Iceland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with the song "Open Your Heart" written by Sveinbjörn I. Baldvinsson,

Birgitta Haukdal Birgitta Haukdal Brynjarsdóttir (born 28 July 1979), also known by her mononym Birgitta, is an Icelandic singer. She rose to domestic media prominence as the lead singer of pop band Írafár. She represented Iceland in the Eurovision Song Con ...

and Hallgrímur Óskarsson. The song was performed by Birgitta Haukdal. The Icelandic broadcaster Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV) returned to the Eurovision Song Contest after a one-year absence following their withdrawal in

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 ...

as one of the bottom six countries in the

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 ...

contest. The Icelandic entry for the 2003 contest in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

was selected through the national final ''Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2003'', organised by RÚV. Fifteen songs competed in the selection which was held on 15 February 2003. "Segðu mér allt" performed by Birgitta Haukdal emerged as the winner exclusively through public televoting. The song was later translated from Icelandic to

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

for the Eurovision Song Contest and was titled "Open Your Heart". Iceland competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 24 May 2003. Performing as the opening entry for the show in position 1, Iceland placed eighth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 81 points.

Background

Prior to the 2003 Contest, Iceland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifteen times since its first entry in 1986. Iceland's best placing in the contest to this point was second, which it achieved in

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with the song "All Out of Luck" performed by

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. In

, Iceland placed twenty-second (joint last) with the song "Angel" performed by Two Tricky. The Icelandic national broadcaster, Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV), broadcasts the event within Iceland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. RÚV confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest on 17 October 2002. Since 2000, Iceland has used a national final to select their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, a method that continued for their 2003 participation.

Before Eurovision

Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2003

''Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2003'' was the national final format developed by RÚV in order to select Iceland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2003. The competition was hosted by

Logi Bergmann Eiðsson Logi Bergmann Eiðsson (born 2 December 1966) is an Icelandic television host, news anchor and reporter. He worked for the public broadcaster Sjónvarpið before his move to private channel Stöð 2 in 2005. He later started work at Sjónvarp S� ...

and

Gísli Marteinn Baldursson Gísli Marteinn Baldursson (born 26 February 1972) is an Icelandic television host and a former politician. He is known for hosting the talk shows ''Laugardagskvöld með Gísla Marteini'' and ''Vikan með Gísla Marteini'' as well as the Icelandic ...

and took place at the Háskólabíó venue in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

. The show was broadcast on RÚV and via radio on

Rás 2 Rás 2 (''Channel 2'') is an Icelandic radio station belonging to the National Icelandic Broadcasting Service, RÚV. Launched on 1 December 1983, it is currently the highest-rated radio station in Iceland, with a schedule composed chiefly of ne ...

Competing entries

On 17 October 2002, RÚV opened the submission period for interested songwriters to submit their entries until the deadline on 18 November 2002. Songwriters were required to be Icelandic, possess Icelandic citizenship or have permanent residency in Iceland, and were required to submit entries in Icelandic with the winning composers being able to later decide the language that will be performed at the Eurovision Song Contest in Riga. At the close of the submission deadline, 204 entries were received. A selection committee was formed in order to select the top fifteen entries. The fifteen competing artists and songs were revealed by the broadcaster on 17 January 2003. RÚV presented the songs between 3 and 7 February 2003 during special programmes broadcast on RÚV.

Final

The final took place on 15 February 2003 where fifteen entries competed. The winner, "Segðu mér allt" performed by

, was determined solely by televoting.

At Eurovision

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

contest competed in the final on 24 May 2003. On 29 November 2002, a special allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Iceland was set to open the show and perform in position 1, before the entry from

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. Iceland finished in eighth place with 81 points. The show was broadcast in Iceland on

RÚV Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV) (pronounced or ) ( en, 'The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service') is Iceland's national public-service broadcasting organization. Operating from studios in the country's capital, Reykjavík, as well as regional cent ...

with commentary by

. The Icelandic spokesperson, who announced the Icelandic votes during the show, was Eva María Jónsdóttir.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Iceland and awarded by Iceland in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Norway in the contest.

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2003

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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 ...