For the first time ever, Eurovision was staged over two nights and Countries such as Andorra and Monaco took part, although neither made it past the semi-final.

The qualifying competition on Wednesday 12th May 2004 saw the top 10 Countries going forward to the Final. The 10 qualifiers were Serbia & Montenegro, Malta, Netherlands, Albania, Ukraine, Croatia, Bosnia Herzogovina, FYR Macedonia, Greece and Cyprus.


The Final itself was a spectacular and colourful affair, with some quality entrants. However, the event was yet again overshadowed by 'friendly voting', a situation that has become even more of a problem since the introduction of the Balkan States. It is difficult to see how a nation such as the United Kingdom could ever win the competition again, regardless of the quality of the song entered.

I must confess though, that I felt I had no option but to abstain from voting this year. Without doubt, the best entry was the German effort - a jazz/blues number that was simply too classy for Eurovision. I thought it was an excellent song, but just could not bring myself to vote for the Germans. As such, abstaining was the only fair thing to do.

Nonetheless, it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and the vote rigging just adds to the entertainment value as far as I'm concerned. The beneficiaries this year were the Ukraine, who won the competition for the first time ever. However, I must admit that I did rather enjoy their performance - but then how could I resist a Warrior Princess.

The voting format this year allowed non-qualifying Countries to vote in the final for the first time, and the results were interesting.

In fact, Ukraine wouldn't have won the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest if the old format had been used. Ukraine would have scored 175 points against 190 points of Serbia & Montenegro.

On the other hand, this new format gave Russia and Malta, automatically, a place in the final of 2005. However, the old format would give Russia only 19 points (would fall from 11th to 16th), and Malta would have scored 22 points (would come 13th instead of 12th).

As Russia and Malta saw in this new voting format an advantage, others faced a disadvantage. It's the case for Croatia and FYR Macedonia, who now have to take part in the 2005 qualifier round, instead of going directly to the final as they would according to the old format.

Therefore, we can conclude that the vote of the non-qualified countries makes all the difference.

Follow the links from the index for all the details about the winner, the final table, who voted for whom and the 'Squelchy Awards'.