Swedish music competition
 2003 was the 43rd edition of the Swedish music competition , which was organised by (SVT) and took place over a five-week period between 15 February and 15 March 2003. The winner of the competition was Fame with the song "Give Me Your Love", who represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, where they came fifth with 107 points.
Format.
The heats for Melodifestivalen 2003 began on 15 February 2003. Ten songs from these heats qualified for the final on March 15, 2003. This was the second year that a heat format had been used for the competition. "När löven faller" composed by Carola Häggkvist and Ingemar Åberg was disqualified prior to the competition due to Carola's refusal to participate as an artist with no replacement singer found, while "Someone, Somewhere, Someday" composed by Peter Ågrenwill and Mattias Holmlund to be performed by Nathalie Family was disqualified due to the singer being under the required age of 16 years old at the time the Eurovision Song Contest would be held.
The Winners' Choice round was replaced by the Viewers' Choice round where the public could now vote for the top two songs among the third- and fourth- placed ones from the heats.
Contest overview.
Heat 1.
The first heat took place on 15 February 2003 at the Tipshallen in Jönköping. 2,977,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 429,810 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . The heat was hosted by Mark Levengood, Charlotte Nilsson, and Lena Philipsson.
Heat 2.
The second heat took place on 22 February 2003 at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg. 3,180,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 632,206 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . The heat was hosted by Mark Levengood and Carola Häggkvist.
Heat 3.
The third heat took place on 1 March 2003 at the Arcushallen in Luleå. 2,914,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 340,882 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . The heat was hosted by Mark Levengood and Barbro Svensson.
Heat 4.
The fourth heat took place on 8 March 2003 at the Nordichallen in Sundsvall. 3,047,000 viewers watched the heat live. A total of 444,972 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . The heat was hosted by Mark Levengood and Roger Pontare.
Viewers' Choice.
The Viewers' Choice round took place on 9 March 2003 at the SVT Broadcasting House in Stockholm. 2,282,000 viewers watched the show live. A total of 341,866 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . The show was hosted by Marianne Rundström and Rickard Olsson.
Final.
The final took place on 15 March 2003 at the Stockholm Globe Arena in Stockholm. 3,813,000 viewers watched the show live. A total of 1,230,751 votes were cast, with a total of collected for . The show was hosted by Mark Levengood and Jonas Gardell.
References.
 ;templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" / ;