2003

 

• Hosted in: Copenhagen, Denmark

• Won by: Croatia - Ti si moja prva ljubav by Dino Jelusick

• UK entry: My song for the world by Tom Morley

The inaugural Eurovision Song Contest was held in Lugano, Switzerland in 1956. But 47 years after the grown-ups take center-stage, and 13 years after a change in ESC rules dictating that only artists over the age of 16 are allowed to enter, the EBU has decided to compensate the potentially world-famous kids ranging from ages 8 to 15 by hosting a children-orientated song contest.

This was inspired by DR creating a kids’ version of the Danish national selection that is MGP Junior, back in 2000. Later it grew to parts of Scandinavia and Poland. So it makes total sense to host a pan-European contest before it too goes pan-European. It also makes sense for the contest to be held in Denmark, who only competed in three editions! Though since their absence in 2006, the country still regularly held MGP Junior to this day...

You’re going to see a bit of a UK-bias review here. Partly because I like researching British telly, partly because this is inspired by Des & Mick – Eurovision, so assuming this is his, not mine. Though as you will see in later years, the UK ghosted this contest for a “little” while.

Nevertheless, the United Kingdom was one of the 16 founding countries of the show, resulting in a single-night show. Although nowadays it is considered miniscule in modern Eurovision standards, it has stayed this way since, as the adult Eurovision Song Contest did not implement a 2-stage knockout format until the following year, 2004. Tom Morley, the only male to represent the UK at the JESC to date, gives out “My song for the world”, which is in a genre that I’ve heard a lot. It’s a soft, piano ballad that, while not too romantic, sounds like the singer is giving love to something. A similar song was “Desde el Cielo” by Sergio of Spain, a tribute to his late grandfather. Both of these gained a spot in the podium (though obviously neither of them won the contest, we’ll get to that)

Once you shed a tear, why not try a reasonable Belgian entry “Ik ben een teenager” by “Blur, but left in the fridge for 5 minutes”, aka X!NK, which finished 6th in the contest. Malta sent out Sarah Harrison and her song “Like a star”, an pop anthem emblematic of the era at that time, finishing 7th, or if you want to taste the wooden spoon, “Cos mnie nosi” from Katarzyna Zurawik of Poland is for you. They clearly tried to fit with the 2000s vibe here, only to end up being a huge mess, finishing dead last.

Though really, history only remembers the winners. That honor belongs to Croatia. Dino Jelusick told us that we are his first love, having a soft beginning like the other podium sitters, while having a more quirkier chorus. And pretty quickly the viewers at home gave that love back, specifically FYR Macedonia, Norway and Romania, while racking up an impressive 134 points, 9 points ahead of Spain. Dino, therefore, along with Lys Assia, was immortalized as the first winners of an inaugural Eurovision Song Contest.

Despite that win, though, the organizers have announced in advance that the contest will return in 2004 in the United Kingdom. Is it? Is it?

Presentation and format

Literally everyone felt honored to be part of the inaugural Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The contest was held at the Copenhagen Forum, and hosted by Remee Sigvardt and Camilla Ottesen. Remee is a rapper, so no surprise he added an African-American flavor into presenting the show. He also lit up the torch by handing the trophy, which is simply a cutout of the “singing girl” icon that would be used in 5 subsequent years, to Dino. The previous winner would hand the trophy since, mostly.

The voting procedure is exactly the same used in the adult contest all the way back in 1975. Each spokesperson announces the points given to their top 10 favorite countries based on solely public votes, excluding their own. The points ladder goes from 1-8, then 10, then 12, in case you somehow forgotten.

Don’t worry – not everyone remembered the points system by heart – which resulted in the Cypriot spokesperson giving 11 points instead of 10, corrects herself, and when she finally announces the 12 points, the organizers forgot to add them, resulting in the spokesperson starting all over again, and no doubt wasted everyone’s time. The contest came the same year as when OG Eurovision Song Contest introduced a self-sorting scoreboard for the first time. So they're lucky enough to adopt that too, otherwise the kids would be insane. The so far only time the contest implemented a stationary scoreboard for at least half of the time was in 2024.

Like most of the adult contest at the time, the outcome was decided solely by televote – which would change to half-jury, half-televote in 2008. Sasha Stevens was the UK’s spokesperson for this contest. For the first 3 years – the phone lines did not open until the very last song was performed. Until 2009, entries are strictly performed in their home language and until 2007, artists may not have their other songs publicly available prior, making every contestant in this contest having musical debuts.

The postcards – the short clips between each song that act as filler for the preparations for the upcoming performance - consisted of the contestants being seen in places located in Copenhagen. Tom Morley is in a zoo. Surprisingly, given the BBC’s involvement in big Eurovision events, ITV was responsible for broadcasting instead. The show was aired on ITV1 via the CITV block and commentated by Mark Durden-Smith and Tara Palmer-Tomkinson. This is the only time the full show was shown live on ITV1.