	"Chacun pense à soi"	French	23	11

Notes

1.^ The song also contained phrases in Czech, French, German, Polish, Russian and Spanish.^[3]

Scoreboard

The EBU introduced an undisclosed threshold number of televotes that would have to be registered in each voting country in order to make that country's votes valid. If that number was not reached, the country's backup jury would vote instead. In the semi-final this affected Monaco, Andorra and Albania, and Andorra, Monaco and Moldova in the final.

Semi-final

		Televoting results
	Austria	30											7			10									5									1		1			6
	Lithuania	17													5				4																					8
	Portugal	51								10																	5							12					12		12
	Moldova	207	8	10	8		10		8	4	5	3		6	3	7	6	6	5		12	1	12		3	8	1	10	6			10	12		4	6	12	6		10	5
	Latvia	85		12	4		7		2		10				6	6				12		3				2		6		5			2		7		1
	Monaco	22											10											2																	10
	Israel	158		2	6	12	12	10		3		1	12	4	7		4	5	6	6	8		6	5	7	3	4		3	4		1	5	3			8		3		8
	Belarus	67		3		1								12			1			7			3			7		2				6	4			8	10			3
	Netherlands	53				8				12			5		4				2	8	1							5		6									2
	Iceland	52											6						3			8		10			2	4		10	7										2
	Belgium	29			12			6																3	1																7
	Estonia	31		5								6			1	2		1						1						3										12
	Norway	164	2	6	1		5	2	12	2	6	12		2	10	3	7		7	3	7		2	8	2	4		7	4	12	8	2	6			4		7	5	6
	Romania	235	10		10	7	3	8	5	8	1	4	4	5	8	1	8	12	8	10		7	7	12		12	12	12	5	7	5	5	1	7	1	12	3	5	4		6
	Hungary	167	7		7		4		7	6	4	5	1	7		4	12		1	2	10	6	8			6	3	8	8	1	3	4	10		8	5	7	3	1	5	4
	Finland	50				6		1			8		3									10								8	10			4
	Macedonia	97	4			3		3						10		8					4		10		12				10		1			2	12			10	8
	Andorra	27						7																4	6		10
	Switzerland	114	1	8	2	2	8		6		12	10		3	2	5	5	3		1	2	2				5		3	2	2	4	3		6	3	3	2	2		7
	Croatia	169	12	4	3	5	1	4	4	1	3	2		8		12	3	8			6	4		6	10				12		6	12	7	10				12	10	4
	Bulgaria	49																					5	7	4	10	6		1			8				7		1
	Ireland	53									2		2	1			2	10	12	5	5		4			1									5			4
	Slovenia	69	3			4	2		1			7						2							8			1	7			7	3		10		6	8
	Denmark	185	6	7	5	10		12	10	7	7	8	8		12		10	7	10	4	3	12					8				12			5	6	2	4		7	2	1
	Poland	81	5	1			6	5	3	5								4				5	1				7				2		8	8	2	10	5			1	3

12 points

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

Final

		Televoting results
	Hungary	97			2		2		6	2	3		6	5			10				8		6			7	5	8	6			1	2		6	2	3	1		3	3
	United Kingdom	18													8					4			1			5
	Malta	192	5	2		5	5	5	4	8	4	8			10	1		5	10		2	10	8		4	6	7	10		10	6		10	8	4	8	12		3	5	7
	Romania	158	6		12	4	1	3	5	7			7	8	5		7	10		7		6	4	7	5	8	12	12	3	3	2	2				5		2			5
	Norway	125		5			4	1	12	3	8	12	2	1	4	4	8		5	5				3		3	3	1	2	12	8		6			4		3		6
	Turkey	92	7					12		10				3					1		3				8					8		4		10				8	6		12
	Moldova	148	2	10	10		7		8	1	6			6		3	3	4	2	2	12		7			2	4	4	5			5	12	1	1	7	10	4		8	2
	Albania	53	3																				2						8			12			2	10		5	10		1
	Cyprus	46												10					3	12	1				7				1							12
	Spain	28			8								12																										4		4
	Israel	154	1	3	5	12	8	7		6	1	5	8		6			8	7	8	7	5	3	6	3		6			5	1		7	5			8		1	2	10
	Serbia and Montenegro	137	12			6	3	4						4		10		2			6			1	6	10					4	10	3	3	12	6	6	10	12	1	6
	Denmark	125		4	1	10		8	10	4	5	2	3		7		5	6	8	3	4	12					10	3			10			6						4
	Sweden	30				3						6										1		5			2			7		6
	Macedonia	52				1								7		5							5		10				7						8			7	2
	Ukraine	30			7												12							8			1										2
	Germany	4				2																		2
	Croatia	115	8	6		7		2	1		2	1		2		12	2	7			5	2			2				10			8	8	2			1	12	8	7
	Greece	230	4	1	3			10	2	12		3	4	12	2	2	1	12	12	6	10	4	12	4	12	12	8	7	12	2	12	7		12	5		4	6	7		8
	Russia	57		7			12				7	7												10									4							10
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	79	10					6							1	8			4			7	10						4	4	7	3			10				5
	Switzerland	128		8	4	8	10		7		12	10	1		3	6	6	3		1		3				4		2		1	5		5	4	3	3	7			12
	Latvia	153		12	6		6		3	5	10	4	10		12	7	4	1	6	10		8		12		1		6		6	3		1	7	7	1	5
	France	11											5												1			5

12 points

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

Other countries

•  Czech Republic – Czech broadcaster Česká televize (ČT) initially applied to participate in the 2005 Contest, however, the broadcaster reconsidered débuting in the contest and later withdrew their application on 3 December 2004.^[4]
•  Lebanon – Lebanese broadcaster Télé Liban confirmed Lebanon's début in the contest and selected the song "Quand tout s'enfuit" performed by Aline Lahoud as their entry. However, the broadcaster announced their withdrawal from the competition on 18 March 2005 after the EBU informed them that the rules of the competition require them to broadcast the Israeli entry during the live show and enable viewers to vote for the nation, which contravened a Lebanese law prohibiting any acknowledgement of Israel. As the withdrawal period for the contest had passed, Télé Liban forfeited the return of their participation fee and potentially faced further fines from the EBU.^[5]

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

The Marcel Bezençon Awards were first handed out during the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia honoring the best competing songs in the final. Founded by Christer Björkman (Sweden's representative in the 1992 Eurovision Song Contest and current Head of Delegation for Sweden) and Richard Herrey (member of the Herreys, Eurovision Song Contest 1984 winner from Sweden), the awards are named after the creator of the annual competition, Marcel Bezençon.^[6] The awards are divided into 3 categories; Press Award; Artistic Award; and Composer Award.^[7]

Category	Country	Song	Performer(s)	Composer(s)	Final result	Points
Artists Award (Voted by previous winners)	Greece	"My Number One"	Helena Paparizou	Christos Dantis Natalia Germanou	1st	230
Composer Award	Serbia and Montenegro	"Zauvijek moja"	No Name	Slaven Knezović Milan Perić	7th	137
Press Award	Malta	"Angel"	Chiara	Chiara Siracusa	2nd	192

Barbara Dex Award

The Barbara Dex Award has been annually awarded by the fan website House of Eurovision since 1997, and is a humorous award given to the worst dressed artist each year in the contest. It is named after the Belgian artist, Barbara Dex, who came last in the 1993 contest, in which she wore her own self designed (awful) dress.^[8]

Place[9]	Country[9]	Performer(s)[9]	Votes[9]
1	Macedonia	Martin Vučić	42
2	Iceland	Selma	39
3	Portugal	2B	34
4	Norway	Wig Wam	29
5	Belarus	Angelica Agurbash	21

International broadcasts and voting

Voting and spokespersons

The order in which each country announced their votes was compiled by placing the countries that failed to qualify from the semi-final first in the running order they performed in during the semi-final, followed by the finalists which voted in the order they performed in during the final. The spokespersons are shown alongside each country.^[10]

Commentators

Official album

Eurovision Song Contest: Kyiv 2005
Compilation album by Eurovision Song Contest
Released	2 May 2005
Genre	Pop
Length	60:17 (CD 1) 56:54 (CD 2)
Label	EMI / CMC
Eurovision Song Contest chronology
Eurovision Song Contest: Istanbul 2004 (2004) Eurovision Song Contest: Kyiv 2005 (2005) Eurovision Song Contest: Athens 2006 (2006)
Original cover
The first of two official albums of the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, showing the participation of Lebanon. (bottom row, third from right)

Eurovision Song Contest: Kyiv 2005 was the official compilation album of the 2005 Contest, put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by EMI Records and CMC International on 2 May 2005. The album featured all 39 songs that entered in the 2005 contest, including the semi-finalists that failed to qualify into the grand final.^[33] The original cover designed for the album was changed after Lebanon's withdrawal from the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 after announcing they would show advertisements over the Israeli entry. Had they entered, they would have been on track 4, disc 2 with the song "Quand tout s'enfuit" by Aline Lahoud.^[34] It was reported that sales of the 2005 Eurovision merchandise reached record-breaking levels.^[35]

See also

• The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History by John Kennedy O'Connor. Carlton Books, UK ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eurovision Song Contest 2005.

• Official website
• Eurovision Song Contest 2005 at the Internet Movie Database
• Eurovision Song Contest 2005's channel on YouTube