The format of the competition included three live shows: two semi-finals held on 7 and 8 March 2003 and a final held on 9 March 2003. 12 songs competed in each semi-final and regional televoting determined the top six to qualify for the final. Televotes were grouped into five geographical areas and the first-placed song from each area received 12 points, the second-placed received 11 points and so on, up to the last-placed song which received 1 point. In the final, regional televoting once again determined the winner. The running order for the final was determined by the number of votes won in the semi-finals. The song with the fewest votes performed first and the song with the most votes performed last.
Competing entries
Artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster. 250 entries were received by the broadcaster during the submission period. An expert committee selected twenty-four artists and songs for the competition from the received submissions.
Semi-final 1
The first semi-final show took place on 7 March 2003 at Opatija, hosted by Ljiljana Vinković and Mirko Fodor. Twelve of the entries competed and regional televoting determined the top six to qualify for the final. Maja Šuput was the semi-final winner, receiving 56 points out of the possible maximum of 60.
Semi-final 2
The second semi-final show took place on 8 March 2003 at Opatija, hosted by Karmela Vukov-Colić and Davor Meštrović. Twelve of the entries competed and regional televoting determined the top six to qualify for the final. Karma was the semi-final winner, receiving 57 points out of the possible maximum of 60.
Final
The final, broadcast on HRT1, took place on 9 March 2003 at Opatija, hosted by Duško Ćurlić and Danijela Trbović-Vlajki. The twelve entries that qualified from the preceding two semi-finals competed and the winner was chosen by regional televoting.
At Eurovision
Claudia Beni competed for Croatia the Eurovision contest on 24 May 2003 in Riga, Latvia, performed 8th following Portugal and preceding Cyprus and finished 15th out of 26 countries, with 29 points. As Croatia failed to reach the top 11 in the final, the country was forced to compete in the semi-final of the 2004 Contest.
