Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2003

The I Junior Eurovision Song Contest for singers between the ages of 8 and 15, was held on November 15, 2003 at the Forum Copenhagen in the city of Copenhagen, Denmark. The gala was presented by Camilla Ottesen and Remee.

The winning country was Croatia, which was represented by 11-year-old Dino Jelusić. The winning song Ti si moja prva ljubav received points from all participating countries (as well as the songs ranked between 2nd and 6th place), including 3 top scores. In second place was Spain with the song From Heaven , performed by Sergio and dedicated to his deceased mother. The podium was completed by Tom Morley, from the United Kingdom, with the song My Song for the World.

Origins and history

In April 2000, the Danish station Danmarks Radio held a song contest for singers ages 8 to 15, known as MGP Junior. The format turned out to be a success and caught the attention of Norway and Sweden in 2002, creating a pre-Sandino song contest called MGP Nordic. The EBU took up the idea of a children's song contest and opened the contest to all EBU member broadcasters, making it a pan-European event.

Participating countries

Germany, Slovakia and Finland initially showed interest in participating and were even included in the draw to determine the participants. However, they later confirmed that they would not participate in the pageant.

Songs and selection

Participating countries in 2003

Country and TV	Original title of the song	Artist	Selection process and date
	Spanish translation	Languages
Belgium VRT	"De vriendschapsband"	X!nk	Eurosong for Kids, 22 September 2003
	The band of friendship	Dutch
Belarus BTRC	"Tantsuy"	Volha Satsiuk	Internal choice?-?-2003
	Danzar	Belarus
Cyprus CyBC	"Mia efhi"	Theodora Rafti	Presentation song, September 15, 2003 (internally elected, 12 September 2003)
	A wish	Greek
Croatia HRT	"Ti si moja prva ljubav"	Dino Jelusić	National end, 7 July 2003
	You're my first love	Croatian
Denmark DR	"Arabiens drøm"	Anne Gadegaard	MGP 2003, 3 May 2003
	Arab dream	Danish
Spain TVE	"From heaven"	Sergio	Eurojunior, 22 September 2003
	-	Spanish
Greece ERT	"Fili gia panta"	Nicolas Ganopoulos	Final national, 10 October 2003
	Friends forever	Greek
Latvia LTV	"Your esi vasarā"	Dzintars Cica	Final national, 8 June 2003
	You're in summer.	Let's go
Macedonia MKRTV	"Ti ne me poznavaš"	Marija and Viktorija	National Final, 28 June 2003
	You don't recognize me.	Macedonio
Malta PBS	"Like a star"	Sarah Harrison	National Final, 6 September 2003
	Like a star	English
Norway NRK	"Sinnsykt gal forelsket"	2U	MGP jr. (Melodi Grand Prix Junior 2003), September 6, 2003
	Crazy of love	Norwegian
Netherlands AVRO	"Mijn Ogen Zeggen Alles"	Roel	Junior Eurovisie Songfestival 2003, 20 September 2003
	My eyes say everything.	Dutch
Poland TVP	"Coś mnie nosi"	Kasia Zurawik	National Final, 28 September 2003
	Something calls me	Polish
United Kingdom ITV	"My song for the world"	Tom Morley	National Final, 6 September 2003
	My song for the world	English
Romania TVR	"Tobele sunt viaţa mea"	Bubu	National Final, 6 October 2003
	The drums are my life	Romanian
Sweden SVT	"Stoppa mig"	The Honeypies	Lilla Melodifestivalen 2003, 4 October 2003
	Stop me.	Swedish

Results

The final of the festival took place on November 15, 2003 in Copenhagen, Denmark. 16 songs representing 16 countries participated in the event. After the presentation of these, the voting interval began. The voting system was the same as that of the traditional Eurovision Song Contest, with the countries giving from 1 to 8, 10 and 12 points to the contestants with the most votes by phone calls or SMS. After the vote, a representative from each country began to mention the countries that received from 1 to 8, 10 and 12 points.

Dino Jelusić, representing Croatia, became the first winner in the festival's history, winning 134 points (including 3 top scores) and being voted on by all countries. Their song "Ti Si Moja Prva Ljubav" was the 2nd to be performed that night, thus breaking the curse present in the adult version in which the participants in that position have never won the contest. He was also the first contestant to win by acting alone on stage. Spain, who started leading the table, but would lose after a few moments, would take 2nd place, with the ballad "Desde El Cielo" performed by Sergio.

N.o	Country	Artist(s)	Song	Place	Points
01	Greece	Nicolas Ganopoulos	Fili gia panta	8	53
02	Croatia	Dino Jelusić	Ti si moja prva ljubav	1	134
03	Cyprus	Theodora Rafti	Mia efhi	14	16
04	Belarus	Volha Satsiuk	Tantsuy	4	103
05	Latvia	Dzintars Cica	Your vasarā	9	37
06	Macedonia (ARY)	Marija and Viktorija	Ti ne me poznavaš	12	19
07	Poland	Kasia Zurawik	Coś mnie nosi	16	3
08	Norway	2U	Sinnsykt gal forelsket	13	18
09	Spain	Sergio	From heaven	2	125
10	Romania	Bubu	Tobele sunt viata mea	10	35
11	Belgium	X!nk	From vriendschapsband	6	83
12	United Kingdom	Tom Morley	My song for the world	3	118
13	Denmark	Anne Gadegaard	Arabiens drøm	5	93
14	Sweden	The Honeypies	Stoppa mig	15	12
15	Malta	Sarah Harrison	Like a star	7	56
16	Netherlands	Roel	Mijn ogen zeggen alles	11	23

Spokespersons

Score Table

...Participant....	Pts.
Greece	53		7	12	1	5	1	1	7	0	5	2	7	1	3	0	1
Croatia	134	10		8	10	8	12	10	12	2	12	8	8	8	8	8	10
Cyprus	16	12	0		0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0
Belarus	103	5	12	6		10	10	12	10	1	7	5	5	4	7	6	3
Latvia	37	0	5	0	8		4	3	3	0	1	3	1	0	0	3	6
Macedonia (ARY)	19	0	10	0	2	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	4
Poland	3	0	0	0	3	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Norway	18	0	1	0	0	3	2	0		5	0	0	0	3	4	0	0
Spain	125	8	8	10	6	12	8	8	6		8	10	12	6	6	10	7
Romania	35	4	0	5	0	2	5	2	0	6		6	0	0	0	5	0
Belgium	83	3	6	2	7	4	6	6	4	8	3		6	7	5	4	12
United Kingdom	118	7	4	7	12	7	3	7	5	10	10	4		12	10	12	8
Denmark	93	6	2	4	5	6	7	5	8	12	6	7	4		12	7	2
Sweden	12	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	3	0	0	0	5		1	0
Malta	56	2	3	3	4	1	0	4	0	7	4	1	10	10	2		5
Netherlands	23	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	2	12	2	2	0	0

High Scores

After the vote, the countries that received 12 points (the highest score that the jury could award) were:

N.	A	From
3	Croatia	Macedonia (ARY), Norway, Romania
3	United Kingdom	Belarus, Denmark, Malta
2	Belarus	Croatia, Poland
2	Denmark	Spain, Sweden
2	Spain	Latvia, United Kingdom
1	Belgium	Netherlands
1	Cyprus	Greece
1	Greece	Cyprus
1	Netherlands	Belgium

Curiosities

• Belarus made its debut in this edition, a year before the Festival de la Canción de Eurovisión 2004.