The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2003 was the inaugural edition of the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest The Junior Eurovision Song Contest, often known simply as Junior Eurovision, is an international children's Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 2003. Each part ...

for young singers aged eight to fifteen. It was held on 15 November 2003, in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. With

Camilla Ottesen Camilla Ottesen (born 11 November 1972 in Frederiksberg, Denmark) is a Danish television presenter, notable for having hosted the first Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2003 with Remee Remee Sigvardt Jackman (né Mikkel Johan Imer Sigvardt; born ...

and

Remee Remee Sigvardt Jackman (né Mikkel Johan Imer Sigvardt; born 8 November 1974), better known as Remee, is a Danish rapper, songwriter, producer and composer. Career Remee has written more than 60 hits and has sold over 25 million records. He has c ...

as the presenters, the contest was won by the then eleven-year-old Dino Jelusić, who represented with his song " Ti si moja prva ljubav" (You are my first love) while second and third place went to and the respectively. The next time that a country would win on its first attempt was in . It was the first Eurovision contest to be broadcast in the 16:9

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ...

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).

Origins and history

The origins of the contest date back to 2000 when

Danmarks Radio DR (), officially the Danish Broadcasting Corporation in English, is a Danish public-service radio and television broadcasting company. Founded in 1925 as a public-service organization, it is Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enter ...

held a song contest for Danish children that year and the following year. The idea was extended to a Scandinavian song competition in 2002, known as MGP Nordic, with

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

as participants. 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", branded with the name of the EBU's long-running and already popular song competition, the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

Location

Denmark was asked to host the first programme after their experience with their own contests and the MGP Nordic. Copenhagen was confirmed as the host city in November 2002. 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.

Venue

Forum Copenhagen Forum Copenhagen () is a large multi-purpose, rentable indoor arena located in Frederiksberg, 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. Th ...

() is a large multi-purpose, rentable

indoor arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

located in

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the region of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of less tha ...

, Copenhagen, Denmark. It hosts a large variety of

concerts A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...

, 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 A convention center (American and British English spelling differences, American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a Convention (meeting), convention, where individuals and groups ...

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage (theatre), stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention ...

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 Oscar Gundlach-Pedersen (17 May 1886 – 4 October 1960) was a Danish architect. His work was part of the architecture event in the art competition at the 1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the V ...

, and the lighting was from

Poul Henningsen Poul Henningsen (9 September 1894 – 31 January 1967) was a Danish author, critic, architect, and designer. In Denmark, where he often is referred to simply as PH, he was one of the leading figures of the cultural life of Denmark between the Wor ...

's brand new

PH-lamp The PH-lamp is a term for light fixtures designed by Danish designer and writer Poul Henningsen. The term is sometimes used to refer to any lamp designed by Henningsen or specially Henningsen's three-shade lamp series. The lamps are produced by ...

. 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 Arne Emil Jacobsen, Honorary Fellowship of the American Institute of Architects, Hon. FAIA (; 11 February 1902 – 24 March 1971) was a Danish architect and furniture designer. He is remembered for his contribution to functionalism (architec ...

and

Flemming Lassen Flemming Lassen (23 February 1902 – 18 February 1984) was a Modernist architecture, Modernist Denmark, Danish architect and designer, working within the idiom of the International style (architecture), International Style. Among his most notabl ...

exhibited their subscription to the cylindrical "House of the Future".

Participants

In May 2003, the EBU released the initial list of participants with 16 competing countries, in the first edition of the

. 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 Slovenská televízia (; "Slovak Television"; STV) was a state-owned public television organisation in Slovakia. It was created in 1991 as the Slovak part of the former Czechoslovak Television and was headquartered in Bratislava. It was funded ...

(STV) and German broadcaster ARD being drawn to compete along with 13 other countries. These countries would eventually be replaced by entries from , (added as 16th country before Germany and Slovakia withdrew) and , in their first ever Eurovision event. There were also reports that Finnish broadcaster

Yle Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

had planned to enter in the contest, but went on to just broadcast it instead. Prior to the event, a compilation album featuring all the songs from the 2003 contest, along with karaoke versions, was put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

in November 2003.

Format

Presenters

In February 2003, there was speculation regarding the potential host of the first ever Eurovision Song Contest for Children. Initially, the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...

(EBU), the organizer of the show, announced the possible allocation of this role to Irish vocalist and

Eurovision Song Contest 1997 The Eurovision Song Contest 1997 was the 42nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 3 May 1997 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RTÉ) and presented by C ...

co-host

Ronan Keating Ronan Patrick John Keating (born 3 March 1977) is an Irish singer, songwriter, actor and presenter. He debuted in 1993 alongside Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately, as the co-lead singer (with Gately) of Irish pop g ...

although no contract had yet been signed. On 10 October 2003, however, it was officially announced that the contest would be hosted by the Danish duo consisting of

and rapper

Voting

All countries used

televoting Televoting (also telephone voting, phone voting, and call-in voting) is a method of decision making and opinion polling conducted by telephone. Televoting can also extend to voting by SMS text message via a mobile cell phone. Broadcast contest ...

to decide on their top ten. In normal

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster submits an origina ...

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 Tivoli Gardens #

Royal Danish Theatre The Royal Danish Theatre (RDT, Danish: ') is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first s ...

# Danish Aquarium #

Strøget Strøget () is a pedestrian, car-free shopping area in Copenhagen, Denmark. This popular tourist attraction in the centre of town is one of the longest pedestrian shopping streets in Europe at 1.1 km. Located at the centre of the old city ...

# Copenhagen Lakes # A hotel in Copenhagen # Hairdressers in Copenhagen #

Parken Parken, currently known as Parken - Connected by 3 for sponsorship reasons, and as Telia Parken (2014–2020), is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium in the Indre Østerbro (''Inner Østerbro'') district of Copenhagen, Denmark, built from ...

# # Copenhagen Skatepark #

Copenhagen Zoo Copenhagen Zoo () is a zoological garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1859, it is one of the oldest zoos in Europe and is a member of EAZA. It comprises and is located in the municipality of Frederiksberg, sandwiched between the parks of ...

# A hotdog stand in Copenhagen # The Round Tower # A riding school in Copenhagen # An

internet café An Internet café, also known as a cybercafé, is a Coffeehouse, café (or a convenience store or a fully dedicated Internet access business) that provides the use of computers with high bandwidth Internet access on the payment of a fee. Usage ...

in Copenhagen

Contest overview

The event took place on 15 November 2003 at 20:00 CET. Sixteen countries participated, with the running order published on 6 October 2003. 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. The show was opened by Danish boy band Fu:el and dance crew Dance Faction. The interval act included two British acts: the

Sugababes The Sugababes are an English girl group composed of Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan, and Siobhán Donaghy. The lineup changed three times before returning to the original lineup in 2011. Formed in 1998 by Ron Tom, the manager of All Saints, ...

performed " Hole in the Head", while Busted, with the exception of

Charlie Simpson Charles Robert Simpson (born 7 June 1985) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician from Suffolk. He is a member of the pop punk band Busted (band), Busted and the rock band Fightstar. AllMusic has noted that Simpson is "perhaps the only p ...

absent due to illness, performed "

Crashed the Wedding "Crashed the Wedding" is a song by English pop punk band Busted (band), Busted. It was written by James Bourne and McFly's Tom Fletcher and produced by Steve Power. It was released in Japan on 8 November 2003 and in the United Kingdom on 10 Nove ...

Spokespersons

# Chloe Sofia Boleti # TBC # TBC # TBC # David Daurins # TBC # TBC # TBC # Jimmy Castro # TBC # Judith Bussé # Sasha Stevens # TBC # Siri Lindgren # TBC # Aisa

Detailed voting results

12 points

Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another:

Other countries

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. * Finnish broadcaster

expressed an interest in participating in the contest. However, it was unsuccessful and they went on to broadcast it instead. * The EBU announced that they would hold a draw to determine which countries would participate in the contest. German broadcaster

KiKa Kika may refer to: People * Kika de la Garza (1927–2017), American politician * Kika Edgar (born 1985), Mexican actress and singer * Kika Karadi (born 1975), American contemporary artist * Kika Markham (born 1940), English actress * Kika M ...

was one of the countries drawn. However, they announced their withdrawal from the contest and went on to broadcast it instead. Germany wouldn't debut at Junior Eurovision until

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

. * After Germany and Slovakia withdrew, 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. Ireland did, however, debut with

TG4 TG4 (; , ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television channel. It launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on-demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was initially known as (TnaG), before bein ...

as the broadcaster in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

. * The EBU also sent an invitation to the

Israel Broadcasting Authority The Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA; ) was Israel's public broadcaster from 1948 to 2017, succeeded by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation. History The Israel Broadcasting Authority was an outgrowth of the radio station '' Kol Yi ...

(IBA), but they declined to participate and also did not broadcast it. Ireland and Israel would later be replaced by Poland and Belarus, who received the final spot. * Slovakian broadcaster

(STV), along with KiKa, was drawn to participate in the contest, however declined to participate and did not broadcast the show either.

Broadcasts

The rights to broadcast the contest were also acquired by broadcasters in Iceland (

RÚV Ríkisútvarpið (, ; abbr. RÚV ) is Iceland's national public broadcasting, public-service broadcasting organization. Founded in 1930, it operates from studios in the country's capital, Reykjavík, as well as regional centres around the count ...

), Finland (

), Serbia and Montenegro ( RTS/

RTCG Radio and Television of Montenegro ( cnr-Cyrl-Latn, Радио и Телевизија Црне Горе, Radio i Televizija Crne Gore; abbr. /) is the public service broadcaster of Montenegro. A state-owned company with its headquarters in Podgor ...

), Estonia (

ETV ETV may stand for: Television * Educational television, the use of television in education * Enhanced TV, an interactive television application specification Africa * e.tv, South Africa * ETV (Ethiopia), Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation * ETV G ...

), Germany ( KI.KA), Australia ( SBS) and Kosovo ( RTK). Some of the participating broadcasters also transmitted the programme live on radio.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2003 2003 in Copenhagen 2003 in Denmark November 2003 in Europe Events in Copenhagen