Slovenia entered the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, represented by

Karmen Stavec Karmen Stavec (born 21 December 1973) is a Slovene musician and pop singer. Early years Karmen was born in West Berlin, at that time part of West Germany, to Slovene parents. After graduation she came to Domžale, Slovenia, where she joined th ...

with the song "Nanana". The song, performed in Slovene as "Lep poletni dan", was the winner of the Slovene national final, EMA 2003.

Before Eurovision

EMA 2003

''EMA 2003'' was the 8th edition of the Slovenian national final format '' Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA)''. The competition was used by RTV Slovenija to select Slovenia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2003.

Competing entries

88 entries were received by RTV Slovenija during a submission period. An expert committee consisting of Armando Šturman, Martin Žvelc, Branka Kraner and Aleš Strajnar selected sixteen artists and songs for the competition from the received submissions.

Final

EMA 2003 took place on 15 February 2003 at the Gospodarsko Razstavisce in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

, hosted by

Miša Molk Miša Molk (born 6 September 1954) is a Slovenian journalist and television personality. Her professional career has always been tied to the television business and RTV Slovenija. Career Born in Vrhnika, Molk graduated from the Ljubljana Facu ...

and

Peter Poles Peter Poles (born February 6, 1978 in Slovenj Gradec) is a Slovenian television personality, responsible for presenting the Slovenian televote results in various editions of Eurovision Song Contest. Poles first filled this role in 2003, returning ...

. The winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the combination of points from a public vote and a five-member jury panel selected the top three entries to proceed to the superfinal: "Lep poletni dan" performed by

, "Prvič in zadnjič" performed by

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 ...

and "Poglej me v oči" performed by

Alenka Godec Alenka Godec (born 5 November 1964, in Ljubljana) is a Slovenian jazz and pop singer.(1 January 2007)Alenka Godec ''Cosmopolitan (magazine)'' (Slovenian edition, in Slovenian) Albums Trova Festivals Pop workshop * 1988: ''Tvoja'' - membe ...

. The jury consisted of

Andi Knoll Andreas "Andi" Knoll (born 11 June 1972 in Innsbruck) is an Austrian radio and television presenter. He is Austria's commentator at the Eurovision Song Contest each year. Eurovision Song Contest work Since the 1999 contest (with the exceptio ...

Marija Naumova Marija Naumova-Bullīta (born and professionally knows as Marija Naumova 23 June 1973) is a Latvian singer of Russian descent. Under the stage name Marie N, she sings a broad range of music ranging from pop to musical theatre and jazz, and has ...

Paul de Leeuw Paul Henri de Leeuw (born 26 March 1962) is a Dutch television comedian, singer and actor. De Leeuw gained national fame in the late eighties and early nineties with television shows for broadcasting company VARA. Though satire was only a part ...

, Drago Ivanuša and Branka Kraner. The favourite of the public vote, Bepop, was eliminated after receiving no points from the jury. In the superfinal, a public vote selected "Lep poletni dan" performed by

as the winner.

At Eurovision

"Lep poletni dan" was performed as "Nanana" at Eurovision, where it closed to the contest, performing 26th in the running order, following

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The Slovene public were able to vote for the winner of the contest through televoting after all songs had performed. At the close of the voting, Slovenia received 7 points, 4 from

Bosnia & Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

and 3 from

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. Slovenia gave the decisive votes of the contest: with

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

leading

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

by five points at the top of the scoreboard, Slovenia gave three points to Belgium, 10 to Turkey and 12 to third place

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 ...

, giving Turkey to final victory. As Slovenia failed to reach the top 11 in the final, the country was forced to compete in the semi-final of the 2004 Contest.

Voting

References

External links

Slovene National Final 2003
{{Eurovision Song Contest 2003

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003

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 ...