Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998

Background

Main article: Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 1998 contest, Eesti Televisioon (ETV) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Estonia three times since its first entry in . Its best result in the contest was fifth, which was achieved in with the song "Kaelakee hääl" performed by Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna. In , "Keelatud maa" performed by Maarja (in her second consecutive Eurovision appearance) placed eighth.

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, ETV organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Since its debut, the broadcaster has organised national finals that feature a competition among multiple artists and songs in order to select its entry for the contest. ETV has organised the Eurolaul competition since 1996 in order to select its entry, with the broadcaster organising Eurolaul '98 in order to select its 1998 entry.

Before Eurovision

{{lang|et|Eurolaul}} '''98''

Eurolaul '98 was the fifth edition of the Estonian national selection Eurolaul organised by ETV to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1998. The competition consisted of a ten-song final on 24 January 1998 at the ETV studios in Tallinn, hosted by Marko Reikop and Anu Välba and broadcast on ETV.

Competing entries

ETV opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 15 December 1997. 51 submissions were received by the deadline. An 11-member jury panel selected ten finalists from the submissions and the selected songs were announced on 17 December 1997 during the ETV program Eurolaul '98 eelvoor. The selection jury consisted of Nancy Himma (singer), Ingrid Tähismaa (journalist), Romi Erlach (Raadio 2 presenter), Kaidi Klein (PolyGram label manager), Raivo Tafenau (saxophonist), Jaak Joala (musician), Tõnis Kõrvits (arranger), Heli Pikk (Eesti Raadio phono library manager), Allan Roosileht (Raadio 2 music editor), Olavi Pihlamägi (Raadio Uuno director) and Paul Himma (Estonian National Opera general director). Among the competing artists were Janika Sillamaa (who represented ), and Ivo Linna (who represented together with Maarja-Liis Ilus). Evelin Samuel, Karl Madis, Kate, Koit Toome and Tõnis Mägi have all competed in previous editions of Eurolaul.

Final

The final took place on 24 January 1998. Ten songs competed during the show and a jury selected "Mere lapsed" performed by Koit Toome as the winner. A non-competitive public televote was also held and also selected Toome as the winner. The jury panel that voted in the final consisted of Jordi Català from Spain, Séamus Crimmins from Ireland, Máté Victor from Hungary, Hans Barksjö from Sweden, Birte Krohn from Germany, Kato Hansen from Norway, Erkki Pohjanheimo from Finland, Tanya Peck from the United Kingdom, Erman Munis from Turkey, Jos Moons from Belgium, and Jacques Donzel from Switzerland.

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 1998 took place at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, United Kingdom on 9 May 1998. According to the Eurovision rules, the 25-country participant list for the contest was composed of: the winning country from the previous year's contest; the 17 countries, other than the previous year's winner, which had obtained the highest average number of points over the last five contests; and any countries which had not participated in the previous year's content. On 13 November 1997, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Estonia was set to perform in position 23, following the entry from and before the entry from . The Estonian conductor at the contest was Heiki Vahar, and Estonia finished in twelfth place with 25 points.{{cite web |title=Final of Birmingham 1998 A few hours prior to the performance the Estonian keyboard player had to pull out with a thumb injury. His place was taken by a teenage session musician (S.Oliver) from Scotland who was attending the event as a spectator.

The contest was broadcast in Estonia on ETV with commentary by Reet Linna as well as via radio on Raadio 2 with commentary by Marko Reikop. ETV appointed Mart Sander as its spokesperson to announce the results of the Estonian televote during the show.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Estonia and awarded by Estonia in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to in the contest.

References

References

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12. "Birmingham 1998–Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union.
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14. (9 August 1997). "Birmingham to stage Eurovision". [[The Irish Times]].
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16. "1998 Estonia: Koit Toome - "Mere lapsed"".
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18. (7 April 1998). "Televaataja saab esmakordselt anda hääle eurolaulule". [[Õhtuleht]].
19. (2025-05-08). "Eesti punktid Eurovisioonil edastab sel aastal Kohver".
20. "Results of the Final of Birmingham 1998". European Broadcasting Union.