Eurovision Song Contest 1997

, Dublin – host venue of the 1997 contest (pictured following redevelopment) The 1997 contest took place in Dublin, Ireland, following the country's victory at the with the song "The Voice", performed by Eimear Quinn. It was the seventh time that Ireland had hosted the contest, having previously staged the event in , , , , , and , with all previous events held in Dublin except the 1993 contest which was held in Millstreet. This was the fourth edition of the contest that Ireland had hosted within five years, and with this edition Ireland equalled the record for the nation which had staged the most contests, originally set by the United Kingdom in . Given the financial impact to staging the contest for a fourth time in five years, there was early speculation following its win in the 1996 contest that (RTÉ) might stage the event as a co-production with BBC Northern Ireland. Ultimately, the Irish broadcaster decided to organise the event on its own once again. The selected venue was the Point Theatre, a concert and events venue located amongst the Dublin Docklands which had originally been built as a train depot to serve the nearby port. Opened as a music venue in 1988, it was closed for redevelopment and expansion in 2008 and is now known as the 3Arena. The venue had previously hosted the 1994 and 1995 contests, and with this staging it became the only venue to have hosted three Eurovision Song Contests. ==Participants==

(pictured in 2006) represented in the contest for a second consecutive year. Per the rules of the contest twenty-five countries were allowed to participate in the event. 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 audio-only qualifying round used in 1996 had been poorly received among the competing countries, and so a new relegation system was introduced by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for 1997 and future contests. 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. Any countries which were not able to compete in the 1997 contest would then be eligible to compete in the 1998 event. The calculations used to determine the countries relegated for the 1997 contest are outlined in the table below. Table key == Production ==

(pictured in 2002) served as co-presenter of the 1997 contest and performed during the interval act as lead singer of Boyzone. The Eurovision Song Contest 1997 was produced by the Irish public broadcaster (RTÉ). Noel Curran served as executive producer, Ian McGarry served as director, Paula Farrell and John Casey served as designers, and Frank McNamara served as musical director, leading the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. On behalf of the contest organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the event was overseen by Marie-Claire Vionnet as scrutineer. Rehearsals in the contest venue for the competing acts began on 28 April 1997. Each country had two technical rehearsals in the week approaching the contest, with countries rehearsing in the order in which they would perform. The first rehearsals took place on 28 and 29 April, with each country allowed 40 minutes total on stage followed by a 20-minute press conference, followed by the second rehearsals on 30 April and 1 May lasting 30 minutes. Times were also arranged during the week for the artists to be recorded in the RTÉ studios, with footage used during the postcards between each song. Three dress rehearsals were held on 2 and 3 May, with an audience in attendance during the evening dress rehearsal on 2 May. The final dress rehearsal on 3 May was also recorded for use as a production stand-by in case of problems during the live contest. A tight security presence was felt during the rehearsal week; emergency drills were held by , including evacuations of the Point Theatre, as a precaution against potential disruption from loyalist paramilitaries as part of the wider sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland. The Irish television and radio presenter Carrie Crowley and the Irish singer Ronan Keating were the presenters of the 1997 contest. The trophy awarded to the winners was designed by Maura Whelan and Luc Racine, and was presented by the previous year's winning artist Eimear Quinn. == Format ==

Entries Each participating broadcaster submitted one song, which was required to be no longer than three minutes in duration and performed in the language, or one of the languages, of the country which it represented. Short quotations from another language, no more than a single phrase repeated a maximum of three times, were permitted. A maximum of six performers were allowed on stage during each country's performance, and all participants were required to have reached the age of 16 in the year of the contest. Each entry could utilise all or part of the live orchestra and could use instrumental-only backing tracks. This was the first time that a competing song could be accompanied entirely with a backing track following a change to the contest rules, with the previous rules stating that any backing tracks used could only include the sound of instruments featured on stage being mimed by the performers. Each country's participating broadcaster was required to have selected its entry by 10 March, and all entries had to be submitted to the contest organisers by 19 March, including the score of the song for use by the orchestra, a sound recording of the entry and backing track for use during the contest, and the text of the song lyrics in its original language and translations in French and English for distribution to the participating broadcasters, their commentators and juries. The points awarded by the majority of countries were determined by an assembled jury of sixteen individuals, which was required to be split evenly between members of the public and music professionals, comprised additionally of an equal number of men and women, and below and above 30 years of age. Each jury member voted in secret and awarded between one and ten votes to each participating song, excluding that from their own country and with no abstentions permitted. The votes of each member were collected following the country's performance and then tallied by the non-voting jury chairperson to determine the points to be awarded. In any cases where two or more songs in the top ten received the same number of votes, a show of hands by all jury members was used to determine the final placing; if a tie still remained, the youngest jury member would have the deciding vote. For the first time however, as part of a trial held by the contest organisers, televoting was used to determine the points from five of the participating countries. In these countries viewers had a total of five minutes to register their vote by calling one of twenty-four different telephone numbers to represent the twenty-five competing entries except that which represented their own country. Once the voting phone lines were opened following the performance of the last competing entry, a video recap containing short clips of each competing entry with the accompanying phone number for voting was shown in order to aid viewers during the voting window. In those countries which opted to use televoting to determine their points a jury was still required which would function as a back-up in case technical failure prevented the televote results from being used. The composition of the back-up juries in these countries was identical to the juries in the other countries with regards to profession, gender and age. == Contest overview ==

(pictured in 2014), lead singer of the 1997 winning performers Katrina and the Waves The contest took place on 3 May 1997 at 20:00 (IST) and lasted 3 hours and 11 minutes. The show was opened by good luck messages from past Eurovision winners and hosts to the contestants in the contest, and short interviews with previous contestants also featured preceding some of the postcards between the entries. Irish boy band Boyzone, with co-presenter Keating as a member, featured as part of the show's interval act, performing the song "Let the Message Run Free". This was the United Kingdom's fifth contest winits first in sixteen yearsfollowing victories in , , and . As of , this is the last winning UK Eurovision entry. Ireland's second-place finish was its fifth placing in the top two within six years, while Turkey and Cyprus achieved their highest placings yet by finishing third and fifth respectively. Norway meanwhile finished in last place for the eighth time and received its fourth nul points. Following this contest 's RAI declined to participate in future events and an Italian entry would not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest for 14 years, until its return at the . Spokespersons (pictured in 2007), winner of the , was one of the French spokespersons at this event. Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing, in English or French, the votes for its respective country. As had been the case since the , the spokespersons were connected via satellite and appeared in vision during the broadcast. Spokespersons at the 1997 contest are listed below. • • • Corry Brokken • • Belén Fernández de Henestrosa • Christina Mänz • • Helene Tedre • Segmedina Srna • Cristina Rocha • Gösta Hanson • Niki Venega • Anna Bonanno • • Arina Sharapova • • and Marie Myriam • • Colin Berry • Svanhildur Konráðsdóttir == Detailed voting results ==

Jury voting was used to determine the points awarded by most countries, with televoting used in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The announcement of the results from each country was conducted in the order in which they performed, with the spokespersons announcing their country's points in English or French in ascending order. The detailed breakdown of the points awarded by each country is listed in the tables below. 12 points The below table summarises how the maximum 12 points were awarded from one country to another. The winning country is shown in bold. The United Kingdom received the maximum score of 12 points from ten countries, with France and Turkey receiving three sets of 12 points each, Cyprus receiving two sets of 12 points, and Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Russia and Spain each receiving one maximum score. == Broadcasts ==

Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest live and in full via television. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants"; any passive countries wishing to participate in the following year's event were also required to provide a live broadcast of the contest or a deferred broadcast within 24 hours. An estimated audience of 300 million viewers was reported. Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators, are shown in the tables below: } } ==Other awards==

Barbara Dex Award The Barbara Dex Award was first organised for artists in this year's contest. The award, created by the fansite House of Eurovision, was awarded to the performer deemed to have been the "worst dressed" among the participants. The winner in 1997 was Malta's representative, (as determined by the founders of the House of Eurovision site, Edwin van Thillo and Rob Paardekam). ==Legacy==

was the first openly LGBT artist to compete at Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest has long held a fandom within the LGBT community, however it was not until the 1997 event that an openly LGBT artist was selected to compete in the event. 's Paul Oscar was the first openly gay man to compete as a lead artist in Eurovision. Paul Oscar's participation, as well as changing attitudes to homosexuality in Europe in the following years, marked the beginning of wider visibility of LGBT artists and themes; the provided the first trans participant in Israel's Dana International, saw 's become the first competing artists to perform in drag, and the contained the first display of same-sex affection on stage through a kiss between the two male members of the Israeli band PingPong. Since the 1997 contest many openly LGBT artists have competed in the contest, including several winners, among them Dana International, 's Conchita Wurst in , and the ' Duncan Laurence in . Paul Oscar's contest performance, which featured four female backing dancers dressed in black latex clothing and sexually suggestive choreography, pushed the boundaries for sexual expression on the Eurovision stage for the first time. The changes in the rules regarding the use of orchestra for this contest would eventually lead to the complete abandonment of live musical accompaniment in the Eurovision Song Contest. Ahead of the the rules were modified again to make the procurement of an orchestra an optional component to staging the event, with that year's event becoming the first to have all competing entries performed to pre-recorded backing tracks. The rules of the contest have since been modified further, and no live musical accompaniment is now allowed for any competing entries. The abolishment of the orchestra proved controversial among some circles, with three-time, former Eurovision winner Johnny Logan referring to the modified event as "karaoke" in 2000. The introduction of televoting to the contest followed several years of successive Irish wins, with the national juries typically voting for more traditional, middle-of-the-road songs than those that represented the wider tastes of the general public, as was the case in 1996 when Eimear Quinn's "The Voice" was victorious over more modern entries such as Gina G's "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit", which represented the United Kingdom at that year's event and would go on to receive a nomination for Best Dance Recording at the 1998 Grammy Awards. The successful trial of televoting in five countries led to widespread adoption for all countries in 1998, and public voting continues to play a part in determining the result of the contest to the present day. Controversy over the perceived unfairness of the voting system reached a head in , when the public vote largely rewarded the entries from Eastern European countries over those from Western Europe. The EBU would ultimately make changes to mitigate the impact of neighbourly voting by splitting countries by geographical location and voting history in the semi-finals from and re-introducing juries to account for 50% of each country's points in . ==Notes and references==

Notes References Bibliography • • • • ==External links==