International song competition
The Eurovision Song Contest 1998 was the 43rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held on 9 May 1998 at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and presented by Terry Wogan and Ulrika Jonsson, the contest was held in the United Kingdom following the country's victory at the 1997 contest with the song "Love Shine a Light" by Katrina and the Waves.
Twenty-five countries participated in the contest. Six participating countries in the 1997 edition were absent, with Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Iceland and Russia relegated due to achieving the lowest average points totals over the previous five contests and Italy actively choosing not to participate. These countries were replaced by Macedonia in its first contest appearance, and previously relegated and absent countries Belgium, Finland, Israel, Romania and Slovakia.
The winner was Israel with the song "Diva", composed by Svika Pick, written by Yoav Ginai and performed by Dana International. The United Kingdom, Malta, the Netherlands and Croatia rounded out the top five. Dana International was the contest's first openly transgender participant and became the contest's first openly LGBTQ+ winning artist; however, her participation for Israel was controversial among sections of Israeli society and resulted in opposition and death threats against her in the run-up to the contest.
It was the first contest in which the results were determined predominantly through televoting, and would become the last contest in which all participants were required to perform in the language of their country and the last to feature an orchestra and live music accompaniment for the competing entries.
Location.
The 1998 contest took place in Birmingham, the United Kingdom, following the country's victory at the 1997 edition with the song "Love Shine a Light", performed by Katrina and the Waves. It was the eighth time that the United Kingdom had hosted the contest – setting a new contest record – with the nation having previously hosted the contest in London in 1960, 1963, 1968 and 1977, in Edinburgh in 1972, in Brighton in 1974 and in Harrogate in 1982. The selected venue was the National Indoor Arena, a sporting venue and indoor arena opened in 1991 which prior to the contest had previously hosted the 1993 IBF Badminton World Championships and 1995 World Netball Championships, as well as being the principal venue for the recording of UK television programme "Gladiators".
Many cities across the United Kingdom expressed interest in hosting the contest, the first to be held in the country in sixteen years, with venues in Aberdeen, Belfast, Bournemouth, Brighton, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Harrogate, Inverness, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield being considered. Following visits by the production team to each city, Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, London and Manchester were shortlisted as potential host cities, and Birmingham's National Indoor Arena was subsequently announced as the host venue on 8 August 1997.
Participating countries.
Per the rules of the contest twenty-five countries were allowed to participate in the event. Macedonia participated in the contest for the first time, having previously applied to enter the 1996 contest but failing to progress from that edition's qualifying round; due to the then-ongoing Macedonia naming dispute with Greece, the nation participated under the provisional reference "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" or its shortened form "FYR Macedonia". Belgium, Finland, Israel, Romania and Slovakia made a return to the contest, replacing Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Iceland and Russia, which were relegated following the previous year's contest, and Italy which decided against entering the event. Italy would not return to the contest again until 2011.
Among the performers at this year's contest were five representatives who had previously competed as lead artists in past editions. Two artists returned as lead artists in the 1998 contest: Danijela had previously represented Croatia in 1995 as a member of the group Magazin; and José Cid, a member of Alma Lusa, had represented Portugal in 1980. Additionally, three artists who had previously competed as lead artists at Eurovision returned as backing performers for their respective countries at this year's event: José María Guzmán, who had represented Spain in the 1986 event as a member of the group Cadillac, was a backing singer for Mikel Herzog; Egon Egemann, who had previously represented Switzerland in the 1990 contest, performed on stage as violinist for Gunvor; and Paul Harrington, winner of the 1994 contest for Ireland with Charlie McGettigan, providing backing vocals for Dawn Martin.
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Qualification.
Due to the high number of countries wishing to enter the contest a relegation system was introduced in 1993 in order to reduce the number of countries which could compete in each year's contest. Any relegated countries would be able to return the following year, thus allowing all countries the opportunity to compete in at least one in every two editions. The relegation rules introduced for the 1997 contest were again utilised ahead of the 1998 contest, based on each country's average points total in previous contests. The twenty-five participants were made up of the previous year's winning country and host nation, the eighteen countries which had the highest average points total over the preceding four contests, and any eligible countries which did not compete in the 1997 contest. In cases where the average was identical between two or more countries the total number of points scored in the most recent contest determined the final order.
Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Germany, Iceland and Russia were therefore excluded from participating in the 1998 contest; however, after Italy declined to participate Germany was subsequently provided a reprieve and allowed to enter. The calculations used to determine the countries relegated for the 1998 contest are outlined in the table below.
Table key
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Production.
The Eurovision Song Contest 1998 was produced by the British public broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Kevin Bishop served as executive producer, Guy Freeman served as producer, Geoff Posner served as director, Andrew Howe-Davies served as designer, and Martin Koch served as musical director, leading the 60-piece BBC Concert Orchestra and arranging and orchestrating the music for the opening and closing sequences and the interval act. On behalf of the contest organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the event was overseen by Christine Marchal-Ortiz as scrutineer.
Construction within the National Indoor Arena began on 19 April 1998 to build out the stage and orchestral area for the contest, as well as creating space for the green room, the dressing rooms, the press centre and accreditation area, and small rooms for use by each country's individual commentators. Although the arena could hold up to 13,000 people, the assembled audience during the contest was limited to around 4,500, with tickets for the dress rehearsal and live show awarded by ballot. The contest organisers also engaged with fan groups, and tickets in the front rows of the arena were distributed among these groups for the first time.
The green room was situated behind the stage, and was designed to resemble a nightclub. The arena featured three large video screens to enable the audience to follow the voting, and video walls were also constructed for use on stage, in the press centre and the green room. A 400-seat auditorium for press conferences and 38 booths for journalists equipped with phone lines were installed within the press centre, and 40 commentary boxes were constructed in the arena to accommodate the teams from the various broadcasters, with 28 built for television and 12 for radio. Much of the press centre facilities constructed for the contest were subsequently retained and augmented for use during the 24th G8 summit held in Birmingham the following week.
Orchestral rehearsals and rehearsals of the main elements of the interval act took place on 2 and 3 May, with rehearsals for the competing countries beginning on 4 May. The first rehearsals for each country, lasting 40 minutes in total followed by a 20 minute press conference, took place on 4 and 5 May, with second rehearsals for each country taking place on 6 and 7 May and lasting 30 minutes. Three dress rehearsals were held on 8 and 9 May, with an audience in attendance during the evening dress rehearsal on 8 May, which was also recorded for use in case of problems during the live contest that resulted in the broadcast being suspended. Stand-in studios were also prepared in Studio 4 of BBC Television Centre, London and in the Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham in case of an emergency at the National Indoor Arena that resulted in evacuation.
Presenters.
The Swedish-British television presenter and model Ulrika Jonsson and the Irish television and radio presenter Terry Wogan were the presenters of the 1998 contest. Wogan had previously provided television and radio commentary on the BBC since 1971, and performed this role once again for the contest's broadcast on BBC One from a separate commentary booth erected behind the stage in addition to his role as the contest presenter.
The draw to the determine the running order, held on 13 November 1997 in the National Indoor Arena, was compered by Wogan and Katrina Leskanich, lead vocalist of the 1997 contest winners Katrina and the Waves.
Conductors.
For those countries which opted to utilise the orchestra during their performance a separate musical director could be nominated to lead the orchestra during their performance, with the host musical director, Martin Koch, also conducting for those countries which did not nominate their own conductor.
The entries from Belgium, Greece, Germany, Israel, Malta, Slovenia and Switzerland were performed entirely without orchestration; however, in the case of Germany and Slovenia, conductors for those countries were present during the contest. Stefan Raab, the writer of the German entry under the pseudonym "Alf Igel", had no intention of conducting the orchestra but insisted on taking the customary conductor's bow before the entry, while the Slovenian entry had been due to be performed with the orchestra before a change of mind by the songwriters during the rehearsals led to the full backing track being used and their conductor Mojmir Sepe instead signalling to start the track. The French entry had been planned to be performed completely with the backing track, but during rehearsals a decision was reached to incorporate additional live string accompaniment from the orchestra directed by Martin Koch.
During rehearsals conflict occurred between the contest organisers and the Greek delegation, with the Greeks unhappy with the way that their entry was being presented on screen. Aggressive behaviour by the Greek composer, Yiannis Valvis, during the dress rehearsals led to his accreditation being rescinded, and on the day of the contest the Greek broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) withdrew from the contest, a decision which was ultimately reversed minutes later. Issues also arose during the rehearsals for the Turkish entry, when their conductor Ümit Eroğlu was found to be leading the orchestra at too slow a tempo, resulting in the performance running over the three minute limit and thus breaking the rules of the contest. Ultimately the final performance lasted two minutes and fifty-nine seconds, ensuring that Turkey could not be disqualified for exceeding the time limit during the final and would remain in the competition.
Trophy.
The trophy awarded to the writers of the winning song was designed by Anongkarat Unyawong, a student at the Birmingham School of Jewellery, who had won a competition conducted at the school for the occasion. The winning performers received a glass bowl designed by Susan Nickson bearing the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 logo. The winners were heralded by the trumpeters of the Life Guards as they entered the stage, and the awards were presented by Katrina Leskanich.
Format.
The rules of the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 were published in November 1997. The document set out the overall aim of the contest and provided detail on the organisation of the event, the qualification process, the criteria for the competing songs and performers, the voting system to be used to determine the results of the contest, as well as the rights and responsibilities conferred by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) onto the participating broadcasters.
Entries.
Each participating broadcaster submitted one song to the contest, which was required to be no longer than three minutes in duration and performed in the language, or one