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 Jelusić, who represented Croatia with his song "Ti si moja prva ljubav" (You are my first love) while second and third place went to Spain and the United Kingdom respectively. The next time that a country would win on its first attempt was Italy in 2014.
It was the first Eurovision contest to be broadcast in the 16:9 widescreen and high definition, but was also offered to broadcasters in the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio. 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. It was announced before the contest took place that the next edition would be held in the United Kingdom (although in the end this did not happen).
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.[1][2] The idea was extended to a Scandinavian song competition in 2002, known as MGP Nordic, with Denmark, Norway and Sweden as participants.[3][4] 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",[5] branded with the name of the EBU's long-running and already popular song competition, the Eurovision Song Contest.
Denmark was asked to host the first programme after their experience with their own contests and the MGP Nordic.[6] Copenhagen was confirmed as the host city in November 2002.[7] 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.[8]
Venue
Forum in Copenhagen was the venue for the inaugural contest.
Forum Copenhagen (Danish: Forum København) 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".
Participating countries
Cover art of the official album
In May 2003, the EBU released the initial list of participants with 16 competing countries, in the first edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.[9] In an original press release for the contest, then entitled the "Eurovision Song Contest for Children", a draw was held to select 15 countries to take part in the inaugural contest, with Slovakian broadcaster Slovenská televízia (STV) and German broadcaster ARD being drawn to compete along with 13 other countries.[5]
These countries would eventually be replaced by entries from Poland, Cyprus (added as 16th country before Germany and Slovakia withdrew) and Belarus, in their first ever Eurovision event. There were also reports that Finnish broadcaster Yle had planned to enter in the contest, but went on to just broadcast it instead.[10]
Prior to the event, a compilation album featuring all the songs from the 2003 contest,[a] along with karaoke versions, was put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by Universal Music Group in November 2003.[11]
Participants of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2003[12]
In February 2003, there was speculation regarding the potential host of the first ever Eurovision Song Contest for Children. Initially, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), 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.[13] 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.[14]
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.
Postcards
The postcards featured all of the participants (and their backing dancers/singers) 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 event took place on 15 November 2003 at 20:00 CET. Sixteen countries participated, with the running order published on 6 October 2003.[15] All the countries competing were eligible to vote by televote. Croatia won with 134 points, with Spain, the United Kingdom, Belarus, and Denmark, completing the top five. Macedonia, Norway, Cyprus, Sweden, and Poland, occupied the bottom five positions.[16]
For a country to be eligible for potential participation in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, it needs to be an active member of the EBU. It is currently unknown whether the EBU issue invitations of participation to all 56 active members like they do for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Finland – Finnish broadcaster Yle expressed an interest in participating in the contest. However, it was unsuccessful and they went on to broadcast it instead.[19]
Germany – 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.[5] However, they announced their withdrawal from the contest and went on to broadcast it instead.[19] Germany wouldn't debut at Junior Eurovision until 2020.[20]
Ireland – After Germany and Slovakia withdrew,[21][better source needed] the EBU sent an invitation to Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) who then submitted preliminary applications, but in the end declined to participate or broadcast the contest.[22] Ireland did, however, debut with TG4 as the broadcaster in 2015.
Slovakia – Slovakian broadcaster Slovenská televízia (STV), along with KiKa, was drawn to participate in the contest,[5] however declined to participate and did not broadcast the show either.
The rights to broadcast the contest were also acquired by broadcasters in Iceland (RÚV),[23] Finland (Yle), Serbia and Montenegro (RTS/RTCG), Estonia (ETV), Germany (KI.KA), Australia (SBS) and Kosovo (RTK). Some of the participating broadcasters also transmitted the programme live on radio.[19]
Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
^Zouboulakis, I. (1 November 2003). "Επιλογές / 21:00, ET1 "Eurovision Junior"" [TV choices / 21:00, ET1 "Eurovision Junior"]. To Vima (in Greek). p. 49.
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