Estonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 with the song " Runaway" written by Pearu Paulus, Ilmar Laisaar, Alar Kotkas and Jana Hallas. The song was performed by

Sahlene Anna Cecilia Sahlin (born 11 May 1976), known professionally as Anna Sahlene and formerly by the one-word stage name Sahlene, is a Swedish performer best known as a singer: she placed third at the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 with " Runaway" ...

. In addition to participating in the contest, the Estonian broadcaster

Eesti Televisioon Eesti Televisioon (ETV) ( en, Estonian Television) is an Estonian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by Estonian Public Broadcasting. It made its first broadcast on 19 July 1955. History Eesti Televisioon (''Estonian Televisi ...

(ETV) also hosted the Eurovision Song Contest after winning the competition in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

with the song " Everybody" performed by

Tanel Padar Tanel Padar (born 27 October 1980) is an Estonian singer and songwriter. He is best known internationally for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2001. Padar became famous by winning the ''Kaks takti ette'', a biennial televised competition for ...

Dave Benton Dave Benton (born 31 January 1951, birth name Efrén Eugene Benita) is a pop musician from Aruba who lives in Estonia. He is one of the winners of the Eurovision Song Contest 2001. At the age of 50 years and 101 days at the time of his victory, ...

and 2XL. ETV organised the national final '' Eurolaul 2002'' in order to select the Estonian entry for the 2002 contest in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

. Ten songs competed in the national final and "Runaway" performed by Sahlene was selected as the winner by an international jury panel. As the host country, Estonia competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 25 May 2002. Performing during the show in position 8, Estonia placed third out of the 24 participating countries with 111 points.

Background

Prior to the 2002 Contest, Estonia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest seven times since its first entry in , winning the contest on one occasion in

with the song " Everybody" performed by

and 2XL. The Estonian national broadcaster,

(ETV), broadcasts the event within Estonia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Since their debut, the Estonian broadcaster has organised national finals that feature a competition among multiple artists and songs in order to select Estonia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The ''

Eurolaul Estonia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 27 times since making its debut in 1994. Its first appearance would have taken place in 1993 but a qualification round was installed for seven former Eastern Bloc countries hoping to make ...

'' competition has been organised since 1996 in order to select Estonia's entry and on 6 November 2001, ETV announced the organisation of ''Eurolaul 2002'' in order to select the nation's 2002 entry.

Before Eurovision

Eurolaul 2002

''Eurolaul 2002'' was the ninth edition of the Estonian national selection ''

'', which selected Estonia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2002. The competition consisted of a ten-song final on 26 January 2002 at the

Linnahall Linnahall ( et, Tallinna Linnahall, 'Tallinn City Hall') (originally the V. I. Lenin Palace of Culture and Sports) is a multi-purpose venue in Tallinn, Estonia. It is situated in the harbor, just beyond the walls of the Old Town, and was complete ...

, hosted by

Marko Reikop Marko Reikop (born 19 June 1969 in Tallinn) is an Estonian TV host. He graduated from the Tallinn University on bibliography and is employed by radio and TV channels of the Estonian Public Broadcasting since 1991. He has presented the Estonian n ...

and Karmel Eikner and broadcast on ETV.

Competing entries

On 6 November 2001, ETV opened the submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries up until 3 December 2001. A record 90 submissions were received by the deadline—breaking the previous record of 80, set during the 2001 edition. A 10-member jury panel selected 10 finalists from the submissions and the selected songs were announced on 6 December 2001. Among the competing artists was previous Eurovision Song Contest entrant

Ivo Linna Ivo Linna (born 12 June 1949 in Kuressaare) is an Estonian singer. Eurovision Song Contest and Eesti Laul He represented Estonia alongside Maarja Liis Ilus in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 in Oslo with the song " Kaelakee Hääl" (The Sound ...

, who represented Estonia in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

with

Maarja-Liis Ilus Maarja-Liis Ilus, sometimes better known by her performing name Maarja (born 24 December 1980) is an Estonian pop musician and presenter. She has represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest twice. She was only 15 when she participated in the ...

Gerli Padar Gerli Padar (born 6 November 1979) is an Estonian singer and actress. She represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. She is the sister of Tanel Padar, who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2001 for Estonia. Career Padar has perfo ...

has competed in previous editions of Eurolaul. The selection jury consisted of Meelis Kapstas (journalist), Jaan Elgula (musician), Jaan Karp (musician), Priit Hõbemägi (culture critic), Allan Roosileht (Star FM presenter), Aarne Saluveer (choir conductor), Maido Maadik (

Eesti Raadio Eesti Raadio (Estonian Radio, ER) was the public service radio broadcaster of Estonia that, at the time of closure, operated five national radio stations. It was closed in 2007 as a result of a merger with Eesti Televisioon (Estonian Television, ...

sound engineer), Hanna-Liina Võsa (singer), Karmel Eikner (journalist) and Priit Pajusaar (composer).

Final

The final took place on 26 January 2002. Ten songs competed during the show and " Runaway" performed by

was selected as the winner by an international jury. A non-competitive public televote which registered 34,399 votes was also held and selected "Another Country Song" performed by Nightlight Duo and Cowboys as the winner. The international jury panel consisted of

Nicki French Nicki is a given name, and may refer to: Film and television * Nicki Aycox (1975-2022), American actress best known for her roles as Syl on the series ''Dark Angel'' and Stella Vessey on the dramedy ''Ed'' * Nicki Chapman (born 1967), English tel ...

(United Kingdom), L-G Alsenius (Sweden),

Nuša Derenda Nuša Derenda (, born Anuška Žnideršič on March 30, 1969 in Brežice, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Slovenian singer who represented Slovenia at the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen, Denmark where she achieved 7th place. Biog ...

(Slovenia),

Louis Walsh Michael Louis Vincent Walsh (born 5 August 1952) is an Irish music manager and television personality. He has managed Johnny Logan, Boyzone, Jedward and Westlife, four of Ireland's most successful pop acts in the 1990s and 2000s. He later bec ...

(Ireland),

Bo Halldórsson Bo or BO may refer to Arts and entertainment Film, television, and theatre *Box office, where tickets to an event are sold, and by extension, the amount of business a production receives *'' BA:BO'', 2008 South Korean film * ''Bo'' (film), a ...

(Iceland), Manfred Witt (Germany), Marlain (Cyprus) and

Moshe Datz Duo Datz (Hebrew: אורנה ומשה דץ, ''Orna U-Moshe Datz''; commonly referred in Hebrew as דץ ודצה ''Datz Ve-Datza'') is the common English name for the duo made up of Orna and Moshe Datz. The popular artists are best known in Eur ...

(Israel).

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the bottom six countries in the

contest competed in the final. As the host country, Estonia automatically qualified to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 on 25 May 2002. On 9 November 2001, a special allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Estonia was set to perform in position 8, following the entry from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and before the entry from Macedonia. Sahlene was joined on stage by five backing vocalists: Charlotte Berg, Jelena Juzvik, Joel Sahlin, Jüri Mazurtšak and Lena Olsson-Björkén, and Estonia finished in third place with 111 points. The show was broadcast in Estonia on

ETV ETV may stand for: Television * e.tv, a South African terrestrial television channel * Educational Television (Hong Kong), a television series * Educational television, the use of television in education * Enhanced TV, an interactive television ap ...

with commentary by

. The Estonian spokesperson, who announced the Estonian votes during the show, was Ilomai Küttim "Elektra".

Voting

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2002

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...