Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004

Prior to the 2004 Contest, (ETV) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Estonia nine times since its first entry in , winning the contest on one occasion: in with the song "Everybody" performed by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL. In 2003, the song "Eighties Coming Back" performed by Ruffus placed twenty-first in the final. 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 their 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 competition since 1996, and on 1 October 2003, the broadcaster announced the organisation of in order to select its 2004 entry. ==Before Eurovision==

was the eleventh edition of the Estonian national selection , organised by ETV to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004. The competition consisted of a ten-song final on 7 February 2004 at the ETV studios in Tallinn, hosted by Marko Reikop and Karmel Eikner and broadcast on ETV. The national final was watched by 384,300 viewers in Estonia with a market share of 58.6%, making it the most watched competition since . Competing entries On 1 October 2003, ETV opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 8 December 2003. A 10-member jury panel selected 10 finalists from the submissions and the selected songs were announced on 11 December 2003 and among the competing artists were previous Eurovision Song Contest entrants Maarja (who represented and ), and Tanel Padar –performing with Slobodan River– (who represented together with Dave Benton and 2XL). The selection jury consisted of Jaak Joala (musician), Meelis Kapstas (journalist), Jaan Karp (musician), Priit Hõbemägi (culture critic), Tõnu Kõrvits (composer), Kaari Sillamaa (composer), Heidi Pruuli (producer), Andres Jõesaar (media director), Tiit Kikas (musician) and Jaan Elgula (musician). Final The final took place on 7 February 2004. Ten songs competed during the show and "Tii" performed by Neiokõsõ was selected as the winner entirely by a public televote, revealed by Estonia's four regions alongside votes submitted via mobile phones. Despite the public televote having registered 60,387 votes, only 19,478 votes were ultimately counted towards the final result due to the remaining votes being submitted outside the official five-minute voting period. Elion, the telecommunications company responsible for the voting, stated that the extra votes given would not have changed anything in the final ranking of the songs. ==At Eurovision==

It was announced that the competition's format would be expanded to include a semi-final in 2004. According to the rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) and the ten highest placed finishers in the are required to qualify from the semi-final on 12 May 2004 in order to compete for the final on 15 May 2004; the top ten countries from the semi-final progress to the final. On 23 March 2004, a special allocation draw was held which determined the running order for the semi-final and Estonia was set to perform in position 17, following the entry from and before the entry from . At the end of the semi-final, Estonia was not announced among the top 10 entries in the semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Estonia placed 11th in the semi-final, receiving a total of 57 points. The semi-final and the final were broadcast in Estonia on ETV with commentary by Marko Reikop. ETV appointed Maarja-Liis Ilus (who represented and ) as its spokesperson to announce the Estonian votes during the final. Voting Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Estonia and awarded by Estonia in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to in the semi-final and the final of the contest. Following the release of the televoting figures by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that a total of 57,179 televotes were cast in Estonia during the two shows: 22,564 votes during the semi-final and 34,615 votes during the final. Points awarded to Estonia Points awarded by Estonia ==References==