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2003 Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest 2003
Magical Rendez-vous
Eurovision Song Contest 2003 logo.svg
Dates
Final 24 May 2003 (2003-05-24)
Host
Venue Skonto Hall, Riga, Latvia
Presenter(s)
Directed by Sven Stojanovic
Executive supervisor Sarah Yuen
Executive producer Brigita Rozenbrika
Host broadcaster Latvijas Televīzija (LTV)
Interval act Iļģi, Brainstorm, Marie N and Raimonds Pauls
Participants
Number of entries 26
Debuting countries  Ukraine
Returning countries
Withdrawing countries
Vote
Voting system Each country awards 1–8, 10, and 12 points to their ten favourite songs
Nul points  United Kingdom
Winning song
Eurovision Song Contest: Riga 2003
ESC 2003 album cover.jpg
Compilation album by Eurovision Song Contest
Released 19 May 2003
Genre Pop
Length 76:47
Label CMC
Eurovision Song Contest chronology
Eurovision Song Contest: Tallinn 2002
(2002)Eurovision Song Contest: Tallinn 20022002
Eurovision Song Contest: Riga 2003
(2003)
Eurovision Song Contest: Istanbul 2004
(2004)Eurovision Song Contest: Istanbul 20042004

The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 was the 48th annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place in Riga, Latvia on 24 May 2003, following Marie N's win in the 2002 contest with the song "I Wanna". It was the first win and hosting of the competition for Latvia with only their third participation after debuting at the 2000 contest. Latvijas Televīzija (LTV) chose the Skonto Hall as the venue after conducting a bidding process among several cities and venues in Latvia. The hosts for the contest were the previous year's winner Marie N and former Latvian representative at the 2000 contest, Renārs Kaupers, who competed in the contest as part of the band Brainstorm. The design of the contest was built around the theme "Magical rendez-vous", which represented the meeting of the various European nations coming to Latvia and encountering Latvia's versatile landscapes. Twenty-six countries participated, which saw the return of Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway and Poland after having been relegated from competing the previous year, Portugal returning to the contest after withdrawing the previous year, while Ukraine participated in the contest for the first time.Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Macedonia and Switzerland were required to withdraw due to their poor results in the 2002 contest.


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Wikipedia

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