Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003

Iceland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with the song "Open Your Heart", composed by Hallgrímur Óskarsson, with lyrics by Sveinbjörn I. Baldvinsson and Birgitta Haukdal, and performed by Haukdal herself. The Icelandic participating broadcaster, Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV), selected its entry through Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2003. The broadcaster returned to the contest after a one-year absence following their relegation in 2002 as one of the bottom six entrants in 2001. Fifteen songs competed in the national 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 for Eurovision and was titled "Open Your Heart".

Eurovision Song Contest 2003
Participating broadcaster	Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV)
Country	Iceland
National selection
Selection process	Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2003
Selection date(s)	15 February 2003
Selected artist(s)	Birgitta Haukdal
Selected song	"Open Your Heart"
Selected songwriter(s)	Hallgrímur Óskarsson Sveinbjörn I. Baldvinsson Birgitta Haukdal
Finals performance
Final result	8th, 81 points
Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2001 • 2003 • 2004►

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

Main article: Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2003 Contest, Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Iceland fifteen times since its first entry in 1986.^[1] Its best placing in the contest to this point was second, achieved in 1999 with the song "All Out of Luck" performed by Selma. In 2001, it placed twenty-second (joint last) with the song "Angel" performed by Two Tricky.

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, RÚV organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster confirmed its intentions to participate at the 2003 contest on 17 October 2002.^[2] Since 2000, RÚV has used a national final to select its entry for the contest, a method that continued for its 2003 participation.

Before Eurovision

Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2003

Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2003 was the national final format developed by RÚV in order to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2003. The competition was hosted by Logi Bergmann Eiðsson and Gísli Marteinn Baldursson and took place at the Háskólabíó venue in Reykjavík. The show was broadcast on RÚV and via radio on Rás 2.^[3]

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.^[2][4] At the close of the submission deadline, 204 entries were received.^[5] 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.^[6][7]

Artist	Song	Songwriter(s)
Birgitta Haukdal	"Segðu mér allt"	Sveinbjörn I. Baldvinsson, Birgitta Haukdal, Hallgrímur Óskarsson
Botnleðja	"Euróvísa"	Botnleðja
Eivør Pálsdóttir	"Í nótt"	Friðrik Erlingsson, Ingvi Þór Kormáksson
Hjördis Elín Lárusdóttir and Gúðrun Árný Karlsdóttir	"Með þer"	Sveinn Rúnar Sigurðsson
Höskuldur Örn Lárusson	"Allt"	Höskuldur Örn Lárusson
Hreimur Örn Heimisson	"Mig drejmdi lítinn draum"	Friðrik Karlsson
	"Þú"	Ingibjörg Gunnarsdóttir, Grétar Örvarsson
Ingunn Gylfadóttir	"Sögur"	Sjón, Ingunn Gylfadóttir, Tömas Hermansson
Jóhanna Vigdis Arnardóttir	"Þú og ég (er ég anda)"	Stéfan Hilmarsson, Ingólfur Gúdjónsson
Ragnheiður Eiríksdóttir	"Tangó"	Þorkell S. Símonarson, Ragnheiður Eiriksdóttir
Ragnheiður Gröndal	"Ferrari"	Páll Torfi Önundarson
Regina Ósk Óskarsdóttir and Hjalti Jónsson	"Engu þurfum að tapa"	Einar Örn Jónsson
Rúnar Júlíusson	"Ást á skítugum skóm"	Karl O. Olgeirsson
Þóra Gísladóttir	"Hva sem ég ender"	Bragi Valdimar Sikúlason, Karl O. Olgeirsson
Þórey Heiðdal Vilhjálmsdóttir	"Sá þig"	Albert G. Jónsson, Kristinn Sturluson

Final

The final took place on 15 February 2003 where fifteen entries competed. The winner, "Segðu mér allt" performed by Birgitta Haukdal, was determined solely by televoting.^[8]

Final – 15 February 2003

Draw	Artist	Song	Televote	Place
1	Þóra Gísladóttir	"Hva sem ég ender"	—	—
2	Ragnheiður Gröndal	"Ferrari"	—	—
3	Hreimur Örn Heimisson	"Þú"	—	7
4	Ingunn Gylfadóttir	"Sögur"	—	15
5	Eivør Pálsdóttir	"Í nótt"	—	6
6	Hjördis Elín Lárusdóttir and Gúðrun Árný Karlsdóttir	"Með þer"	—	—
7	Regina Ósk Óskarsdóttir and Hjalti Jónsson	"Engu þurfum að tapa"	—	—
8	Botnleðja	"Euróvísa"	10,594	2
9	Birgitta Haukdal	"Segðu mér allt"	21,964	1
10	Rúnar Júlíusson	"Ást á skítugum skóm"	—	—
11	Þórey Heiðdal Vilhjálmsdóttir	"Sá þig"	5,041	3
12	Hreimur Örn Heimisson	"Mig drejmdi lítinn draum"	—	11
13	Ragnheiður Eiríksdóttir	"Tangó"	—	—
14	Höskuldur Örn Lárusson	"Allt"	—	—
15	Jóhanna Vigdis Arnardóttir	"Þú og ég (er ég anda)"	—	—

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the bottom ten countries in the 2002 contest competed in the final on 24 May 2003.^[9] 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 Austria.^[10] Iceland finished in eighth place with 81 points.^[11]

The show was broadcast in Iceland on RÚV with commentary by Gísli Marteinn Baldursson. RÚV appointed Eva María Jónsdóttir as its spokesperson to announce the Icelandic votes during the show.

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.

Points awarded to Iceland[12] Score Country 12 points  Malta  Norway 10 points 8 points  Turkey 7 points  Ireland  Sweden 6 points  Croatia  Netherlands 5 points  Cyprus 4 points  Slovenia  Ukraine 3 points  Belgium  Latvia 2 points 1 point  Estonia  France  Germany  Poland

Points awarded by Iceland[12] Score Country 12 points  Norway 10 points  Austria 8 points  Germany 7 points  Belgium 6 points  Spain 5 points  Sweden 4 points  Russia 3 points  Turkey 2 points  Ireland 1 point  Estonia

References

1. "Iceland Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
2. Bakker, Sietse (22 October 2002). "RUV sets deadline to submit songs". Esctoday. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
3. "Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2003". hugi.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 23 March 2021.
4. "Icelanders participate in Eurovision again". mbl.is (in Icelandic). 17 October 2002. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
5. "Botnleðja and Birgitta Haukdal are among the participants in Sjónvarpi's preliminary competition". mbl.is (in Icelandic). 17 January 2003. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
6. Bakker, Sietse (5 February 2003). "First sixpack of Icelandic songs available". Esctoday. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
7. "Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2003: Hver er höfundurinn?". mbl.is (in Icelandic). 15 February 2003. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
8. ESC National Finals database 2003
9. "RULES OF THE 2003 EUROVISION SONG CONTEST" (PDF). European Broadcasting Union. European Broadcasting Union. 20 November 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 April 2003. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
10. Bakker, Sietse (28 November 2002). "Draw to be made public Friday 17:00 CET". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
11. "Final of Riga 2003". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 7 April 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
12. "Results of the Final of Riga 2003". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 7 April 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.