Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004

Date: November 20 2004
Venue: Håkons Hall, Lillehammer, Norway
Presenters: Stian Barsnes Simonsen, Nadia Hasnaoui
Host broadcaster: NRK
Interval act: Westlife performing Ain't That a Kick in the Head?
Number of entries: 18
Debuting countries: France, Switzerland
Returning coubtries: -
Withdrawing countries: -
Voting system: Each country awards 1-8, 10, and 12 points to their 10 favourite songs
Winner: Antes muerta que sencilla - Maria Isabel, Spain

Cory Spedding

Entries

01. Greece: Secret Band - O palios mou eaftos (9th place, 48 points)
02. Malta: Young Talent Team - Powe of a song )12th place, 14 points)
03. The Netherlands: Klaartje and Nicky - Hij is een kei (11th place, 27 points)
04. Switzerland: Demis Mirarchi - Birichino (16th place, 4 points)
05. Norway: @lek - En stjerne skal jeg bli (13th place, 12 points)
06. France: Thomas Pontier - Si on voulait bien (6th place, 78 points)
07. F.Y.R. Macedonia: Martina Siljanovska - Zabava (7th place, 64 points)
08. Poland: KWADro - Łap życie (17th place, 3 points)
09. Cyprus: Marios Tofi - Onira (8th place, 61 points)
10. Belarus: Ego Volchek - Spiavajce sa mnoju (14th place, 9 points)
11. Croatia: Nika Turković - Hej mali (3d place, 126 points)
12. Latvia: Mārtiņš Tālbergs & C-Stones Juniors - Balts vai melns (17th place, 3 points)
13. UK: Cory Spedding - The best is yet to come (2nd place, 140 points)
14. Denmark: Cool Kids - Pigen er min (5th place, 116 points)
15. Spain: María Isabel - Antes Muerta que Sencilla (1st place, 171 points)
16. Sweden: Limelights - Varför jag? (15th place, 8 points)
17. Belgium: Free Spirits - Accroiche-toi (10th place, 37 points)
18. Romania: Noni Răzvan Ene - Îţi mulţumesc (4th place, 123 points)

 María Isabel

Format

The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the second Eurovision Song Contest for young singers aged 8 to 15. It was held on November 20 2004, in Håkons Hall, Lillehammer, Norway and lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes. The theme of the competition was Bright Nordic Winter Nights. It was presented by Stian Barsnes Simonsen and Nadia Hasnaoui, broadcast in 20 countries and viewed by 100 million people. 18 countries participated, France and Switzerland participated for the first time. Originally 20 countries had applied to take part but Germany and Israel later pulled out. There were also reports that Ireland had planned to enter the programme. The contest was won by 9-year-old María Isabel with her song Antes Muerta Que Sencilla. Dino Jelusić, who won the 2003 contest, presented the award to María. Since, María Isabel has entered the charts in not only Spain but France, Italy, Scandinavia, Latin America and released a second album. Greece, who came ninth received more sets of twelve points than the United Kingdom, who came second. France, who came sixth, were voted by all the other countries that took part, which is more than the number of countries that voted for Romania, who came fourth and Croatia, who came third.

Klaartje & Nicky

Norway was the third country of choice for this contest as the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) had originally chosen ITV of the United Kingdom to host it in Manchester. However, ITV pulled out in May 2004 due to finance and scheduling problems. The venue was therefore moved to Croatia, the winning country of 2003, but the Croatian broadcaster HRT reportedly forgot that the prospective venue for the event was already booked for the period the Junior Eurovision Song Contest was to take place. NRK therefore offered to organise the next contest.

Incidentally, the same three countries occupied the top three places as last year, just in a different order. These three countries were Spain, the United Kingdom, and Croatia.