| Eurovision Song Contest 1997 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date and venue | |
| Final |
|
| Venue | Point Theatre Dublin, Ireland |
| Organisation | |
| Organiser | European Broadcasting Union (EBU) |
| Scrutineer | Marie-Claire Vionnet |
| Production | |
| Host broadcaster | Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) |
| Director | Ian McGarry |
| Executive producer | Noel Curran |
| Musical director | Frank McNamara |
| Presenters | |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 25 |
| Returning countries | |
| Non-returning countries | |
| |
| Vote | |
| Voting system | Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 points to their ten favourite songs |
| Winning song | |
| 1996 ← Eurovision Song Contest →1998 Event page at eurovision.tv  | |
TheEurovision Song Contest 1997 was the 42nd edition of theEurovision Song Contest, held on 3 May 1997 at thePoint Theatre inDublin, Ireland, and presented byCarrie Crowley andRonan Keating. It was organised by theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasterRadio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ), who staged the event after winning the1996 contest forIreland with the song "The Voice" byEimear Quinn. The 1997 contest was the seventh – and to date last – edition to be staged in Ireland, as well as the fourth to be produced by RTÉ in five years. The Point Theatre served as the host venue for the third time, following the1994 and1995 contests, becoming the only venue to have been the site of three Eurovision Song Contests.
Broadcasters from twenty-five countries participated in the contest, with a newrelegation system introduced to determine which could participate, based on each country's average points total in previous contests.Italy made its first appearance since1993, andDenmark,Germany,Hungary, andRussia returned after last competing in1995, having been prevented from competing the previous year after failing to progress from that event'squalifying round.Belgium,Finland, andSlovakia, participants in the previous year's contest, were unable to return after being excluded by the new relegation rules.
The winner was theUnited Kingdom with the song "Love Shine a Light", written byKimberley Rew and performed byKatrina and the Waves.Ireland,Turkey,Italy, andCyprus rounded out the top five, with Ireland earning its fifth placing in the top two within six years, Turkey achieving their best result to date, and Cyprus equalling its best result from1982. Five of the competing countries usedtelevoting to determine their points, allowing the general viewing public a say in the results for the first time; following this successful trial all countries were encouraged to use this system starting from thefollowing year's event. Entries were also permitted for the first time to feature no live music accompaniment, with each performance being able to use only abacking track rather than utilising any part of the orchestra or any live instrumentation from the performers themselves.
The 1997 event would prove to be a watershed for the contest, with many aspects of this event leaving a lasting impact on future editions of Eurovision. These included: the firstopenly LGBT artist, Iceland'sPaul Oscar, selected to compete in the event; changes to contest rules led to the abandonment of live musical accompaniment in future events; a successful trial of televoting in five countries led to widespread adoption for all countries in 1998.
The 1997 contest took place inDublin, Ireland, following the country's victory at the1996 edition with the song "The Voice", performed byEimear Quinn. It was the seventh time that Ireland had hosted the contest, having previously staged the event in1971,1981,1988,1993,1994, and1995, with all previous events held in Dublin except the 1993 contest which was held inMillstreet.[1] This was the fourth edition of the contest that Ireland had hosted within five years, and with this edition Ireland equalled the record for the nation which had staged the most contests, originally set by the United Kingdom in1982.[2][3][4]
Given the financial impact to staging the contest for a fourth time in five years, there was early speculation following its win in the 1996 contest thatRadio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) might stage the event as a co-production withBBC Northern Ireland.[3][5] Another possibility that was brought up was hosting the contest in theSydney Opera House in Australia in collaboration withSBS.[6] Ultimately, the Irish broadcaster decided to organise the event on its own once again.[3][5] The selected venue was thePoint Theatre, a concert and events venue located amongst theDublin Docklands which had originally been built as a train depot to serve thenearby port. Opened as a music venue in 1988, it was closed for redevelopment and expansion in 2008 and is now known as the3Arena.[7][8] The venue had previously hosted the 1994 and 1995 contests, and with this staging it became the only venue to have hosted three Eurovision Song Contests.[3][4][9]
 | This section contains numerous links to pages onforeign language Wikipedias. They are shown asred links with the language codes in [small blue letters] in brackets. Click on the language code to see the page in that language. |
| Eurovision Song Contest 1997 – Participation summaries by country | |
|---|---|
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Per the rules of the contest twenty-five countries were allowed to participate in the event.[10]Denmark,Germany,Hungary, andRussia made a return to the contest after failing to progress from thequalifying round in the previous year's contest, andItaly returned after last competingin 1993. ConverselyBelgium,Finland, andSlovakia, participants in the 1996 contest, were relegated and prevented from participating in this year's event.[3]
Three representatives who had previously performed as lead artists in the contest competed again at this year's event. Two artists represented their country for a second consecutive year, withŞebnem Paker having representedTurkey in 1996, andMaarja-Liis Ilus, after having representedEstonia in 1996 withIvo Linna, competing as a solo artist.Alma Čardžić also made a second appearance in the contest, having previously representedBosnia and Herzegovina in 1994.[11] Additionally,Tor Endresen andBettina Soriat, representing Norway and Austria, respectively, in this year's event, had performed in previous contests as backing vocalist. Endresen had supportedNorway in 1988, and Soriat had supportedAustria in 1996.[12][13]
| Country | Broadcaster | Artist | Song | Language | Songwriter(s) | Conductor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Austria | ORF | Bettina Soriat | "One Step" | German |
| No conductor |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina | RTVBiH | Alma Čardžić | "Goodbye" | Bosnian | Sinan Alimanović | |
 Croatia | HRT | E.N.I. | "Probudi me" | Croatian |
| No conductor |
 Cyprus | CyBC | Hara [nl] andAndreas Konstantinou [nl] | "Mana mou"(Μάνα μου) | Greek | Constantina Konstantinou [el] | Stavros Lantsias |
 Denmark | DR | Kølig Kaj [da][a] | "Stemmen i mit liv" | Danish |
| Jan Glæsel [da] |
 Estonia | ETV | Maarja | "Keelatud maa" | Estonian | Tarmo Leinatamm | |
 France | France Télévision | Fanny | "Sentiments songes" | French | Jean-Paul Dréau [fr] | Régis Dupré |
 Germany | NDR[b] | Bianca Shomburg | "Zeit" | German | No conductor | |
 Greece | ERT | Marianna Zorba | "Horepse"(Χόρεψε) | Greek | Manolis Manouselis | Anacreon Papageorgiou |
 Hungary | MTV | V.I.P. | "Miért kell, hogy elmenj?" | Hungarian |
| Péter Wolf [hu] |
 Iceland | RÚV | Paul Oscar | "Minn hinsti dans" | Icelandic |
| Szymon Kuran [pl] |
 Ireland | RTÉ | Marc Roberts | "Mysterious Woman" | English | John Farry | No conductor |
 Italy | RAI | Jalisse | "Fiumi di parole" | Italian |
| Lucio Fabbri |
 Malta | PBS | Debbie Scerri [de;fr;it] | "Let Me Fly" | English | Ray Agius | Ray Agius |
 Netherlands | NOS | Mrs. Einstein | "Niemand heeft nog tijd" | Dutch | Ed Hooijmans | Dick Bakker |
 Norway | NRK | Tor Endresen | "San Francisco" | Norwegian |
| Geir Langslet |
 Poland | TVP | Anna Maria Jopek | "Ale jestem" | Polish | Krzesimir Dębski | |
 Portugal | RTP | Célia Lawson [pt] | "Antes do adeus" | Portuguese | Thilo Krasmann | |
 Russia | ORT | Alla Pugacheva | "Primadonna"(Примадонна) | Russian | Alla Pugacheva | Rutger Gunnarsson |
 Slovenia | RTVSLO | Tanja Ribič | "Zbudi se" | Slovene | Mojmir Sepe | |
 Spain | TVE | Marcos Llunas | "Sin rencor" | Spanish | Marcos Llunas | Toni Xuclà |
 Sweden | SVT | Blond [sv] | "Bara hon älskar mig" | Swedish | Stephan Berg | Curt-Eric Holmquist |
 Switzerland | SRG SSR | Barbara Berta [de] | "Dentro di me" | Italian | Barbara Berta | Pietro Damiani |
 Turkey | TRT | Şebnem Paker andGrup Ethnic [tr] | "Dinle" | Turkish |
| Levent Çoker |
 United Kingdom | BBC | Katrina and the Waves | "Love Shine a Light" | English | Kimberley Rew | Don Airey |
Due to the high number of countries wishing to enter the contest arelegation system was introduced in 1993 in order to reduce the number of countries which could compete in each year's contest. Any relegated countries would be able to return the following year, thus allowing all countries the opportunity to compete in at least one in every two editions.[16] The audio-only qualifying round used in 1996 had been poorly received among the competing countries, and so a new relegation system was introduced by theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU) for 1997 and future contests.[3][4] The twenty-five participants in the 1997 contest were made up of the previous year's winning country and host nation Ireland, and the twenty-four countries which had the highest average points total over the preceding four contests.[17] In cases where the average was identical between two or more countries the total number of points scored in the most recent contest determined the final order. Any countries which were not able to compete in the 1997 contest would then be eligible to compete in the 1998 event.[10][17]
Belgium,Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland,Lithuania,Luxembourg,Romania and Slovakia were therefore excluded from participating in the 1997 contest;[17] however followingIsrael's withdrawal due to the date of the final clashing with itsHolocaust Remembrance Day, Bosnia and Herzegovina was subsequently provided a reprieve and allowed to participate.[3][4]Macedonia was also excluded due to its failure to progress through the qualifying round in 1996.[18] The calculations used to determine the countries relegated for the 1997 contest are outlined in the table below.
Table key
| Rank | Country | Average | Yearly Point Totals[19][20][21][22] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | |||
| 1 | Ireland ‡ | 154.75 | 187 | 226 | 44 | 162 |
| 2 | Norway | 114.50 | 120 | 76 | 148 | 114 |
| 3 | United Kingdom | 95.00 | 164 | 63 | 76 | 77 |
| 4 | Sweden | 84.25 | 89 | 48 | 100 | 100 |
| 5 | Malta | 77.50 | 69 | 97 | 76 | 68 |
| 6 | France | 76.75 | 121 | 74 | 94 | 18 |
| 7 | Poland | 70.67 | 166 | 15 | 31 | |
| 8 | Hungary | 62.50 | DNQ | 122 | 3 | DNQ |
| 9 | Croatia | 61.75 | 31 | 27 | 91 | 98 |
| 10 | Switzerland | 61.67 | 148 | 15 | R | 22 |
| 11 | Netherlands | 58.00 | 92 | 4 | R | 78 |
| 12 | Portugal | 57.50 | 60 | 73 | 5 | 92 |
| 13 | Cyprus | 54.75 | 17 | 51 | 79 | 72 |
| 14 | Greece | 53.00 | 64 | 44 | 68 | 36 |
| 15 | Spain | 52.75 | 58 | 17 | 119 | 17 |
| 16 | Denmark | 50.50 | 9 | R | 92 | DNQ |
| 17 | Germany | 49.00 | 18 | 128 | 1 | DNQ |
| 18 | Estonia | 48.00 | DNQ | 2 | R | 94 |
| 19 | Austria | 46.50 | 32 | 19 | 67 | 68 |
| 20 | Italy | 45.00 | 45 | |||
| 21 | Russia | 43.50 | 70 | 17 | DNQ | |
| 22 | Iceland | 43.25 | 42 | 49 | 31 | 51 |
| 23 |  Israel[d] | 42.50 | 4 | R | 81 | DNQ |
| 24 | Slovenia | 36.33 | 9 | R | 84 | 16 |
| 25 | Turkey | 29.33 | 10 | R | 21 | 57 |
| 26 | Bosnia and Herzegovina[d] | 23.25 | 27 | 39 | 14 | 13 |
| 27 |  Slovakia | 17.00 | DNQ | 15 | R | 19 |
| 28 |  Romania | 14.00 | DNQ | 14 | R | DNQ |
| 29 |  Finland | 13.33 | 20 | 11 | R | 9 |
| 30[e] |  Belgium | 11.00 | 3 | R | 8 | 22 |
| 31[e] |  Luxembourg | 11.00 | 11 | R | ||
| 32 |  Lithuania | 0.00 | 0 | R | ||
| – |  Macedonia | –[f] | DNQ | |||
The Eurovision Song Contest 1997 was produced by the Irish public broadcasterRadio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ).Noel Curran served as executive producer, Ian McGarry served as director, Paula Farrell and John Casey served as designers, and Frank McNamara served as musical director, leading theRTÉ Concert Orchestra.[23][24][25] On behalf of the contest organisers, theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU), the event was overseen by Marie-Claire Vionnet asscrutineer.[3][26][27]
Rehearsals in the contest venue for the competing acts began on 28 April 1997. Each country had two technical rehearsals in the week approaching the contest, with countries rehearsing in the order in which they would perform. The first rehearsals took place on 28 and 29 April, with each country allowed 40 minutes total on stage followed by a 20-minute press conference, followed by the second rehearsals on 30 April and 1 May lasting 30 minutes.[4][28][29][30][31] Times were also arranged during the week for the artists to be recorded in the RTÉ studios, with footage used during the postcards between each song.[4] Three dress rehearsals were held on 2 and 3 May, with an audience in attendance during the evening dress rehearsal on 2 May. The final dress rehearsal on 3 May was also recorded for use as a production stand-by in case of problems during the live contest.[4] A tight security presence was felt during the rehearsal week; emergency drills were held byGardaí, including evacuations of the Point Theatre, as a precaution against potential disruption fromloyalist paramilitaries as part of thewider sectarian conflict inNorthern Ireland.[5][32]
The Irish television and radio presenterCarrie Crowley and the Irish singerRonan Keating were the presenters of the 1997 contest.[5][33] The trophy awarded to the winners was designed by Maura Whelan and Luc Racine, and was presented by the previous year's winning artist Eimear Quinn.[34][35]
Each participating broadcaster submitted one song, which was required to be no longer than three minutes in duration and performed in the language, or one of the languages, of the country which it represented. Short quotations from another language, no more than a single phrase repeated a maximum of three times, were permitted. A maximum of six performers were allowed on stage during each country's performance, and all participants were required to have reached the age of 16 in the year of the contest.[36] Each entry could utilise all or part of the live orchestra and could use instrumental-onlybacking tracks. This was the first time that a competing song could be accompanied entirely with a backing track following a change to the contest rules, with the previous rules stating that any backing tracks used could only include the sound of instruments featured on stage beingmimed by the performers.[4][5] For those countries which opted to utilise the orchestra a separate musical director could be nominated to lead the orchestra during their performance, with the host musical director, Frank McNamara, also available toconduct for those countries which did not nominate their own conductor.[36][37] The entries from Austria, Croatia, Germany and Ireland were performed entirely without live orchestration.[11]
Selected entries were not permitted to be released commercially until after 3 February 1997 and after having been selected for the contest.[10] Each country's participating broadcaster was required to have selected its entry by 10 March, and all entries had to be submitted to the contest organisers by 19 March, including thescore of the song for use by the orchestra, a sound recording of the entry and backing track for use during the contest, and the text of the song lyrics in its original language and translations in French and English for distribution to the participating broadcasters, their commentators and juries.[36]
Following the confirmation of the twenty-five competing countries, the draw to determine the running order was held on 28 November 1996.[10]
The results of the 1997 contest were determined through the same scoring system as had first been introduced in1975: each country awarded twelve points to its favourite entry, followed by ten points to its second favourite, and then awarded points in decreasing value from eight to one for the remaining songs which featured in the country's top ten, with countries unable to vote for their own entry.[38][39] The points awarded by the majority of countries were determined by an assembled jury of sixteen individuals, which was required to be split evenly between members of the public and music professionals, comprised additionally of an equal number of men and women, and below and above 30 years of age. Each jury member voted in secret and awarded between one and ten votes to each participating song, excluding that from their own country and with no abstentions permitted. The votes of each member were collected following the country's performance and then tallied by the non-voting jury chairperson to determine the points to be awarded. In any cases where two or more songs in the top ten received the same number of votes, a show of hands by all jury members was used to determine the final placing; if a tie still remained, the youngest jury member would have the deciding vote.[39]
For the first time however, as part of a trial held by the contest organisers,televoting was used to determine the points from five of the participating countries.[5][38] In these countries viewers had a total of five minutes to register their vote by calling one of twenty-four different telephone numbers to represent the twenty-five competing entries except that which represented their own country. Once the voting phone lines were opened following the performance of the last competing entry, a video recap containing short clips of each competing entry with the accompanying phone number for voting was shown in order to aid viewers during the voting window.[40] In those countries which opted to use televoting to determine their points a jury was still required which would function as a back-up in case technical failure prevented the televote results from being used. The composition of the back-up juries in these countries was identical to the juries in the other countries with regards to profession, gender and age.[41]
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The contest took place on 3 May 1997 at 20:00 (IST) and lasted 3 hours and 11 minutes.[11][42]
The show was opened by good luck messages from past Eurovision winners and hosts to the contestants in the contest, and short interviews with previous contestants also featured preceding some of the postcards between the entries.[9][40] Irishboy bandBoyzone, with co-presenter Keating as a member, featured as part of the show's interval act, performing the song "Let the Message Run Free".[5]
The winner was theUnited Kingdom represented by the song "Love Shine a Light", composed byKimberley Rew and performed byKatrina and the Waves.[43] This was the United Kingdom's fifth contest win – its first in sixteen years – following victories in1967,1969,1976 and1981. As of2025, this is the last winning UK Eurovision entry.[44] Ireland's second-place finish was its fifth placing in the top two within six years, while Turkey and Cyprus achieved their highest placings yet by finishing third and fifth respectively.[5][45][46] Norway meanwhile finished in last place for the eighth time and received its fourthnul points.[5][47] Following this contestItaly'sRAI declined to participate in future events and an Italian entry would not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest for 14 years, until its return at the2011 event.[48][49]
| R/O | Country | Artist | Song | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cyprus | Hara and Andreas Konstantinou | "Mana mou" | 98 | 5 |
| 2 | Turkey | Şebnem Paker and Grup Ethnic | "Dinle" | 121 | 3 |
| 3 | Norway | Tor Endresen | "San Francisco" | 0 | 24 |
| 4 | Austria | Bettina Soriat | "One Step" | 12 | 21 |
| 5 | Ireland | Marc Roberts | "Mysterious Woman" | 157 | 2 |
| 6 | Slovenia | Tanja Ribič | "Zbudi se" | 60 | 10 |
| 7 | Switzerland | Barbara Berta | "Dentro di me" | 5 | 22 |
| 8 | Netherlands | Mrs. Einstein | "Niemand heeft nog tijd" | 5 | 22 |
| 9 | Italy | Jalisse | "Fiumi di parole" | 114 | 4 |
| 10 | Spain | Marcos Llunas | "Sin rencor" | 96 | 6 |
| 11 | Germany | Bianca Shomburg | "Zeit" | 22 | 18 |
| 12 | Poland | Anna Maria Jopek | "Ale jestem" | 54 | 11 |
| 13 | Estonia | Maarja | "Keelatud maa" | 82 | 8 |
| 14 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Alma Čardžić | "Goodbye" | 22 | 18 |
| 15 | Portugal | Célia Lawson | "Antes do adeus" | 0 | 24 |
| 16 | Sweden | Blond | "Bara hon älskar mig" | 36 | 14 |
| 17 | Greece | Marianna Zorba | "Horepse" | 39 | 12 |
| 18 | Malta | Debbie Scerri | "Let Me Fly" | 66 | 9 |
| 19 | Hungary | V.I.P. | "Miért kell, hogy elmenj?" | 39 | 12 |
| 20 | Russia | Alla Pugacheva | "Primadonna" | 33 | 15 |
| 21 | Denmark | Kølig Kaj[a] | "Stemmen i mit liv" | 25 | 16 |
| 22 | France | Fanny | "Sentiments songes" | 95 | 7 |
| 23 | Croatia | E.N.I. | "Probudi me" | 24 | 17 |
| 24 | United Kingdom | Katrina and the Waves | "Love Shine a Light" | 227 | 1 |
| 25 | Iceland | Paul Oscar | "Minn hinsti dans" | 18 | 20 |
Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing, in English or French, the votes for its respective country.[39][52] As had been the case since the1994 contest, the spokespersons were connected viasatellite and appeared in vision during the broadcast.[53] Spokespersons at the 1997 contest are listed below.[40]
Cyprus – Marios Skordis Turkey – Ömer Önder Norway – Ragnhild Sælthun Fjørtoft Austria – Adriana Zartl [de] Ireland – Eileen Dunne[54] Slovenia – Mojca Mavec [sl][55] Switzerland – Sandy Altermatt [it] Netherlands – Corry Brokken Italy – Peppi Franzelin [it] Spain – Belén Fernández de Henestrosa Germany – Christina Mänz Poland – Jan Chojnacki [pl][56] Estonia – Helene Tedre[57] Bosnia and Herzegovina – Segmedina Srna Portugal – Cristina Rocha Sweden – Gösta Hanson[58] Greece – Niki Venega Malta – Anna Bonanno Hungary – Györgyi Albert [hu][59] Russia – Arina Sharapova[60] Denmark – Bent Henius [da] France – Frédéric Ferrer [fr] andMarie Myriam Croatia – Davor Meštrović [hr] United Kingdom – Colin Berry[41] Iceland – Svanhildur KonráðsdóttirJury voting was used to determine the points awarded by most countries, with televoting used in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.[3][17][41] The announcement of the results from each country was conducted in the order in which they performed, with the spokespersons announcing their country's points in English or French in ascending order.[39][40] The detailed breakdown of the points awarded by each country is listed in the tables below.
| Voting procedure used: 100% jury vote 100% televoting | Total score | Cyprus | Turkey | Norway | Austria | Ireland | Slovenia | Switzerland | Netherlands | Italy | Spain | Germany | Poland | Estonia | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Portugal | Sweden | Greece | Malta | Hungary | Russia | Denmark | France | Croatia | United Kingdom | Iceland | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Contestants | Cyprus | 98 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 12 | |||||||
| Turkey | 121 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 7 | ||||||||
| Norway | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Austria | 12 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ireland | 157 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 12 | |||||
| Slovenia | 60 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| Switzerland | 5 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Netherlands | 5 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Italy | 114 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 1 | ||||||
| Spain | 96 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||
| Germany | 22 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Poland | 54 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 3 | ||||||||||||
| Estonia | 82 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 12 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 2 | ||||||||||
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 22 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Portugal | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sweden | 36 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Greece | 39 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Malta | 66 | 5 | 12 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 8 | |||||||||||||||
| Hungary | 39 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||
| Russia | 33 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 8 | 7 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Denmark | 25 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| France | 95 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 12 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 10 | |||||||||
| Croatia | 24 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
| United Kingdom | 227 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 12 | 10 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 8 | ||
| Iceland | 18 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
The below table summarises how the maximum 12 points were awarded from one country to another. The winning country is shown in bold. The United Kingdom received the maximum score of 12 points from ten countries, with France and Turkey receiving three sets of 12 points each, Cyprus receiving two sets of 12 points, and Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Russia and Spain each receiving one maximum score.[61][62]
| N. | Contestant | Nation(s) giving 12 points |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | United Kingdom | Austria, Croatia, Denmark, France, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland |
| 3 | France | Estonia, Norway, Poland |
| Turkey | Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Spain | |
| 2 | Cyprus | Greece, Iceland |
| 1 | Estonia | Italy |
| Greece |  Cyprus | |
| Ireland | United Kingdom | |
| Italy | Portugal | |
| Malta | Turkey | |
| Russia | Slovenia | |
| Spain | Malta |
Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest live and in full via television.[63] Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants"; any passive countries wishing to participate in the following year's event were also required to provide a live broadcast of the contest or a deferred broadcast within 24 hours.[42] Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers. These commentators were typically sent to the venue to report on the event, and were able to provide commentary from small booths constructed at the back of the venue.[64][65] An estimated audience of 300 million viewers was reported.[66]
Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators, are shown in the tables below:
| Country | Broadcaster | Channel(s) | Commentator(s) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Australia | SBS | SBS TV[m] | [99] | |
| Belgium | BRTN | TV1 | André Vermeulen | [100][101] |
| RTBF | RTBF La 1 | Jean-Pierre Hautier | [77] | |
 Falkland Islands | BFBS | BFBS Television[n] | Terry Wogan | [102] |
 Faroe Islands | SvF[o] | Hans Otto Bisgaard | [103] | |
| Finland | YLE | TV1 | Aki Sirkesalo andOlli Ahvenlahti | [104][105] |
| Radio Suomi | Iris Mattila and Sanna Kojo | |||
 Greenland | KNR | KNR[p] | [106] | |
| Israel | IBA | Channel 1 | [107] | |
 Jordan | JRTV | JTV2 | [108] | |
| Romania | TVR | TVR 1 | Doina Caramzulescu and Costin Grigore | [109] |
| Slovakia | STV | STV2[q] | [110] | |
 Yugoslavia | RTS | RTS 2 | [111] | |
TheBarbara Dex Award was first organised for artists in this year's contest. The award, created by the fansite House of Eurovision, was awarded to the performer deemed to have been the "worst dressed" among the participants.[112][113] The winner in 1997 was Malta's representative,Debbie Scerri [de;fr;it] (as determined by the founders of the House of Eurovision site, Edwin van Thillo and Rob Paardekam).[114][115][116]
The Eurovision Song Contest has long held a fandom within theLGBT community, however it was not until the 1997 event that anopenly LGBT artist was selected to compete in the event.Iceland'sPaul Oscar was the first openlygay man to compete as a lead artist in Eurovision.[117][118] Paul Oscar's participation, as well aschanging attitudes to homosexuality in Europe in the following years, marked the beginning of wider visibility of LGBT artists and themes; thefollowing year's event provided the firsttrans participant in Israel'sDana International,2002 sawSlovenia'sSestre become the first competing artists to perform indrag,[r] and the2000 contest contained the first display of same-sex affection on stage through a kiss between the two male members of the Israeli bandPingPong.[118][119][120] Since the 1997 contest many openly LGBT artists have competed in the contest, including several winners, among them Dana International,Austria'sConchita Wurst in2014, and theNetherlands'Duncan Laurence in2019.[121] Paul Oscar's contest performance, which featured four female backing dancers dressed in blacklatex clothing and sexually suggestive choreography, pushed the boundaries for sexual expression on the Eurovision stage for the first time.[122][123]
The changes in the rules regarding the use of orchestra for this contest would eventually lead to the complete abandonment of live musical accompaniment in the Eurovision Song Contest. Ahead of the1999 event the rules were modified again to make the procurement of an orchestra an optional component to staging the event, with that year's event becoming the first to have all competing entries performed to pre-recorded backing tracks.[124] The rules of the contest have since been modified further, and no live musical accompaniment is now allowed for any competing entries.[11][125] The abolishment of the orchestra proved controversial among some circles, with three-time, former Eurovision winnerJohnny Logan referring to the modified event as "karaoke" in 2000.[126]
The introduction of televoting to the contest followed several years of successive Irish wins, with the national juries typically voting for more traditional, middle-of-the-road songs than those that represented the wider tastes of the general public, as was the case in 1996 when Eimear Quinn's "The Voice" was victorious over more modern entries such asGina G's "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit", which represented the United Kingdom at that year's event and would go on to receive anomination for Best Dance Recording at the1998 Grammy Awards.[9][127][128] The successful trial of televoting in five countries led to widespread adoption for all countries in 1998, and public voting continues to play a part in determining the result of the contest to the present day.[3][125] The widespread use of televoting in the following years would however lead to accusations of greater political bias and "bloc voting", with the perception that neighbouring countries swap points and largediasporas are able to vote en masse for their native countries, skewing the results in their favour.[129][130][131] Controversy over the perceived unfairness of the voting system reached a head in2007, when the public vote largely rewarded the entries from Eastern European countries over those from Western Europe.[132][133] The EBU would ultimately make changes to mitigate the impact of neighbourly voting by splitting countries by geographical location and voting history in thesemi-finals from2008 and re-introducing juries to account for 50% of each country's points in2009.[134][135][136]
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