1993 Eurovision Song Contest
| Eurovision Song Contest 1993 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Dates | |
| Final | 15 May 1993 |
| Host | |
| Venue |
Green Glens Arena Millstreet, Cork, Ireland |
| Presenter(s) | Fionnuala Sweeney |
| Conductor | Noel Kelehan |
| Directed by | Anita Notaro |
| Executive supervisor | Christian Clausen |
| Executive producer | Liam Miller |
| Host broadcaster | Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) |
| Opening act | The story of Eochaid and Étaín in Celtic mythology, transitioning into a video of rural Ireland today. |
| Interval act |
Suzy Wong, Johnny Long Sclong Logan, |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 25 |
| Debuting countries |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Slovenia
|
| Returning countries | None |
| Withdrawing countries |
 Yugoslavia
|
|
|
| Vote | |
| Voting system | Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs |
| Nul points | None |
| Winning song |
 Ireland"In Your Eyes" |
The Eurovision Song Contest 1993 was the 38th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 15 May 1993 in Millstreet, County Cork, Ireland. The presenter was Fionnuala Sweeney. Niamh Kavanagh was the winner of this Eurovision for Ireland with the song, "In Your Eyes". This was Ireland's fifth victory, and equalled the tally of five Eurovision victories achieved by France in 1977 and Luxembourg in 1983.
The location for this year's edition of the contest was unique, in that Millstreet, with a population at the time of just 1,500 people, was the smallest host town ever chosen for Eurovision, and indeed was the most remote. However, the venue, a large indoor well- equipped equestrian centre was deemed more than suitable as the location by RTÉ. With huge support from local and national authorities, plus several businesses in the region, the town's infrastructure was greatly enhanced in order to accommodate an event of this scale. It was also the largest outside broadcast ever attempted by state broadcaster RTÉ and was deemed a technical triumph for all involved. The stage was created by Alan Farquharson, who was also chief production designer two years later in Dublin.
BBC newsreader Nicholas Witchell caused controversy by remarking on the air, shortly before the contest, that it would be held "in a cowshed in Ireland." He subsequently apologized.
The top two countries of this contest were the same as the top two countries in the previous year's contest, being Ireland and the United Kingdom.
In the run-up to this contest, the European Broadcasting Union finally started to grapple with the explosion in the number of potential participating countries, caused by the dissolution of the Eastern bloc, and also by the disintegration of Yugoslavia, which had traditionally been the only communist country to take part in the contest. For the first time, then, a pre-qualifying round was introduced, but only for countries that had either never participated in the contest at all, or in the case of former republics of Yugoslavia, had not previously competed as nations in their own right. This was, however, merely a 'sticking-plaster' measure that was plainly not a sustainable solution for future years, as it would not be seen as remotely equitable. But in the meantime, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania and Estonia were left to battle it out in a special competition called Kvalifikacija za Millstreet in Ljubljana on 3 April for the mere three places available at the grand final in Millstreet. After some extremely tight voting, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia edged through.
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