Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004
Final date	20 November 2004
Presenter(s)	Stian Barsnes Simonsen Nadia Hasnaoui
Host broadcaster	NRK
Venue	Håkons Hall, Lillehammer, Norway
Winning song	Spain "Antes muerta que sencilla"
Voting system
Each country awards 1-8, 10, and 12 points to their 10 favourite songs
Number of entries	18
Debuting countries	France  Switzerland
Returning countries	None
Withdrawing countries	None
Nul points	None
Interval act
Westlife performing Ain't That a Kick in the Head?
Participation map      Participating participants
Junior Eurovision Song Contest
◄2003        2005►

The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the second Eurovision Song Contest for young singers aged 8 to 15. It was held on 20 November 2004, in Håkons Hall, Lillehammer, Norway and lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes. The theme of the competition was "Bright Nordic Winter Nights". It was presented by Stian Barsnes Simonsen and Nadia Hasnaoui, broadcast in 20 countries and viewed by 100 million people. 18 countries participated, France and Switzerland participated for the first time. Originally 20 countries had applied to take part but Germany and Israel later pulled out.^[1] There were also reports that Ireland had planned to enter the programme.^[2] The contest was won by 9-year-old María Isabel with her song Antes Muerta Que Sencilla (Better Dead Than Plain). Dino Jelusić, who won the 2003 contest, presented the award to María. Since, María Isabel has entered the charts in not only Spain but France, Italy, Scandinavia, Latin America and released a second album. Greece, who came ninth received more sets of twelve points than the United Kingdom, who came second. France, who came sixth, were voted by all the other countries that took part, which is more than the number of countries that voted for Romania, who came fourth and Croatia, who came third.

Norway was the third country of choice for this contest as the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) had originally chosen ITV of the United Kingdom to host it in Manchester. However, ITV pulled out in May 2004 due to finance and scheduling problems.^[3] The venue was therefore moved to Croatia, the winning country of 2003,^[4] but the Croatian broadcaster HRT reportedly forgot that the prospective venue for the event was already booked for the period the Junior Eurovision Song Contest was to take place.^[5] NRK therefore offered to organise the next contest.

Incidentally, the same three countries occupied the top three places as last year, just in a different order. These three countries were Spain, the United Kingdom, and Croatia.

Individual entries

Results

Draw	Country	Language	Artist	Song	English translation	Place	Points
01	Greece	Greek	Secret Band	"O palios mou eaftos" (Ο παλιός μου εαυτός)	My old self	9	48
02	Malta	English	Young Talent Team	"Power of a Song"	—	12	14
03	Netherlands	Dutch	Klaartje and Nicky	"Hij is een kei"	He's the best	11	27
04	Switzerland	Italian	Demis Mirarchi	"Birichino"	Cheeky	16	4
05	Norway	Norwegian	@lek	"En stjerne skal jeg bli"	I'm gonna be a star	13	12
06	France	French	Thomas Pontier	"Si on voulait bien"	If we really wanted to	6	78
07	Macedonia	Macedonian	Martina Siljanovska	"Zabava" (Забава)	Party	7	64
08	Poland	Polish	KWADro	"Łap życie"	Grab life	17	3
09	Cyprus	Greek	Marios Tofi	"Onira" (Όνειρα)	Dreams	8	61
10	Belarus	Belarusian	Egor Volchek	"Spiavajce sa mnoju" (Спявайцэ са мною)	Sing with me	14	9
11	Croatia	Croatian	Nika Turković	"Hej mali"	Hey little boy	3	126
12	Latvia	Latvian	Mārtiņš Tālbergs & C-Stones Juniors	"Balts vai melns"	White or black	17	3
13	United Kingdom	English	Cory Spedding	"The Best Is Yet to Come"	—	2	140
14	Denmark	Danish	Cool Kids	"Pigen er min"	The girl is mine	5	116
15	Spain	Spanish	María Isabel	"Antes Muerta que Sencilla"	Better dead than normal	1	171
16	Sweden	Swedish	Limelights	"Varför jag?"	Why me?	15	8
17	Belgium	French	Free Spirits	"Accroche-toi"	Hold on	10	37
18	Romania	Romanian	Noni Răzvan Ene	"Îţi mulţumesc"	Thank you	4	123

Interval Acts

During the interval, boy band Westlife performed Ain't That A Kick In The Head? live on stage.

Voting structure

All countries used televoting to decide on their top ten. In normal Eurovision fashion, each country's favourite song was given 12 points, their second favourite 10, and their third to tenth favourites were given 8-1 points.

Score sheet

		Results
	Greece	48		12	1	2	1	3			12		3		5		1		2	6
	Malta	14			2				3						4	4				1
	Netherlands	27		3			3	1	1			3	1	5			2	1	7
	Switzerland	4		4
	Norway	12														7		5
	France	78	6	1	5	6	2		2	4	4	6	4	7	2	6	8	4	8	3
	Macedonia	64		6	6	5	5	4		5	3		8	3	3	5	3	3	3	2
	Poland	3						2				1
	Cyprus	61	12	8	3	1			6			4	5	2	8	1	5		1	5
	Belarus	9	1							3				1						4
	Croatia	126	4		8	8	10	8	12	7	6	8		8	12	8	6	8	6	7
	Latvia	3	2							1
	United Kingdom	140	5	10	12	7	6	6	5	10	5	10	7	10		10	10	7	10	10
	Denmark	116	7	5	7	3	12	5	8	8	7	5	6	4	10		7	10	4	8
	Spain	171	10	7	10	12	8	12	10	12	10	7	12	6	7	12		12	12	12
	Sweden	8					4				1					3
	Belgium	37	3		4	4		7	4	2	2	2	2		1		4	2
	Romania	123	8	2		10	7	10	7	6	8	12	10	12	6	2	12	6	8

12 points

Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another:

N.	Recipient nation	Voting nation
8	Spain	Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland
3	Romania	Belarus, Latvia, Spain
2	Croatia	Macedonia, United Kingdom
	Greece	Cyprus, Malta
1	Cyprus	Greece
	Denmark	Norway
	United Kingdom	Netherlands

Commentators

•  Netherlands - Angela Groothuizen
•  France - Elsa Fayer & Bruno Berberes
•  United Kingdom - Matt Brown (ITV1)^[6]
•  Spain - Fernando Argenta
•  Belgium (VRT) - André Vermeulen

References

1. ^ 'Germany withdraws from Junior Eurovision Song Contest'
2. ^ http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/1952 Information on Irish plans to participate.
3. ^ 'Junior contest not to take place in Manchester.'
4. ^ 'Junior 2004 in Croatia! (update)'
5. ^ 'Junior contest moves to Norway.'
6. ^ http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Eurovision_Song_Contest

External links

• Official Site
• Lyrics of Junior Eurovision 2004 entries at ESCKaz.com

Artists' websites

• Official site of Noni Razvan Ene
• Official site of Young Talent Team
• Official site of Cory Spedding
• Official site of Nika Turkovic
• Official site of Cool Kids
• Unofficial site of Maria Isabel
• Official Website of Marios Tofi