ESC KYIV 2005 (50ª)

2005.jpg

  • Dates – Grand Final: Saturday, 21 May 2005 – 21:00 CEST
  • Host – Venue & Location: Palace of Sports  (Палац Спорту, Palats Sportu; Київський палац спорту (КПС)), Kyiv, 🇺🇦 Ukraine 
  • Presenter (s): Maria “Masha” Efrosinina & DJ Pavlo “Pasha” Shylko
  • Musical Director: —
  • Director: Sven Stojanović
  • Executive Producer: Pavlo Grytsak
  • Executive Supervisor: Svante Stockselius
  • Multicamera Director: Sven Stojanović
  • Host broadcaster: National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU)
  • Motto: “Awakening” (Пробудження)
  • Opening Act: Ruslana performing a medley of “Wild Dances” and “Heart on Fire”
  • Interval Act: Kyiv Percussion Ensemble ARS NOVA, Anatoliy Zalevskiy and Ruslana performing “The Same Star”
  • Participants – Number of entries: 39: 24 Final [🇬🇧 United Kindom (44ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (41ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (42ª), 🇫🇷 France (45ª), 🇲🇹 Malta (17ª), 🇭🇷 Croatia (12ª), 🇹🇷 Turkey (26ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (45ª), 🇷🇺 Russia (8ª), 🇬🇷 Greece (24ª), 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina (10ª), 🇨🇾 Cyprus (23ª), 🇷🇴 Romania (7ª), 🇺🇦 Ukraine (3ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (41ª), 🇦🇱 Albania (2ª), Serbia and Montenegro (2ª), 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia (5ª), 🇭🇺 Hungary (5ª), 🇲🇩 Moldova (1ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (25ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (34ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (44ª), 🇱🇻 Latvia (5ª)]; 25 Semi-Final [🇫🇮 Finland (36ª), 🇧🇾 Belarus (2ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (44ª), 🇱🇻 Latvia (5ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (25ª), 🇦🇩 Andorra (2ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (36ª), 🇲🇨 Monaco (21ª), 🇱🇹 Lithuania (6ª), 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia (5ª),  🇸🇮 Slovenia (10ª), 🇪🇪 Estonia (10ª), 🇭🇷 Croatia (12ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (34ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (43ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (41ª), 🇲🇩 Moldova (1ª), 🇧🇪 Belgium (44ª), 🇮🇸 Iceland (18ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (41ª), 🇷🇴 Romania (7ª), 🇭🇺 Hungary (5ª), 🇧🇬 Bulgaria (1ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (36ª), 🇵🇱 Poland (10ª)]
  • Debuting countries: 🇧🇬 Bulgaria (1ª), 🇲🇩 Moldova (1ª),  Lebanon (1ª) 
  • Return: 🇭🇺 Hungary (5ª)
  • Non-returning countries: —
  • Vote – Voting system: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 points to their 10 favourite songs.
  • Nil Points: —
  • Winning song: 1f3c6 “My number one” – Helena Paparizou  (Έλενα Παπαρίζου) – 🇬🇷 Greece (1ª)

About/Overview. The 50th Eurovision Song Contest took place on 21st May 2005 in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. 24 countries participated in the Grand Final.

Many happy returns. The 2005 contest was seen by many as an open competition with fans and pundits divided over which country would win.  The 2005 contest saw many previous participants return to the stage. Helena Paparizou, who represented Greece as part of the group Antique, returned to the contest with the song “My Number One”. Chiara, who finished third for Malta in 1998, returned to the contest as did Constantinos Christoforou who represented Cyprus in 1996 and in 2002 as part of the group One. Annabel Conde, who represented Spain in 1995 was a backing singer for Andorra and Selma who finished second for Iceland in 1999, failed to qualify from the Semi-Final with her song “If I Had Your Love”.

About the winner. After an unpredictable start to the voting procedure, it soon became clear that Greece, represented by Helena Paparizou with the song “My Number One”, would win the contest. Malta’s Chiara finished one place higher than her previous appearance finishing in second place. The Romanian entry, “Let Me Try” by Luminita Anghel & Sistem, came third after winning the Semi-Final. 

Facts and Figures. The Kyiv contest marked the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest. A gala celebrating this milestone was held later in 2005 in Copenhagen. The event, known as ‘Congratulations’, saw ABBA’s “Waterloo” crowned the most popular winner of all time; The Swiss entry “Cool Vibes” was performed by popular Estonian girl group Vanilla Ninja. The entry was composed by David Brandes who was also responsible for the German entry in 2005, “Run And Hide”; The slogan for 2005 was ‘Awakening’, which reflected the political developments in the country at the time.

Final:

o/r  Country participant(s) SONG – TRANSLATE – LANGUAGE Points rank
01 🇭🇺 Hungary MTV NOX Forogj, világ! (Spin, world!) Hungarian 097 12
02 🇬🇧 United Kindom BBC Javine Touch My Fire English 018 22
03 🇲🇹 Malta PBS Chiara (Chiara Siracusa) Angel (Anġlu) English 192 02
04 🇷🇴 Romania TVR Luminiţa Anghel and Sistem (Luminița Anghel și Sistem) Let Me Try (Lasă-mă să încerc) English 158 03
05 🇳🇴 Norway NRK Wig Wam In My Dreams English 125 09
136 🇹🇷 Turkey TRT Gülseren & Shaman  Rimi rimi ley Turkish 092 13
07 🇲🇩 Moldova TRM Zdob şi Zdub Boonika bate doba (Boonika bate toba, Grandmamma beats the drum) English, Romanian 148 06
08 🇦🇱 Albania RTSH Ledina Çelo Tomorrow I Go (Nesër shkoj, Tomorrow I will leave) English 053 16
09 🇨🇾 Cyprus CyBC Constantinos Christoforou (Κωνσταντίνος Χριστοφόρου) Ela Ela [Ela Ela (Come Baby, Έλα έλα)] English 046 18
10 🇪🇸 Spain TVE Son de sol Brujería (Witchcraft) Spanish 28 10
11 🇮🇱 Israel IBA Shiri Maimon (שירי מימון) Hasheket shenish’ar  (השקט שנשאר, The silence that remains) Hebrew, English 154 04
12 Serbia and Montenegro RTS No Name (Но Нејм, Bezimeni, Безимени) Zauvijek moja (Заувијек моја, Forever mine) Montenegrin 137 07
13 🇩🇰 Denmark DR Jakob Sveistrup Talking To You (Tænder på dig, Turned on by you) English 125 09
14 🇸🇪 Sweden SVT Martin Stenmarck Las Vegas English 030 19
17 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia MKRTV Martin (Martin Vučić, Мартин Вучиќ, Мартин Вучић) Make My Day (Ти си сон) English 052 17
16 🇺🇦 Ukraine NTU GreenJolly (Ґринджоли, Gryndzholy) Razom nas bahato (Разом нас багато; Together we are many; Razom nas bahato, nas ne podolaty; Разом нас багато, нас не подолати) Ukrainian, English[a] 030 19
17 🇩🇪 Germany ARD Gracia Run & Hide English 004 24
18 🇭🇷 Croatia HRT Boris Novković feat. Lado Members (Борис Новковић & Ладо) Vukovi umiru sami (Вукови умиру сами, Wolves die alone) Croatian 115 11
19 🇬🇷 Greece ERT winner Helena Paparizou (Elena Paparizou, Έλενα Παπαρίζου) My Number One (Το νούμερο ένα μου) English 230 01
20 🇷🇺 Russia C1R Natalia Podolskaya (Natalla Padolskaja, Натальля Падольская, Наталья Подольская) Nobody Hurt No One (Хватит причинять друг другу боль) English 057 15
21 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina PBSBIH Feminnem (Феминем) Call Me (Zovi, Зови) English 079 14
22 🇨🇭 Switzerland SSR SRG Vanilla Ninja Cool Vibes English 128 08
23 🇱🇻 Latvia LTV Walter & Kazha (Valters un Kaža) The War Is Not Over (Karš nav beidzies) English 153 05
24 🇫🇷 France France 3 Ortal (Ortal Malka) Chacun pense à soi (Everyone thinks of themselves) French 011 23
    • Dates – Semi-Final: Thursday, 19 May, 2005, 21:00 CEST
    • Host – Venue & Location: Palace of Sports  (Палац Спорту, Palats Sportu; Київський палац спорту (КПС)), Kyiv, 🇺🇦 Ukraine
    • Presenter (s): Maria “Masha” Efrosinina & DJ Pavlo “Pasha” Shylko
    • Musical Director: —
    • Director: Sven Stojanović
    • Executive Producer: Pavlo Grytsak
    • Executive Supervisor: Svante Stockselius
    • Multicamera Director: Sven Stojanović
    • Host broadcaster: National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU)
    • Motto: “Awakening” (Пробудження)
    • Opening Act: Ruslana performing a medley of “Wild Dances” and “Heart on Fire”
    • Interval Act: Kyiv Percussion Ensemble ARS NOVA, Anatoliy Zalevskiy and Ruslana performing “The Same Star”
    • Participants – Number of entries: 39: 24 Final [🇬🇧 United Kindom (44ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (41ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (42ª), 🇫🇷 France (45ª), 🇲🇹 Malta (17ª), 🇭🇷 Croatia (12ª), 🇹🇷 Turkey (26ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (45ª), 🇷🇺 Russia (8ª), 🇬🇷 Greece (24ª), 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina (10ª), 🇨🇾 Cyprus (23ª), 🇷🇴 Romania (7ª), 🇺🇦 Ukraine (3ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (41ª), 🇦🇱 Albania (2ª), Serbia and Montenegro (2ª), 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia (5ª), 🇭🇺 Hungary (5ª), 🇲🇩 Moldova (1ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (25ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (34ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (44ª), 🇱🇻 Latvia (5ª)]; 25 Semi-Final [🇫🇮 Finland (36ª), 🇧🇾 Belarus (2ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (44ª), 🇱🇻 Latvia (5ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (25ª), 🇦🇩 Andorra (2ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (36ª), 🇲🇨 Monaco (21ª), 🇱🇹 Lithuania (6ª), 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia (5ª),  🇸🇮 Slovenia (10ª), 🇪🇪 Estonia (10ª), 🇭🇷 Croatia (12ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (34ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (43ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (41ª), 🇲🇩 Moldova (1ª), 🇧🇪 Belgium (44ª), 🇮🇸 Iceland (18ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (41ª), 🇷🇴 Romania (7ª), 🇭🇺 Hungary (5ª), 🇧🇬 Bulgaria (1ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (36ª), 🇵🇱 Poland (10ª)]
    • Debuting countries: 🇧🇬 Bulgaria (1ª), 🇲🇩 Moldova (1ª),  Lebanon (1ª) 
    • Return: 🇭🇺 Hungary (5ª)
    • Non-returning countries: —
    • Vote – Voting system: Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 points to their 10 favourite songs.
    • Nil Points: —
    • Winning song: 1f3c6 “Let Me Try” – Luminiţa Anghel and Sistem (Luminița Anghel și Sistem) – 🇷🇴 Romania (1ª)

About/Overview. The 50th Eurovision Song Contest took place on 21st May 2005 in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. 24 countries participated in the Grand Final.

Many happy returns. The 2005 contest was seen by many as an open competition with fans and pundits divided over which country would win.  The 2005 contest saw many previous participants return to the stage. Helena Paparizou, who represented Greece as part of the group Antique, returned to the contest with the song “My Number One”. Chiara, who finished third for Malta in 1998, returned to the contest as did Constantinos Christoforou who represented Cyprus in 1996 and in 2002 as part of the group One. Annabel Conde, who represented Spain in 1995 was a backing singer for Andorra and Selma who finished second for Iceland in 1999, failed to qualify from the Semi-Final with her song “If I Had Your Love”.

About the winner. After an unpredictable start to the voting procedure, it soon became clear that Greece, represented by Helena Paparizou with the song “My Number One”, would win the contest. Malta’s Chiara finished one place higher than her previous appearance finishing in second place. The Romanian entry, “Let Me Try” by Luminita Anghel & Sistem, came third after winning the Semi-Final. 

Facts and Figures. The Kyiv contest marked the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest. A gala celebrating this milestone was held later in 2005 in Copenhagen. The event, known as ‘Congratulations’, saw ABBA’s “Waterloo” crowned the most popular winner of all time; The Swiss entry “Cool Vibes” was performed by popular Estonian girl group Vanilla Ninja. The entry was composed by David Brandes who was also responsible for the German entry in 2005, “Run And Hide”; The slogan for 2005 was ‘Awakening’, which reflected the political developments in the country at the time.

Semi-Final: [Q] – Qualifiers

o/r  country participant(s) SONG – TRANSLATE – LANGUAGE Points  rank
01 🇦🇹 Austria ÖRF Global.Kryner Y así (Like that, Und so) English, Spanish 030 21
02 🇱🇹 Lithuania LRT Laura and The Lovers Little By Little (Po truputį) English 017 25
03 🇵🇹 Portugal RTP 2B Amar (To love) Portuguese, English 051 17
04 🇲🇩 Moldova TRM qualifier Zdob şi Zdub Boonika bate doba (Boonika bate toba, Grandmamma beats the drum)  Enlish, Romanian  207 02
05 🇱🇻 Latvia LTV qualifier Walter and Kazha (Valters un Kaža) The War Is Not Over (Karš nav beidzies) English 085 10
06 🇲🇨 Monaco TMC Lise Darly Tout de moi (All of me) French 022 24
07 🇮🇱 Israel IBA qualifier Shiri Maimon (שירי מימון) Hasheket shenish’ar (השקט שנשאר, The silence that remains) Hebrew, English  158 07
08 🇧🇾 Belarus BTRC Angelica Agurbash  (Анжелика Ялиньская, Anzhelika Yalin’skaya; Анжаліка Ялінская, Anzhalika Jalinskaja) Love Me Tonight (Кахай мяне сёння вечарам) English 067 13
09 🇳🇱 The Netherlands NOS Glennis Grace My Impossible Dream English 053 14
10 🇮🇸 Iceland RÚV Selma (Selma Björnsdóttir) If I Had Your Love English 052 16
11 🇧🇪 Belgium RTBF Nuno Resende Le grand soir (The big night) English 029 22
12 🇪🇪 Estonia ERR Suntribe Let’s Get Loud English 031 320
13 🇳🇴 Norway NRK qualifier Wig Wam In My Dreams English  164 06
14 🇷🇴 Romania TVR qualifier Luminiţa Anghel and Sistem (Luminița Anghel și Sistem) Let Me Try (Lasă-mă să încerc) English  235 01
15 🇭🇺 Hungary MTV qualifier NOX Forogj, világ! (Spin, world!) Hungarian  167 05
16 🇫🇮 Finland YLE Geir Rönning Why? (Miksi?) English 050 18
17 🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia MKRTV qualifier Martin (Martin Vučić, Мартин Вучиќ, Мартин Вучић) Make My Day (Ти си сон) English  097 09
18 🇦🇩 Andorra RTVA Marian van de Wal La mirada interior (The inner glance) Catalan 027 23
19 🇨🇭 Switzerland SSR SRG qualifier Vanilla Ninja Cool Vibes English  114 08
20 🇭🇷 Croatia HRT qualifier Boris Novković feat. Lado Members (Борис Новковић & Ладо) Vukovi umiru sami (Вукови умиру сами, Wolves die alone) Croatian  169 04
21 🇧🇬 Bulgaria BNT Kaffe (Каффе) Lorraine English 049 19
22 🇮🇪 Ireland RTÉ Donna and Joe Love? English 053 14
12 🇸🇮 Slovenia RTVSLO Omar Naber (Омар Набер) Stop Slovene 069 12
3 🇩🇰 Denmark DR qualifier Jakob Sveistrup Talking To You (Tænder på dig, Turned on by you) English  185 03
11 🇵🇱 Poland TVP Ivan and Delfin Czarna dziewczyna (Black-haired girl / Black girl) Polish, Russian 081 11

Missed participation

• 🇧🇾 Belarus: “Boys and Girls” (English) – Angelica Agurbash (Анжалікі Агурбаш). “Boys and Girls” was intended to be the Belarusian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, to be performed in English by Angelica Agurbash. As it was not performed, the song enters a very exclusive group of only three of four songs to be announced as an entry before not being performed. The song is an emotional ballad, with the lyrics written as a plea to the children of the world, reminding them that they are the future. Due in part to the unfashionable style of the song but also to its subject matter (the song is based around the Beslan school hostage crisis, which is unusual in English language songs), it did not attract a favourable reception prior to the Contest. Thus, Agurbash chose to perform the up-tempo dance number “Love Me Tonight” instead. Ironically, the Finnish entry at the 2005 Contest (“Why?” by Geir Rönning) was themed around the same events, although it did not qualify from the semi-final. 

•  Lebanon: “Quand Tout S’enfuit” (French) – Aline Lahoud (الين لحود). Lebanon has never participated in the Eurovision Song Contest. The country’s broadcasting organization, Télé Liban, was set to make the country’s debut at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song “Quand tout s’enfuit” performed by Aline Lahoud, but was forced to withdraw due to Lebanon’s laws banning the broadcast of Israeli content.

Participation map

A coloured map of the countries of Europe

Transmitirá a 2º semifinal noutro horário. Participating countries Transmitirá a Final em direto. Did not qualify from the semi final Transmitirá a 1º semifinal em direto. Countries that participated in the past but not in 2005

ESC 2005 Scoreboard Grand Final Ι Detailed voting results:

Finale:

Scoreboard - Eurovision Song Contest 2005 Final

ESC 2005 Scoreboard Semi-Final Ι Detailed voting results:

Semi-Finale:

Scoreboard - Eurovision Song Contest 2005 Semi-Final

The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country’s victory at the 2004 contest with the song “Wild Dances” by Ruslana. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU), the contest was held at the Palace of Sports, and consisted of a semi-final on 19 May, and a final on 21 May 2005. The two live shows were presented by Ukrainian television presenters Maria Efrosinina and Pavlo Shylko.

Thirty-nine countries participated in the contest, three more than the previous record of thirty-six, that took part the year before. Bulgaria and Moldova made their first participation this year, while Hungary returned to the contest after a six-year absence, having last taken part in 1998.

The winner was Greece with the song “My Number One”, performed by Helena Paparizou and written by Manos Psaltakis, Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou. This was Greece’s first victory in the contest after 31 years of participation. Malta, Romania, Israel and Latvia rounded out the top five. Malta equalled their best result from 2002, while Romania achieved their best result in their Eurovision history. Unusually, all “Big Four” countries (France, Germany, Spain and United Kingdom) ended up as the “Last Four”, all placing in the bottom four positions in the final.

Palace of Sports, Kyiv – host venue pictured during the 2005 contest.

1.Location.  Kyiv is the capital and largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper. The Palace of Sports, a multi-purpose indoor arena, was confirmed by officials as the host venue in September 2004. However, in order to host the contest, the facilities had been brought up to the standard required by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

At the end of December 2004, work began on the renovation of the hall, for which approximately 4 million francs were allocated. Renovation works were to be finished by 20 April, however, they were completed at the beginning of May. The arena could accommodate over 5,000 seated spectators. Additionally 2,000 press delegates were catered for.

Hotel rooms were scarce as the contest organisers asked the Ukrainian government to put a block on bookings they did not control themselves through official delegation allocations or tour packages: this led to many people’s hotel bookings being cancelled.

Organizers hoped that by hosting Eurovision, it would boost Ukraine’s image abroad and increase tourism, while the country’s new government hoped that it would also give a modest boost to the long-term goal of acquiring European Union membership.

2.Format. 

2.1.Visual design. The official logo of the contest remained the same from the 2004 contest with the country’s flag in the heart being changed. Following Istanbul’s ‘Under The Same Sky’, the slogan for the 2005 show was ‘Awakening’, which symbolised the awakening of the country and city ready to present itself to Europe. The postcards (short clips shown between performances) for the 2005 show illustrated Ukraine’s culture and heritage along with a more modern and industrial side to the country.

This was the first edition to be broadcast in widescreen 16:9 format.

2.2.Presenters. The hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv were television presenterMaria “Masha” Efrosinina and DJPavlo “Pasha” Shylko. Previous winnerRuslana returned to the stage in Kyiv to perform in the interval act and to interview the contestants backstage in the ‘green room’. The famous Ukrainian boxers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko opened the televoting, while a special trophy was presented to the winner by Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yushchenko.

2.3.Publicity. An official CD and DVD was released and a new introduction was an official pin set, which contains heart-shaped pins with the flags of all thirty-nine participating countries. The EBU also commissioned a book “The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History” by British/American author John Kennedy O’Connor to celebrate the contest’s fiftieth anniversary. The book was presented on screen during the break between songs 12 and 13 (Serbia and Montenegro, Denmark). The book was published in English, German, French, Dutch, Swedish, Danish and Finnish.

During the semi final, there were a few sound faults, most notably during the Norwegian song, shortly after the intro and also during the Irish song. These were not fixed for the DVD release.

2.4.Incidents. 2005 was no exception for scandals regarding the representatives from the countries participating. Germany’s entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest rejected calls to quit after her producer admitted manipulating the country’s pop charts with mass purchases of her single. 

Gracia Baur defended her producer David Brandes, also behind Swiss entry Vanilla Ninja, and said she would go to the finals in Kyiv despite complaints from other German singers. Bulgaria’s debut was overshadowed by a scandal. The song “Lorraine” by Kaffe was accused of plagiarism. The song sounded too similar to another one released by Ruslan Mainov in 2001. There were also problems in Malta with the electricity supply during the contest, so TV viewers were unable to watch their national selection from the very beginning. There was a controversy regarding the Turkish entry: TRT got a false jury which led to the victory of the song “Rimi Rimi Ley” by Gülseren, which the 2003 winner Sertab Erener said was not the best choice. There were similar controversies in Macedonia which led to an eventual victory for Martin Vučić. The Ukrainian song had to be changed because it would bring a political message to the people, and EBU stated that no politics could be involved in the contest. The entry for Serbia and Montenegro was also overshadowed by a scandal and an accusation of plagiarism. Portugal’s entry, “Amar”, had very poor sound quality, with the female singer’s microphone failing many times on stage.

It is also notable that the programme lasted just short of 3.5 hours. This was mainly due to the extremely long voting procedure, where 39 countries voted, reading out every single score. Many people, including United Kingdom commentator Terry Wogan, noticed this and commented about the marathon-like voting procedure, when Russia voted he stated “How many more [countries] have we got to go? What time is it?”. Because the show overran so badly, the EBU changed the way the votes were announced in 2006 into a much shorter method, where only the top 3 scores were read out (the rest appeared on the scoreboard automatically).

Ruslana was also intended to be a presenter for the show, but was pulled out before the contest for numerous reasons, including her poor English skills. She opened the contest, and did do a few brief interviews in the green room at a few different stages in the event.

In the semifinal, the first qualifier was Hungary as shown on the card, but instead of showing Hungary’s flag, it showed the Bulgarian flag accidentally.

3.Participating countries. Thirty-nine countries participated in the 2005 contest. Hungary returned to the contest after a six-year absence, last competing in 1998. Bulgaria and Moldova competed in the contest for the first time.

3.1.Returning artists.

Lead artists
Artist Country Previous year(s)
Constantinos Christoforou 🇨🇾 Cyprus 1996, 2002 (as member of One)
Helena Paparizou 🇬🇷 Greece 2001 (as member of Antique)
Selma 🇮🇸 Iceland 1999
Chiara 🇲🇹 Malta 1998
Backing performers
Artist Country Previous year(s)
Anabel Conde 🇦🇩 Andorra 1995 (for 🇪🇸 Spain)

3.2.Semi-final. The semi-final was held on 19 May 2005 at 21:00 (CET). 25 countries performed but all 39 participants voted.

3.3.Final. The finalists were: the four automatic qualifiers France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom; the top 10 countries from the 2004 final (other than the automatic qualifiers); the top 10 countries from the 2005 semi-final.

The final was held on 21 May 2005 at 21:00 (CET) and was won by Greece.

3.4.Participants and results.

3.5.All the national selections for Eurovision Song Contest 2005:

• National Selections in 2005:

COUNTRY EVENT WINNER
🇦🇱 Albania Festivali i Këngës #43 Ledina Çelo – “Tomorrow I Go” / “Nesër shkoj”
🇦🇩 Andorra (Andorran Selection 2005) Marian van de Wal – “La mirada interior“
🇦🇹 Austria Song.Null.Fünf Global.Kryner – “Y así“
🇧🇾 Belarus (Belarusian Selection 2005) Angelica Agurbash – “Love Me Tonight” / “Boys and Girls“
🇧🇪 Belgium (Belgian Selection 2005) Nuno Resende – “Le grand soir“
🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina BH Eurosong 2005 Feminnem – “Call Me” / “Zovi”
🇧🇬 Bulgaria EuroBGVision 2005 Kaffe – “Lorraine”
🇭🇷 Croatia Dora 2005 Boris Novković feat. Lado members – “Vukovi umiru sami“
🇨🇾 Cyprus (Cypriot Selection 2005) (song selection) [b]  Constantinos Christoforou – “Ela Ela”
🇩🇰 Denmark Melodi Grand Prix 2005 Jakob Sveistrup – “Talking to You” / “Tænder på dig”
🇪🇪 Estonia Eurolaul 2005 Suntribe – “Let’s Get Loud”
🇫🇮 Finland Euroviisut 2005 Geir Rönning – “Why?”
🇫🇷 France Un candidat pour l’Eurovision Ortal – “Chacun pense à soi“
🇩🇪 Germany Germany 12 Points! Gracia – “Run & Hide”
🇬🇷 Greece Eurovision Party (song selection) [c]  Helena Paparizou – “My Number One”
🇭🇺 Hungary Eurovíziós Dalfesztivál NOX – “Forogj, világ!“
🇮🇪 Ireland You’re A Star Donna & Joseph McCaul / Donna and Joe – “Love?”
🇮🇱 Israel Kdam Eurovision 2005 Shiri Maimon – “HaSheket SheNish’ar” (השקט שנשאר)
🇱🇻 Latvia Eirodziesma 2005 Valters & Kaža / Walters and Kazha – “The War Is Not Over”
🇱🇹 Lithuania Nacionalinė atranka į Euroviziją 2005 Laura & The Lovers – “Little by Little”
🇲🇹 Malta Malta Song For Europe 2005 Chiara – “Angel”
🇲🇩 Moldova O melodie pentru Europa 2005 Zdob şi Zdub – “Boonika bate toba” / “Boonika bate doba”
🇳🇱 The Netherlands Nationaal Songfestival 2005 Glennis Grace – “My Impossible Dream”
🇲🇰 FYRO Macedonia Nacionalen Evrosong 2005 Martin Vučić – “Make My Day” / “Ti si son” (Ти си сон)
🇳🇴 Norway Melodi Grand Prix 2005 Wig Wam – “In My Dreams”
🇷🇴 Romania Selecția Națională 2005 Luminiţa Anghel & Sistem – “Let Me Try”
🇷🇺 Russia Evrovidenie 2005 Natalia Podolskaya – “Nobody Hurt No One”
Serbia and Montenegro Evropesma 2005 No Name – “Zauvijek moja” (Заувијек моја)
🇸🇮 Slovenia EMA 2005 Omar Naber – “Stop”
🇪🇸 Spain Eurovisión 2005: Elige nuestra canción Son de Sol – “Brujería“
🇸🇪 Sweden Melodifestivalen 2005 Martin Stenmarck – “Las Vegas”
🇹🇷 Turkey Şarkı Yarışması 2005 Gülseren – “Rimi Rimi Ley”
 🇺🇦 Ukraine (Ukrainian Selection 2005) GreenJolly – “Razom nas bahato” (Разом нас багато)
🇬🇧 United Kindom Making Your Mind Up 2005 Javine – “Touch My Fire”

• Internal Selections in 2005:

🇮🇸 Iceland Selma – “If I Had Your Love”
🇲🇨 Monaco Lise Darly – “Tout de moi“
🇵🇱 Poland Ivan & Delfin – “Czarna dziewczyna“
🇵🇹 Portugal 2B – “Amar“
🇨🇭 Switzerland Vanilla Ninja – “Cool Vibes”

3.6.Connections:

4.Detailed voting results.

4.1.Semi-final. The EBU introduced an undisclosed threshold number of televotes that would have to be registered in each voting country in order to make that country’s votes valid. If that number was not reached, the country’s backup jury would vote instead. This affected Albania, Andorra and Monaco in the semi-final, and Andorra, Moldova and Monaco in the final.

Semi-final.