• Dates – Grand Final: Saturday, 18 May 1996 – 21:00 CEST
• Host – Venue & Location: Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, 🇳🇴 Norway
• Presenter (s): Ingvild Bryn & Morten Harket
• Musical Director: Frode Thingnæs.
• Director: Pål Veiglum
• Executive Producer: Odd Arvid Strømstad
• Executive Supervisor: Christine Marchal-Ortiz
• Multicamera Director: Pal Veiglum
• Host broadcaster: Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK)
• Opening Act: “Heaven’s Not for Saints” performed by Morten Harket.
• Interval Act: “Beacon Burning”, performed by Nils Gaup and Runar Borge feat. Aamil Paus.
• Participants – Number of entries: 23 [🇬🇧 United Kindom (36ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (33ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (33ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (29ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (34ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (34ª), 🇫🇷 France (37ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (28ª), 🇮🇸 Iceland (11ª), 🇬🇷 Greece (18ª),  🇨🇾 Cyprus (15ª), 🇲🇹 Malta (9ª),  🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina (4ª), 🇭🇷 Croatia (4ª), 🇵🇱 Poland (3ª), 🇧🇪 Belgium (37ª), 🇸🇮 Slovenia (3ª), 🇹🇷 Turkey (18ª), 🇪🇪 Estonia (2ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (31ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (35ª), 🇸🇰 Slovakia (2ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (37ª)]; 29 Qualifying round [🇩🇪 Germany (37ª), 🇬🇧 United Kindom (36ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (33ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (33ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (29ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (34ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (34ª), 🇫🇷 France (37ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (28ª), 🇮🇸 Iceland (11ª), 🇬🇷 Greece (18ª),  🇨🇾 Cyprus (15ª), 🇲🇹 Malta (9ª),  🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina (4ª), 🇭🇷 Croatia (4ª), 🇭🇺 Hungary (2ª), 🇵🇱 Poland (3ª), 🇷🇺 Russia (2ª), 🇧🇪 Belgium (37ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (27ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (18ª), 🇸🇮 Slovenia (3ª), 🇹🇷 Turkey (18ª), 🇪🇪 Estonia (2ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (31ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (35ª), 🇸🇰 Slovakia (2ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (37ª), 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia (1ª)]
• Debuting countries: —
• Return: 🇪🇪 Estonia (2ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (31ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (35ª), 🇸🇰 Slovakia (2ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (37ª)
• Non-returning countries: 🇩🇰 Denmark (27ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (37ª), 🇭🇺 Hungary (2ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (18ª), 🇷🇺 Russia (2ª), 🇷🇴 Romania (1ª), 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia (1ª)
• Vote – Voting system: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs.
• Nil Points: —
• Winning song: “The Voice” – Eimear Quinn – 🇮🇪 Ireland (7ª)

About. The 1996 Eurovision Song Contest moved to a new destination, after it had been in Ireland for the three preceding years. Norway’s capital Oslo had the honour of hosting the contest for the first time.

From 29 to 23…. For the 1996 contest the European Broadcasting Union replaced the relegation system with an audio preselection. Apart from the host country of Norway, all other potential participants – 29 countries in total – competed in this audio preselection, in which the national juries solely listened to audio tapes with the recordings of the 29 songs. 22 out of the 29 countries plus the host nation Norway were allowed access into the final on 18th May in Oslo. Germany, Israel, Denmark, Hungary, Russia, FYR Macedonia and Romania all failed to qualify. The 1996 contest was groundbreaking in many ways. Host broadcaster NRK introduced virtual reality in the voting and digital filters were applied during some of the performances. Each participant received a good luck message from a representative of their respective country. The seniority of these figures varied from presidents and prime ministers to junior government ministers. The contest was threatened by a conductor’s strike after Norwegian TV-station NRK, wanting to save time, said it would cut out the orchestra conductor’s appearance. Luckily, the dispute was settled amicably. The show was hosted by Morten Harket, from the group A-ha and Norwegian journalist, Ingvild Bryn.

About the winner. Ireland scored its seventh victory in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “The Voice” performed by Eimear Quinn. This was the fourth victory for Ireland in just five years. However, the winner was not the biggest commercial success in record sales this year. The United Kingdom’s song “Ooh…Aah…Just A Little Bit” by Australian Gina G, only reached eighth place in the contest but went on to become a huge international hit and was even nominated for a Grammy Award. 

Facts and figures. The 1996 contest is the only contest where Germany missed out on a place in the final due to the pre-selection round; The contest was re-branded and referred to throughout the broadcast as Eurosong ’96 however the name was dropped the following year. 

Finale

o/r	country	PaRticipant(s)	SONG – TRANSLATE – LANGUAGE	Points	rank
01	🇹🇷 Turkey TRT	Şebnem Paker	Beşinci mevsim (The fifth season) Turkish	057	01
02	🇬🇧 United Kindom BBC	Gina G	Ooh… Aah… Just a little bit English	077	08
03	🇪🇸 Spain TVE	Antonio Carbonell	¡Ay, qué deseo! (Oh, what desire!) Spanish	017	20
04	🇵🇹 Portugal RTP	Lúcia Moniz	O meu coração não tem cor (My heart has no colour) Portuguese	092	06
05	🇨🇾 Cyprus CyBC	Constantinos (Κωνσταντίνος, Constantinos Christoforou, Κωνσταντίνος Χριστοφόρου)	Mono yia mas (Μόνο Για Μας, Only for us) Greek	072	09
06	🇲🇹 Malta PBS	Miriam Christine	In a woman’s heart English	068	10
07	🇭🇷 Croatia HRT	Maja Blagdan (Маја Благдан)	Sveta ljubav (Света љубав, Holy love) Croatian	098	04
08	🇦🇹 Austria ÖRF	George Nussbaumer	Weil’s dr guat got (Weil es dir gut geht, Because you feel good) Vorarlbergish	068	10
09	🇨🇭 Switzerland SSR SRG	Kathy Leander	Mon cœur l’aime (My heart loves him) French	022	16
10	🇬🇷 Greece ERT	Marianna Efstratiou (Μαριάνα Ευστρατίου)	Emeis forame to himona anixiatika (Εμείς Φοράμε το Χειμώνα Ανοιξιάτικα, We wear spring clothes in winter time) Greek	036	14
11	🇪🇪 Estonia ERR	Maarja-Liis Ilus & Ivo Linna	Kaelakee hääl (Sound of necklace) Estonian	094	05
12	🇳🇴 Norway NRK	Elisabeth Andreassen	I evighet (For eternity) Norwegian	114	02
13	🇫🇷 France FT2	Dan Ar Braz (Dan Ar Braz & L’Héritage des Celtes)	Diwanit bugale (Puissiez-vous fleurir, enfants; May you blossom, children) Breton	018	19
14	🇸🇮 Slovenia RTVSLO	Regina (Регина)	Dan najlepših sanj (The day of the most beautiful dream) Slovene	016	21
15	🇳🇱 The Netherlands NOS	Maxine & Franklin Brown	De erste keer (The first time) Dutch	078	07
16	🇧🇪 Belgium BRTN	Lisa del Bo	Liefde is een kaartspel (Love is a cardgame) Dutch	022	16
17	🇮🇪 Ireland RTÉ	Eimear Quinn	The Voice English	162	01
18	🇫🇮 Finland YLE	Jasmine	Niin kaunis on taivas (So beautiful is the sky) Finnish	009	23
19	🇮🇸 Iceland RÚV	Anna Mjöll (Anna Mjöll Ólafsdóttir)	Sjúbídú (Shoobe-doo) Icelandic	051	13
20	🇵🇱 Poland TVP	Kasia Kowalska	Chcę znać swój grzech… (I want to know my sin…) Polish	031	15
21	🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina RTVBIH	Amila Glamočak (Амила Гламочак)	Za našu ljubav (За нашу љубав, For our love) Bosnian	013	22
22	🇸🇰 Slovakia STV	Marcel Palonder	Kým nás máš (As long as you have us) Slovak	019	18
23	🇸🇪 Sweden SVT	One More Time	Den vilda (The wild one) Swedish	100	03

Missed participation (Eurovision Song Contest 1996 Qualifying Round)

Pre-qualifying competitions were held in advance of the 1993 and 1996 editions of the contest, as a measure to reduce the number of competing entries. In 1993 Kvalifikacija za Millstreet was held between seven new Eastern European countries competing for three places in the contest proper; in 1996 an audio-only competition was held for all interested participants, with Norway automatically qualified as host country and 29 additional countries competing for 22 places in the contest. Unlike the semi-final system in place since 2004, in which countries that do not advance from the semi-finals are still credited as having participated in the contest, countries which competed in these pre-qualifying rounds but failed to progress to the main contest have not been credited with having participated in that year’s contest.

• • 🇩🇰 Denmark: “Kun med dig” (Danish) – Dorthe Andersen and Martin Loft .
• • 🇩🇪 Germany: “Planet of Blue” (German^[c]) – Leon.
• • 🇭🇺 Hungary: “Fortuna” (Hungarian) – Gjon Delhusa.
• • 🇮🇱 Israel: “Shalom Olam” (שלום עולם) (Hebrew) – Galit Bell.
• • 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia: “Samo ti” (Само ти) (Macedonian) – Kaliopi.
• • 🇷🇴 Romania: “Rugă pentru pacea lumii” (Romanian) – Monica Anghel and Sincron.
• • 🇷🇺 Russia: “Ya eto ya” (Я это я) (Russian) – Andrey Kosinskiy.

 

Paesi partecipanti

Participating countries Countries that participated in the past but not in 1996 Countries that participated in the past but not in 1996

ESC 1996 Scoreboard Ι Detailed voting results:

1.Location. Oslo is the capital and the most populous city in Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. For the first time, the Norwegian capital hosted the contest. This was the second time the event was staged in Norway, after the 1986 contest in Bergen. Oslo Spektrum, a multi-purpose indoor arena, was chosen as the host venue. Opened in December 1990, it is primarily known for hosting major events such as the annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert and concerts by artists of national and international fame.

2.Format. The presenters were Morten Harket and Ingvild Bryn. Harket, lead singer of a-ha, opened the show with a performance of his single “Heaven’s Not for Saints”, which was a hit in Norway at the time.

The 1996 contest also introduced three novelties which failed to become traditions in the contest. Firstly a short ‘good luck message’ for each entry, recorded by a political leader or official from their country. The seniority of the figure who delivered the message varied wildly from country to country, ranging from Presidents and Prime Ministers on one end of the spectrum to junior ministers or ambassadors on the other, but a few very significant European political figures did appear, including long-serving Swedish premier Göran Persson, President Alija Izetbegović of Bosnia and Herzegovina and future UN Secretary-General António Guterres, then Prime Minister of Portugal. But of course the only good luck wish that was fully rewarded in the end was that of Irish Taoiseach John Bruton, who introduced the song that took his country to a fourth win in five years.

Secondly, the voting section was conducted using chroma key virtual reality technology provided by Silicon Graphics. The host Ingvild Bryn introduced the viewers to the “blue room”, upon which a 3D scoreboard, views of the green room, the jury spokespersons and country graphics appeared. The only physical aspects were Ingvild herself and two podiums. For the first time in the contest’s history, a jury spokesperson came to stage to deliver the scores rather than via telephone or video link. The Norwegian spokesperson Ragnhild Sælthun Fjørtoft joined Ingvild Bryn in the blue screen set to announce Norway’s scores. The virtual scoreboard only listed the name of the country and their total score, omitting the nation’s flags for the first time since 1984. Prior to 1985, flags had only appeared on the scoreboard in 1977 and 1982. Scoreboard flags returned in 1997 and have appeared regularly on most scoreboards since; the only exceptions being 2000 and 2001.

Finally, the name itself of the Eurovision Song Contest was changed this year, re-branded and referred to this year as Eurosong ’96. The name was quickly dropped and reverted back to the Eurovision Song Contest the following year.

2.1.Good luck messages. In 1996 all contestants were wished good luck by a politician from their own country in their own language. These pre-recorded messages were shown right before their performance. This was the only year in Eurovision with such wishes. The individuals who provided messages are shown below, alongside the position which they held at the time of the contest and the language in which they recorded their message.

• 🇹🇷 Turkey – Süleyman Demirel, President of Turkey (Turkish)
• 🇬🇧 United Kindom – Virginia Bottomley, Secretary of State for National Heritage (English)
• 🇪🇸 Spain – Alberto Escudero Claramunt, Spanish Ambassador to Norway (Spanish)
• 🇵🇹 Portugal – António Guterres, Prime Minister of Portugal (Portuguese)
• 🇨🇾 Cyprus – Glafcos Clerides, President of Cyprus (Greek)
• 🇲🇹 Malta – Edward Fenech Adami, Prime Minister of Malta (Maltese)
• 🇭🇷 Croatia – Zlatko Mateša, Prime Minister of Croatia (Croatian)
• 🇦🇹 Austria – Elisabeth Gehrer, Federal Minister for Education and Cultural Affairs (German)
• 🇨🇭 Switzerland – Michel Coquoz, Swiss chargé d’affaires in Norway (French)
• 🇬🇷 Greece – Caterína Dimaki, Greek chargé d’affaires in Norway (Greek)
• 🇪🇪 Estonia – Tiit Vähi, Prime Minister of Estonia (Estonian)
• 🇳🇴 Norway – Gro Harlem Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway (Norwegian)
• 🇫🇷 France – Philippe Douste-Blazy, Minister of Culture (French)
• 🇸🇮 Slovenia – Milan Kučan, President of Slovenia (Slovene)
• 🇳🇱 The Netherlands – Aad Nuis, State Secretary of Education, Culture and Science (Dutch)
• 🇧🇪 Belgium – Luc Van den Brande, Minister-President of Flanders (Dutch)
• 🇮🇪 Ireland – John Bruton, Taoiseach (English)
• 🇫🇮 Finland – Riitta Uosukainen, Speaker of the Parliament of Finland (Finnish)
• 🇮🇸 Iceland – Davíð Oddsson, Prime Minister of Iceland (Icelandic)
• 🇵🇱 Poland – Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland (Polish)
• 🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina – Alija Izetbegović, President of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnian)
• 🇸🇰 Slovakia – Vladimír Mečiar, Prime Minister of Slovakia (Slovak)
• 🇸🇪 Sweden – Göran Persson, Prime Minister of Sweden (Swedish)

3.Participating countries.

3.1.Qualification. The European Broadcasting Union continued to experiment in their efforts to find a broadly acceptable method of whittling down the large number of potential participating countries to a more realistic figure. This year, they reverted to including a qualifying round that had been used for the 1993 contest, but this time with just one country exempt from the process – the host Norway. The audio-only qualification round, which was never televised or broadcast on radio, was used by the EBU in order to shortlist the number of participating nations that would compete in the televised final. With exception to the hosts Norway, audio entries from twenty-nine countries were played to national juries, of which only twenty-two proceeded to the televised final in Oslo.

Countries listed below submitted entries for the audio-only qualification round, which was not televised. Countries were ordered alphabetically by ISO two-letter country code. Planned entries from Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine have been reported which ultimately did not materialise, with Bulgaria’s name still appearing on the qualifier jury voting sheets. All three countries would eventually make their debut in the 2000s.

Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Macedonia, Romania and Russia all failed to qualify. As a result, Macedonia’s submission was never classified as a debut entry by the EBU, with the nation eventually going on to make their official televised debut in 1998. The full results of the qualifying round were not made public at the time, but have since become available. Hungary and Finland tied on the same score for the final qualification place, however Finland qualified for the final due to them having received the highest individual score (8 points) compared to Hungary (7 points).

It rapidly became evident that this system was no more sustainable than any other the EBU had tried, as it meant that several countries had gone through their traditional full-blown national selection procedure to come up with an entry, only to suffer the anti-climax of having their challenge quietly extinguished without even having had the opportunity of presenting the song to an international audience. As a leading financial contributor to the contest, Germany were particularly aggrieved that their entry was one of the seven cast aside. It was the only year in the history of the ESC in which Germany did not participate in the final.

Semi-Finale (Pre-qualifiying round)

O/R	COUNTRY	PARTICIPANT(S)	SONG – TRANSLATE – LANGUAGE	POINTS	RANK
01	🇦🇹 Austria ÖRF	George Nussbaumer	Weil’s dr guat got (Weil es dir gut geht, Because you feel good) Vorarlbergish	080	06
02	🇧🇪 Belgium BRTN	Lisa Del Bo	Liefde is een kaartspel (Love is a cardgame) Dutch	045	12
03	🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina RTVBIH	Amila Glamočak (Амила Гламочак)	Za našu ljubav (За нашу љубав, For our love) Bosnian	029	21
04	🇭🇷 Croatia HRT	Maja Blagdan (Маја Благдан)	Sveta ljubav (Света љубав, Holy love) Croatian	030	19
05	🇨🇾 Cyprus CyBC	Constantinos (Κωνσταντίνος, Constantinos Christoforou, Κωνσταντίνος Χριστοφόρου)	Mono yia mas (Μόνο Για Μας, Only for us) Greek	042	15
06	🇩🇰 Denmark DR	Dorthe Andersen & Martin Loft	Kun med dig (Only with you) Danish	022	25
07	🇪🇪 Estonia ERR	Maarja-Liis Ilus & Ivo Linna	Kaelakee hääl (Sound of necklace) Estonian	106	05
08	🇫🇮 Finland YLE	Jasmine	Niin kaunis on taivas (So beautiful is the sky) Finnish	026	22
09	🇫🇷 France FT2	Dan Ar Braz (Dan Ar Braz & L’Héritage des Celtes)	Diwanit bugale (Puissiez-vous fleurir, enfants; May you blossom, children) Breton	055	11
10	🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia MKRTV	Kaliopi (Калиопи)	Samo ti (Само ти, Only you) Macedonian	014	26
11	🇩🇪 Germany ARD	Leon	Planet of Blue (Blauer planet) German	024	24
12	🇬🇷 Greece ERT	Mariana Efstratiou (Μαριάνα Ευστρατίου)	Emeis forame to himona anixiatika (Εμείς Φοράμε το Χειμώνα Ανοιξιάτικα, We wear spring clothes in winter time) Greek	45	12
13	🇭🇺 Hungary MTV	Gjon Delhusa	Fortuna Hungarian	026	22
14	🇮🇸 Iceland RÚV	Anna Mjöll (Anna Mjöll Ólafsdóttir)	Sjúbídú (Shoobe-doo) Icelandic	059	10
15	🇮🇪 Ireland RTÉ	Eimear Quinn	The Voice English	198	02
16	🇮🇱 Israel IBA	Galit Bell (גלית בל)	Shalom olam (שלום עולם, Hello/peace world) Hebrew	012	28
17	🇲🇹 Malta PBS	Miriam Christine	In a woman’s heart English	138	04
18	🇳🇱 The Netherlands NOS	Maxine & Franklin Brown	De erste keer (The first time) Dutch	063	09
19	🇵🇱 Poland TVP	Kasia Kowalska	Chcę znać swój grzech… (I want to know my sin) Polish	042	15
20	🇵🇹 Portugal RTP	Lúcia Moniz	O meu coração não tem cor (My heart has no colour) Portuguese	032	18
21	🇷🇴 Romania TVR	Monica Anghel & Sincron	Rugă pentru pacea lumii (Prayer for world peace) Romanian	011	29
22	🇷🇺 Russia RTR	Andrej Kosinskij (Андрей Косинский)	Ya eta ya / Ja eto ja (Я это я, I am what I am) Russian	014	26
23	🇸🇰 Slovakia STV	Marcel Palonder	Kým nás máš (As long as you have us) Slovak	036	17
24	🇸🇮 Slovenia RTVSLO	Regina (Регина)	Dan najlepših  Slovene	030	19
25	🇪🇸 Spain TVE	Antonio Carbonell	¡Ay, qué deseo! (Oh, what desire!) Spanish	043	14
26	🇸🇪 Sweden SVT	One More Time	Den vilda (The wild one) Swedish	227	1
27	🇨🇭 Switzerland SSR SRG	Kathy Leander	Mon cœur l’aime (My heart loves him) French	67	08
28	🇹🇷 Turkey TRT	Şebnem Paker	Beşinci mevsim (The fifth season) Turkish	069	07
29	🇬🇧 United Kindom BBC	Gina G	Ooh… Aah… Just a little bit English	153	03

3.2.Conductors. Each performance had a conductor who led the orchestra. This marked the final year in which every song featured the orchestra to some extent, although some more minimally than others (such as Austria or the United Kingdom); from 1997 full backing tracks were permitted, and from 1999 the orchestra was abolished in its entirety.

3.3.Returning artists.

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Mariana Efstratiou	🇬🇷 Greece	1987 (backing vocalist for Bang), 1989
Elisabeth Andreassen	🇳🇴 Norway	1982 (for 🇸🇪 Sweden, member of Chips), 1985 (member of Bobbysocks!), 1994 (with Jan Werner Danielsen)

3.4.Participants and results.

3.5.All the national selections for Eurovision Song Contest 1996: 

• National Selections in 1996:

COUNTRY	EVENT	WINNER
🇧🇪 Belgium	De gouden zeemeermin	Lisa del Bo – Liefde is een kaartspel
🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina	BH Eurosong 1996 (song selection)	Amila Glamočak – Za našu ljubav
🇭🇷 Croatia	Dora 1996	Maja Blagdan – Sveta ljubav
🇨🇾 Cyprus	(Cypriot Selection 1996)	Constantinos – Mono gia mas
🇩🇰 Denmark	Melodi Grand Prix 1996	Dorthe Andersen & Martin Loft – Kun med dig
🇪🇪 Estonia	Eurolaul 1996	Maarja-Liis Ilus & Ivo Linna – Kaelakee hääl
🇫🇮 Finland	(Finnish Selection 1996)	Jasmine – Niin kaunis on taivas
🇩🇪 Germany	Ein bißchen Glück	Leon – Planet Of Blue
🇭🇺 Hungary	(Hungarian Selection 1996)	Gjon Delhusa – Fortuna
🇮🇪 Ireland	(Irish Selection 1996)	Eimear Quinn – The Voice
🇮🇱 Israel	Kdam Eurovision 1996	Galit Bell – Shalom olam
🇲🇹 Malta	(Maltese Selection 1996)	Miriam Christine Borg – In a woman’s heart
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nationaal Songfestival 1996	Maxine & Franklin Brown – De eerste keer
🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia	Skopje Fest 1996	Kaliopi Grill – Samo ti
🇳🇴 Norway	Melodi Grand Prix 1996	Elisabeth Andreassen – I evighet
🇵🇹 Portugal	Festival da Canção 1996	Lúcia Moniz – O meu coração não tem cor
🇷🇴 Romania	Selecția Națională 1996	Monica Anghel & Sincron – Rugă pentru pacea lumii
🇷🇺 Russia	Pesnya dlya Evropy	Andrey Kosinsky – Ya eto ya
🇸🇮 Slovenia	EMA 1996	Regina – Dan najlepših sanj
🇸🇪 Sweden	Melodifestival 1996	One More Time – Den vilda
🇹🇷 Turkey	Şarkı Yarışması 1996	Şebnem Paker – Beşinci mevsim
🇬🇧 United Kindom	The Great British Song Contest 1996	Gina G – Ooh Aah… Just A Little Bit

• Internal Selections in 1996:

3.6.Connections:

4.Detailed voting results. Each country had a jury that awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 point(s) for their top ten songs. One year later, televoting would be introduced in only some countries, such as Sweden and the United Kingdom. When Belén Fernández de Henestrosa, the Spanish spokesperson, announced the votes of the Spanish jury, she awarded two points to “Czechoslovakia” (while meaning ‘Slovakia’). Furthermore, she awarded six points to “Holland” (the Netherlands), which host Ingvild Bryn misheard as “Poland”. The official results table corrected this error, and the Netherlands’ seventh-place result was restored at the expense of the United Kingdom, who ultimately finished eighth. Because originally Poland was awarded six points from Spain, Greece was placed 14th over Poland after the official results table corrected this error. Norway’s entry, “I evighet”, is notable for being the only runner-up not to receive a single “12 points” score in a Eurovision final since this voting method was introduced in 1975.

4.1.Qualifying round.

Detailed voting results in the qualifying round

		Total score
C o n t e s t a n t s	🇦🇹 Austria	80		6	1		6	1	2		5	2	12		6		3			10		12		5	2					7
	🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina	29				2		3			3	1				6						2								12
	🇧🇪 Belgium	45									8	4		7				4	6					2	4	6	2					2
	🇨🇭 Switzerland	67	3	3	3			7		5								7			8		5	6	3	7			4			6
	🇨🇾 Cyprus	42									4			2	12		5				5	4						4			6
	🇩🇪 Germany	24							5				5	10					3										1
	🇩🇰 Denmark	22		4			3										1	2			2			1			4		5
	🇪🇪 Estonia	106	5		5	4		8	8			8	1				6			5	1		10	10	5	5	3	12	7	3
	🇪🇸 Spain	43	2				4								4	8						8					1			4	8	4
	🇫🇮 Finland	26				6									8				5	7
	🇫🇷 France	55							6	8		3						5		6	10				6	4					4	3
	🇬🇧 United Kindom	153	10		7		10	5	7	2		7	10			1	7	8	12			3	7	8	1	10	8		12	1	5	12
	🇬🇷 Greece	45					12				7					7			2			5						5			7
	🇭🇷 Croatia	30	1	7				2			1										3	1						1	8	6
	🇭🇺 Hungary	26		1			2		1	6					2	3							3				7				1
	🇮🇪 Ireland	198	12	12	8	7	8		3	10	2	10	8	12	10		2		10	12	6		6		10	3		7	10	10	10	10
	🇮🇱 Israel	12											3								4											5
	🇮🇸 Iceland	59		5						7		5	6						7					12			6	8			3
	🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia	14														2	4			2			1							5
	🇲🇹 Malta	138	6		10	8	7	6		1	12		4		7	10	8	6						4	7	2	12	3	6		12	7
	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	63			4	3			10				2				12	3		3	7					12	5		2
	🇵🇱 Poland	42	7					10		3				1	1								8					10			2
	🇵🇹 Portugal	32	4		6									6	5				1				4	3						2		1
	🇷🇴 Romania	11						4										1				6
	🇷🇺 Russia	14				5				4				5
	🇸🇪 Sweden	227	8	10	12	12	1	12	12	12		12	7	8			10	12	8	8	12		12	7	12	8	10	6		8		8
	🇸🇮 Slovenia	30			2	1			4					3		5		10		1			2					2
	🇸🇰 Slovakia	38		2			5				6				3	12						10
	🇹🇷 Turkey	69		8		10					10	6		4		4			4	4		7			8	1			3

4.1.1.12 points. Below is a summary of all 12 points in the qualifying round.

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
10	🇸🇪 Sweden	🇧🇪 Belgium, 🇩🇰 Denmark, 🇪🇪 Estonia, 🇫🇮 Finland, 🇩🇪 Germany, 🇮🇪 Ireland, 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia, 🇳🇱 The Netherlands, 🇵🇱 Poland, 🇨🇭 Switzerland
4	🇮🇪 Ireland	🇦🇹 Austria, 🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina, 🇮🇸 Iceland, 🇬🇧 United Kindom
3	🇲🇹 Malta	🇷🇴 Romania, 🇸🇰 Slovakia, 🇪🇸 Spain
	🇬🇧 United Kindom	🇮🇱 Israel, 🇸🇪 Sweden, 🇹🇷 Turkey
2	🇦🇹 Austria	🇫🇷 France, 🇲🇹 Malta
	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	🇭🇺 Hungary, 🇵🇹 Portugal
1	🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina	🇸🇮 Slovenia
	🇨🇾 Cyprus	🇬🇷 Greece
	🇪🇪 Estonia	🇷🇺 Russia
	🇬🇷 Greece	🇨🇾 Cyprus
	🇮🇸 Iceland	🇳🇴 Norway
	🇸🇰 Slovakia	🇭🇷 Croatia

4.2.Final.

Detailed voting results in the final

		Total score
C o n t e s t a n t s	🇹🇷 Turkey	57		6	8			10	1		6				4		7	5		5			5
	🇬🇧 United Kindom	77	3			12	1	6	7	3	4		2		8			12	3		4			6	6
	🇪🇸 Spain	17					2	5	4			6
	🇵🇹 Portugal	92	5	2			12		10	1	10	5		12	5		6	6		3	10		1		4
	🇨🇾 Cyprus	72		12	7	3		2	8	2	5	12			2				1	6				10	2
	🇲🇹 Malta	68	10		10				12			8		1		4						6		12	5
	🇭🇷 Croatia	98	8	4	5	10	8	7			1	1	6	7		3	5	4	6		5	2	10	5	1
	🇦🇹 Austria	68	4			5		12				2	7		12	1			8			8	6	3
	🇨🇭 Switzerland	22		3												2	4	2	4	4	3
	🇬🇷 Greece	36		7			10	1			2			3			1					1		8	3
	🇪🇪 Estonia	94		10	4		7			5				8	1	8	3		2	12	12	10			12
	🇳🇴 Norway	114	2	8		2	3		5	8	7		5		7	10	10	8	7	7	8	4	3		10
	🇫🇷 France	18		1		1							3	4				7		2
	🇸🇮 Slovenia	16			1				6												1		8
	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	78	1		6	7	5			12	3		4		10	5		1	5		2	7	2		8
	🇧🇪 Belgium	22		5	12				2				1				2
	🇮🇪 Ireland	162	12			8	6	4		7	12	10	12	10	6	12	12	3		10		12	12	7	7
	🇫🇮 Finland	9												2							7
	🇮🇸 Iceland	51			3	6				6		3	8	5		6			10			3		1
	🇵🇱 Poland	31	7				4			4		7											7	2
	🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina	13	6					3	3											1
	🇸🇰 Slovakia	19			2			8				4										5
	🇸🇪 Sweden	100				4				10	8		10	6	3	7	8	10	12	8	6		4	4

4.2.1.12 points. Below is a summary of all 12 point in the final:

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
7	🇮🇪 Ireland	🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina, 🇪🇪 Estonia, 🇳🇱 The Netherlands, 🇵🇱 Poland, 🇸🇮 Slovenia, 🇨🇭 Switzerland, 🇹🇷 Turkey
3	🇪🇪 Estonia	🇫🇮 Finland, 🇮🇸 Iceland, 🇸🇪 Sweden
2	🇦🇹 Austria	🇫🇷 France, 🇲🇹 Malta
	🇨🇾 Cyprus	🇬🇷 Greece, 🇬🇧 United Kindom
	🇲🇹 Malta	🇭🇷 Croatia, 🇸🇰 Slovakia
	🇵🇹 Portugal	🇨🇾 Cyprus, 🇳🇴 Norway
	🇬🇧 United Kindom	🇧🇪 Belgium, 🇵🇹 Portugal
1	🇧🇪 Belgium	🇪🇸 Spain
	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	🇦🇹 Austria
	🇸🇪 Sweden	🇮🇪 Ireland

• 🇹🇷 Turkey – Ömer Önder 
• 🇬🇧 United Kindom – Colin Berry
• 🇪🇸 Spain – Belén Fernández de Henestrosa
• 🇵🇹 Portugal – Cristina Rocha
• 🇨🇾 Cyprus – Marios Skordis
• 🇲🇹 Malta – Ruth Amaira
• 🇭🇷 Croatia – Daniela Trbović 
• 🇦🇹 Austria – Martina Rupp 
• 🇨🇭 Switzerland – Yves Ménestrier
• 🇬🇷 Greece – Niki Venega
• 🇪🇪 Estonia – Annika Talvik
• 🇳🇴 Norway – Ragnhild Sælthun Fjørtoft
• 🇫🇷 France – Laurent Broomhead
• 🇸🇮 Slovenia – Mario Galunič 
• 🇳🇱 The Netherlands – Marcha
• 🇧🇪 Belgium – An Ploegaerts
• 🇮🇪 Ireland – Eileen Dunne
• 🇫🇮 Finland – Solveig Herlin
• 🇮🇸 Iceland – Svanhildur Konráðsdóttir
• 🇵🇱 Poland – Jan Chojnacki
• 🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina – Segmedina Srna
• 🇸🇰 Slovakia – Alena Heribanová 
• 🇸🇪 Sweden – Ulla Rundqvist

5.Broadcasts. Most countries sent commentators to Oslo or commented from their own country, in order to provide coverage of the contest, such as add insight to the participants.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
🇦🇹 Austria	ORF 1	Ernst Grissemann	–
	FM4	Stermann & Grissemann	–
🇧🇪 Belgium	BRTN TV1	Dutch: Michel Follet and Johan Verstreken	–
	RTBF1	French: Jean-Pierre Hautier and Sandra Kim	–
	BRTN Radio 2	Dutch: Guy De Pré and Bart Pieters	–
	RTBF La Première	French: Alain Gerlache and Adrien Joveneau
🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina	BHT	Sead Bejtović
🇭🇷 Croatia	HRT 1	Aleksandar “Aco” Kostadinov
	HR2	Draginja Balaš
🇨🇾 Cyprus	RIK 1	Evi Papamichail
	RIK Deftero	Pavlos Pavlou
🇪🇪 Estonia	ETV	Jüri Pihel	–
	Raadio 2	Marko Reikop
🇫🇮 Finland	YLE TV1	Erkki Pohjanheimo and Sanna Kojo	–
	YLE Radio Suomi	Iris Mattila and Pasi Hiihtola
🇫🇷 France	France 2	Olivier Minne	–
	France Inter	Laurent Boyer
🇬🇷 Greece	ET1	Dafni Bokota	–
	ERA 1	Giorgos Mitropoulos
🇮🇸 Iceland	Sjónvarpið	Jakob Frímann Magnússon	–
🇮🇪 Ireland	RTÉ One	Pat Kenny	–
	RTÉ Radio 1	Larry Gogan	–
🇲🇹 Malta	TVM	Charles Saliba
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nederland 2	Willem van Beusekom	–
	Radio 2	Hijlco Span	–
🇳🇴 Norway	NRK	Jostein Pedersen	–
	NRK P1	Stein Dag Jensen and Anita Skorgan	–
🇵🇱 Poland	TVP1	Dorota Osman	–
🇵🇹 Portugal	RTP1	Maria Margarida Gaspar	–
🇸🇰 Slovakia	STV2	Stanislav Ščepán
🇸🇮 Slovenia	SLO1	Miša Molk
🇪🇸 Spain	La Primera	José Luis Uribarri	–
🇸🇪 Sweden	SVT2	Björn Kjellman	–
	SR P3	Claes-Johan Larsson and Lisa Syrén	–
🇨🇭 Switzerland	Schweiz 4	German: Sandra Studer	–
	TSR	French: Pierre Grandjean	–
	TSI	Italian: Joanne Holder
🇹🇷 Turkey	TRT 1	Bülend Özveren
	TRT Radyo 3	Ümit Tunçağ
🇬🇧 United Kindom	BBC1	Terry Wogan	–
	BBC Radio 2	Ken Bruce	–

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
🇦🇺 Australia	SBS TV	Unknown
🇩🇰 Denmark	DR TV1	Jørgen de Mylius	–
	DR P3	Camilla Miehe-Renard
🇩🇪 Germany	N3[a]	Ulf Ansorge	–
	Deutschlandfunk/NDR Radio 2	Thomas Mohr
🇭🇺 Hungary	MTV 2	István Vágó
🇮🇱 Israel	Channel 1	No commentator
🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia	MTV 1	Vlado Janevski
🇷🇴 Romania	TVR1	Doina Caramzulescu and Costin Grigore
Yugoslavia	RTS 2 (delayed broadcast)	Mladen Popović

6.Notes.

• [a] The contest was broadcast live on the “Third Program” of Germany’s ARD, with a delayed broadcast on Das Erste at 00:35 (CEST).
• [b] Amila Glamočak was internally selected to represent Bosnia & Herzegovina at Eurovision 1996. The song “Za Našu Ljubav” that Amila performed at Eurovision was selected through a national final with 10 songs.
• [c] Contains words or phrases in English.

7.Trivial / Fun facts.

• The contest was threatened by a conductor’s strike after NRK wanted to leave out the orchestra conductor’s appearance.
• In the introduction video postcards, every participant received the best wishes from a government representative.
• The show was hosted by Norwegian pop-band a-ha front man Morten Harket and Norwegian journalist, Ingvild Bryn.
• They greeted each country in their national language.

← Eurovision Song Contest 1995 • Eurovision Song Contest 1996 • Eurovision Song Contest 1997 →
Countries (in order of appearance)
Final	Turkey ⦁ United Kingdom ⦁ Spain ⦁ Portugal ⦁ Cyprus ⦁ Malta ⦁ Croatia ⦁ Austria ⦁ Switzerland ⦁ Greece ⦁ Estonia ⦁ Norway • France • Slovenia ⦁ The Netherlands ⦁ Belgium • Ireland (winner) ⦁ Finland • Iceland ⦁ Poland ⦁ Bosnia and Herzegovina ⦁ Slovakia ⦁ Sweden
Qualifying round only	Austria ⦁ Bosnia and Herzegovina ⦁ Belgium ⦁ Switzerland ⦁ Cyprus ⦁ Germany ⦁ Denmark ⦁ Estonia ⦁ Spain ⦁ Finland • France ⦁ United Kingdom ⦁ Greece ⦁ Croatia • Hungary • Ireland ⦁ Israel ⦁ Iceland ⦁ FYRO Macedonia ⦁ Malta ⦁ The Netherlands • Poland ⦁ Portugal ⦁ Romania ⦁ Russia • Sweden • Slovenia ⦁ Slovakia ⦁ Turkey
Artists (in order of appearance)
Final	Şebnem Paker ⦁ Gina G ⦁ Antonio Carbonell ⦁ Lúcia Moniz ⦁ Constantinos ⦁ Miriam Christine ⦁ Maja Blagdan ⦁ George Nussbaumer ⦁ Kathy Leander ⦁ Marianna Efstratiou • Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna ⦁ Elisabeth Andreassen ⦁ Dan Ar Braz and l’Héritage des Celtes ⦁ Regina • Maxine and Franklin Brown ⦁ Lisa del Bo ⦁ Eimear Quinn (winner) ⦁ Jasmine ⦁ Anna Mjöll • Kasia Kowalska ⦁ Amila Glamočak ⦁ Marcel Palonder ⦁ One More Time
Qualifying round only	George Nussbaumer ⦁ Amila Glamočak ⦁ Lisa del Bo ⦁ Kathy Leander ⦁ Constantinos ⦁ Leon ⦁ Dorthe Andersen and Martin Loft ⦁ Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna ⦁ Antonio Carbonell ⦁ Jasmine ⦁ Dan Ar Braz and l’Héritage des Celtes • Gina G ⦁ Marianna Efstratiou ⦁ Maja Blagdan ⦁ Gjon Delhusa • Eimear Quinn ⦁ Galit Bell ⦁ Anna Mjöll • Kaliopi ⦁ Miriam Christine • Maxine and Franklin Brown ⦁ Kasia Kowalska ⦁ Lúcia Moniz • Monica Anghel and Sincron ⦁ Andrey Kosinskiy • One More Time ⦁ Regina ⦁ Marcel Palonder ⦁ Şebnem Paker
Songs (in order of appearance)
Final	“Beşinci Mevsim” ⦁ “Ooh Aah… Just a Little Bit” ⦁ “¡Ay, qué deseo!” ⦁ “O meu coração não tem cor” ⦁ “Mono gia mas” (Μόνο για μας) ⦁ “In a Woman’s Heart” ⦁ “Sveta ljubav” ⦁ “Weil’s dr guat got” ⦁ “Mon cœur l’aime” • “Emis forame to himona anixiatika” (Εμείς φοράμε το χειμώνα ανοιξιάτικα) ⦁ “Kaelakee hääl” ⦁ “I evighet” ⦁ “Diwanit bugale” • “Dan najlepših sanj” • “De eerste keer” • “Liefde is een kaartspel” • “The Voice” (winner) ⦁ “Niin kaunis on taivas” ⦁ “Sjúbídú” ⦁ “Chcę znać swój grzech…” ⦁ “Za našu ljubav” • “Kým nás máš” • “Den vilda“
Qualifying round only	“Weil’s dr guat got” ⦁ “Za našu ljubav” ⦁ “Liefde is een kaartspel” ⦁ “Mon cœur l’aime” ⦁ “Mono gia mas” (Μόνο για μας) ⦁ “Planet of Blue” ⦁ “Kun med dig” ⦁ “Kaelakee hääl” ⦁ “¡Ay, qué deseo!” ⦁ “Niin kaunis on taivas” ⦁ “Diwanit bugale” • “Ooh Aah… Just a Little Bit” ⦁ “Emis forame to himona anixiatika” (Εμείς φοράμε το χειμώνα ανοιξιάτικα) ⦁ “Sveta ljubav” ⦁ “Fortuna” • “The Voice” • “Shalom Olam” (שלום עולם) • “Sjúbídú” • “Samo ti” (Само ти) • “In a Woman’s Heart” • “De eerste keer” ⦁ “Chcę znać swój grzech…” • “O meu coração não tem cor” ⦁ “Rugă pentru pacea lumii” ⦁ “Ya eto ya” (Я это я) ⦁ “Den vilda” • “Dan najlepših sanj” • “Kým nás máš” • “Beşinci Mevsim“
Non-participating entries: • Denmark: Dorthe Andersen and Martin Loft – “Kun med dig” • Germany: Leon – “Planet of Blue” • Hungary: Gjon Delhusa – “Fortuna” • Israel: Galit Bell – “Shalom Olam” (שלום עולם) • FYRO Macedonia: Kaliopi – “Samo ti” (Само ти) • Romania: Monica Anghel and Sincron – “Rugă pentru pacea lumii” • Russia: Andrey Kosinskiy – “Ya eto ya” (Я это я)