Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003
The Netherlands was represented by Esther Hart, with the song '"One More Night", at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Riga, Latvia on 24 May. 32 songs took part in the Dutch preselection, which consisted of four semi-finals in February, followed by the final on 1 March.
Before Eurovision
Nationaal Songfestival 2003
Nationaal Songfestival 2003 was the national final that selected Netherlands's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003. The competition consisted of four semi-finals on 1, 8, 15 and 22 February 2003 and a final on 1 March 2003. The semi-finals took place at the Hart van Holland in Nijkerk, hosted by Harm Edens while the final took place at the Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, hosted by Loes Luca.Format
Thirty-two songs were divided into four semi-finals with eight songs in each. From each semi-final, two proceeded to the final: one selected by a seven-member jury panel with varying members and one selected by public televoting. In the event that both the jury and public placed the same song first, the second-placed song in the public vote proceeded to the final. In the final, the winner was selected based on the combination of votes from the public and the jury panel. Viewers were able to vote via telephone and SMS.Competing entries
502 entries were received by the broadcaster during a submission period, and a jury panel shortlisted 60 entries to progress through the next round, where a live audition of the shortlisted entries took place in front of the jury panel who ultimately selected thirty-two songs for the competition. The selection jury consisted of Willem van Beusekom, Jerney Kaagman, Ron Stoeltie, Daniël Dekker and Daan van Rijsbergen. The twenty-four competing entries were announced on 16 January 2003.| Artist | Song | Composers |
| A-Teaze | "Don't Cry" | Aleksander Masevski |
| Aletia Bourne | "Wanna Be the One" | Martin Condon, Gareth Owen |
| Arwin Kluft | "Turiddu" | Jeroen Englebert, Giancarlo Romita |
| Astrit | "Together Forever" | Dick Berg, Hubert-Jan Horrocks, Hanna Riemens |
| Barbara Lok | "Als twee vrienden" | Carmen Sars |
| Bert Heerink & Manou | "Blue Skies Are for Free" | Ad van Olm, Eric Dikeb |
| Blauwdruk | "Hotel t'hart" | Allan Eshuys, Barry Menger |
| Boulevard | "Souvenirs" | Edwin Schimscheimer, Bruce R.F. Smith |
| Brothers | "Stand as One" | Peter de Wijn |
| De Helden | "Omdat jij jij bent" | Michiel Ooms |
| Ebonique | "Heatwave" | Philip Vella, Gerard James Borg |
| Esther Hart | "One More Night" | Tjeerd van Zanen, Alan Michael |
| Georges Lotze | "Footprints in the Sand" | Peter de Wijn |
| Gordon | "I'll Be Your Voice" | Mark Dakriet, Giorgio Tuinfort, Sandra Saint Victor |
| Jeffrey | "Waar en wanneer" | Edwin Schimscheimer, Spiros Chalos, Belinda Anholt |
| Jerique Allan | "All About Love" | Jerry Krolis, Sven Jansen, Robbert van Ark |
| Julia West | "Talking Angels" | Luca Genta, Ralph van Manen, Julia West, Phil Thompson |
| Kathy Bloom | "I'm On Fire" | Dries Brouwer, Gert Polkerman, Edith Sintemaartensdijk |
| Lewis & Simon | "Let's Give It a Try" | Jan Willem Verbeek, Paula Patricio |
| Mango Nuts | "Time to Party" | Robbert van Ark, Sven Jansen |
| Martin Frankena | "Zoeken in de lucht" | Han Kooreneef, Syb van der Ploeg, Nico Outhuijse |
| Mary Amora | "Somewhere by the River" | Ernst van der Kerkhof |
| Mazzel | "Nananana" | Rogier van der Ven, Ranco Mes |
| Sandra Abbink | "Beautiful Life" | Marcel de Groot, Jaap Schilder |
| Sasja Brouwers | "Rauw" | Jeroen Englebert, Pim Koopman |
| Sofuja & Glen Corneille | "She Would" | Glenn Corneille, Chantal Nijssen |
| Steffen de Wolff | "Jij laat me nooit meer los" | Patrick Drabe, Steffen de Wolff |
| Sunny's Inc. | "Mamboleo" | Huig Ouwehand, Roland Gaedtgens, Sonny Hoogwerf |
| Suzanne | "Over the Moon" | Luca Genta, John O'Hare |
| The Beanuts | "Give It Up!" | Ed van Otterdijk, Angeline van Otterdijk |
| The Soullistics | "We Can't Stop the Music" | Johnny Sap, Joost Dirksen, Humphrey de Groot |
| Zooom | "Boogie" | Peter de Wijn |
Semi-final 1
The first semi-final took place on 1 February 2003. Two entries qualified to the final. A jury panel first selected one song to proceed: "Somewhere by the River" performed by Mary Amora. The remaining seven entries then faced a public televote which determined an additional qualifier: "Boogie" performed by Zooom.Semi-final 2
The second semi-final took place on 8 February 2003. Two entries qualified to the final. A jury panel first selected one song to proceed: "One More Night" performed by Esther Hart. The remaining seven entries then faced a public televote which determined an additional qualifier: "Time to Party" performed by Mango Nuts.Semi-final 3
The third semi-final took place on 15 February 2003. Two entries qualified to the final. A jury panel first selected one song to proceed: "Heatwave" performed by Ebonique. The remaining seven entries then faced a public televote which determined an additional qualifier: "Turiddu" performed by Arwin Kluft.Semi-final 4
The fourth semi-final took place on 22 February 2003. Two entries qualified to the final. A jury panel first selected one song to proceed: "I'll Be Your Voice" performed by Gordon. The remaining seven entries then faced a public televote which determined an additional qualifier: "Blue Skies Are for Free" performed by Bert Heerink & Manou.Final
The final took place on 1 March 2003. Eight entries competed and the votes of the jury panel and public televoting selected the winner, "One More Night" performed by Esther Hart. The viewers and the juries each had a total of 280 points to award. Each jury member distributed their points as follows: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10 and 12 points. The viewer vote was based on the percentage of votes each song achieved. For example, if a song gained 10% of the viewer vote, then that entry would be awarded 10% of 280 points rounded to the nearest integer: 28 points.On the day after the contest, a technical problem came to light, whereby a significant number of SMS votes had been either not counted at all or attributed to the wrong song. A revised scoring table was issued to correct the mistakes. The only change in placement was that Bert Heerink & Manou, who had originally placed seventh, were moved up to fifth, with Mango Nuts and Mary Amora correspondingly dropping a place.
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Hart performed 14th in the running order, following Israel and preceding United Kingdom.At the close of the voting "One More Night" had received 45 points from nine countries, placing the Netherlands 13th of the 26 entries. The 12 points from the Dutch televote were awarded to contest winner Turkey. As Netherlands failed to reach the top 11 in the final, the country was forced to compete in the semi-final of the 2004 Contest.Points awarded by Netherlands
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |