Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2003
The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2003 was the inaugural edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest for young singers aged eight to fifteen. It was held on 15 November 2003, in Copenhagen, Denmark. With Camilla Ottesen and Remee as the presenters, the contest was won by the then eleven-year-old Dino Jelušić, who represented with his song "Ti si moja prva ljubav" while second and third place went to and the respectively. The next time that a country would win on its first attempt was in.
It was the first Eurovision contest to be broadcast in the 16:9 widescreen format. It was also the first Eurovision Song Contest where a DVD of the contest would be released. It was decided that the country that won the contest would not necessarily host the next contest, to reduce the pressure on the contestants.
Origins and history
The origins of the contest date back to 2000 when Danmarks Radio held a song contest for Danish children that year and the following year. The idea was extended to a Scandinavian song festival in 2002, MGP Nordic, with Denmark, Norway and Sweden as participants. The EBU picked up the idea for a song contest featuring children and opened the competition to all EBU member broadcasters making it a pan-European event. The working title of the programme was "Eurovision Song Contest for Children", branded with the name of the EBU's already popular song competition, the Eurovision Song Contest.Location
Denmark was asked to host the first programme after their experience with their own contests and the MGP Nordic. Copenhagen was confirmed as the host city in November 2002. In January 2003, it was announced that the Danish broadcaster would host the inaugural contest at the 8,000 capacity Forum venue in the Danish capital.Venue
is a large multi-purpose, rentable indoor arena located in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, Denmark. It hosts a large variety of concerts, markets, exhibitions and other events. The venue can hold up to 10,000 people depending on the event. The Forum operates as a convention center, concert hall and indoor arena.It was opened in February 1926 to host a car exhibition and was last renovated in 1996–97. Over two storeys there is a combined exhibition floor area of 5,000 m² and a separate restaurant for up to 250 seated guests. The Metro station Forum is adjacent to the building. Forum Copenhagen was designed by Oscar Gundlach-Pedersen, and the lighting was from Poul Henningsen's brand new PH-lamp. In 1929 it held an architecture exhibition, which was one of the first presentations of functionalism in Denmark, namely the Housing and Building Exhibition in Forum. It was at this exhibition that Arne Jacobsen and Flemming Lassen exhibited their subscription to the cylindrical "House of the Future".
Format
Presenters
In February 2003, there was speculation regarding the potential host of the first ever Eurovision Song Contest for Children. Initially, the European Broadcasting Union, the organizer of the show, announced the possible allocation of this role to Irish vocalist and Eurovision Song Contest 1997 co-host Ronan Keating although no contract had yet been signed. On 10 October 2003, however, it was officially announced that the contest would be hosted by the Danish duo consisting of Camilla Ottesen and rapper Remee.Running order
The draw for the running order of the contest was held on 6 October at Radiohuset, with Greece drawn to open the contest and the Netherlands drawn to close.Voting
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.Opening and interval acts
The opening number was performed by and Dance Faction, although this was not included in televised broadcast. The halftime entertainment was provided by two acts from the UK. Busted performed "Crashed the Wedding" but Charlie Simpson was absent due to illness. However, the following day he was present for a radio interview in the UK where it was implied by both himself and the other band members, that this was, in fact, a lie. The real reason for his absence was that he hated Eurovision. The Sugababes performed "Hole in the Head".Postcards
The postcards featured all of the participants exploring different parts of Copenhagen. The postcard's audio would be an instrumental version of the opening theme. The following list shows the various places they visited:- – The Tivoli Gardens
- – Forum Copenhagen
- – Royal Danish Theatre
- – Danish Aquarium
- – Strøget
- – Copenhagen Lakes
- – A hotel in Copenhagen
- – A hairdressers in Copenhagen
- – Parkon
- –
- – Copenhagen Skatepark
- – Copenhagen Zoo
- – A hotdog stand in Copenhagen
- – The Round Tower
- – A riding school in Copenhagen
- – An internet café in Copenhagen
Participating countries
These countries would eventually be replaced by entries from, and, in their first ever Eurovision event. The Finnish broadcaster Yle also expressed a debut in the first contest, but went on to just broadcast it instead.
Results
Scoreboard
12 points
Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another:| N. | Contestant | Voting nation |
| 3 | Croatia | Macedonia, 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 |
International broadcasts and voting
The rights to broadcast the contest were also acquired by broadcasters in Iceland, Finland, Serbia and Montenegro, Estonia, Germany, Australia and Kosovo.Voting and spokespersons
- – Chloe Sofia Boleti
- – David Daurins
- – Jimmy Castro
- – Judith Bussé
- – Sasha Stevens
- – Siri Lindgren
- – Aisa
Commentators
Participating countries
- – Denis Kurian
- – Dutch: Ilse Van Hoecke and Bart Peeters, French: Corinne Boulangier
- – TBC
- – TBC
- – Nicolai Molbech
- – Masa Fasoula and Nikos Frantseskakis
- – Kārlis Streips
- – TBC
- – Milanka Rašik
- – Angela Groothuizen
- – Stian Barsnes Simonsen
- – Jarosław Kulczycki
- – Ioana Isopecu and Alexandru Nagy
- – Fernando Argenta
- – Victoria Dyring
- – Mark Durden-Smith and Tara Palmer-Tomkinson
Non-participating countries
- – No commentator
- – Unknown
- – Henna Vänninen and Olavi Uusivirta
- – Unknown
Other countries
- – Finnish broadcaster Yle expressed an interest in participating in the contest. However, it was unsuccessful and they went on to broadcast it instead.
- – The EBU announced that they would hold a draw to determine which countries would participate in the contest. German broadcaster KiKa was one of the countries drawn. However, they announced their withdrawal from the contest and went on to broadcast it instead.
- – After Germany and Slovakia withdrew, the EBU sent an invitation to Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann who then submitted preliminary applications, but in the end declined to participate or broadcast the contest.
- – The EBU also sent an invitation to the Israel Broadcasting Authority, but they declined to participate and also did not broadcast it. Ireland and Israel would later be replaced by Poland and Belarus, who received the final spot.
- – Slovakian broadcaster Slovenská televízia, along with KiKa, was drawn to participate in the contest, however declined to participate and did not broadcast the show either.
Official album