Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998
Finland was represented by the group Edea, with the song '"Aava", at the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 9 May in Birmingham. "Aava" was chosen as the Finnish entry at the national final on 14 February and is noted for containing the fewest different words (six) of any Eurovision entry.
| Eurovision Song Contest 1998 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Euroviisut 1998 | |||
| Selection date(s) | 14 February 1998 | |||
| Selected entrant | Edea | |||
| Selected song | "Aava" | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 15th, 22 points | |||
| Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Before Eurovision
Euroviisut 1998
The final was held at the studios of broadcaster YLE in Helsinki, hosted by Olga K and Sami Aaltonen. Nine songs took part, and the winner was selected by a combination of the votes of an expert jury (1/3), a jury consisting of members from OGAE Finland (1/3) and public televoting (1/3). The final result was very close, with only 4 points separating the top five songs.[1]
| Final – 14 February 1998 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Jury | OGAE | Televote | Total | Place | |||
| Votes | Points | Votes | Points | Votes | Points | ||||||
| 1 | Kaija Kärkinen & Ile Kallio | "Maailman laitaan" | Kaija Kärkinen, Ile Kallio | 48 | 5 | 44 | 4 | 534 | 2 | 11 | 7 |
| 2 | Elena Mady | "Honeymoon" | Vera, Maki Kolehmainen, Mika Mettälä | 40 | 3 | 33 | 3 | 541 | 3 | 9 | 8 |
| 3 | Nylon Beat | "Umm ma ma" | Risto Asikainen, Sipi Castren | 30 | 2 | 73 | 10 | 2,297 | 7 | 19 | 3 |
| 4 | Samuli Edelman & Sami | "Olen luonasi sun" | Maki Kolehmainen, Saija Aartela | 64 | 8 | 32 | 2 | 1,053 | 4 | 14 | 6 |
| 5 | Sari Kaasinen | "Mielessäni" | Sari Kaasinen | 41 | 4 | 64 | 7 | 2,766 | 8 | 19 | 3 |
| 6 | Jari Sillanpää | "Valkeaa unelmaa" | Mika Toivanen, Pekka Laaksonen | 49 | 6 | 48 | 5 | 6,228 | 10 | 21 | 2 |
| 7 | Ultra Bra | "Tyttöjen välisestä ystävyydestä" | Kerkko Koskinen, Anni Sinnemäki | 52 | 7 | 52 | 6 | 1,607 | 6 | 19 | 3 |
| 8 | Luka | "Tuun sun luo" | Kaari Haapala, Ville Vento | 27 | 1 | 23 | 1 | 211 | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| 9 | Edea | "Aava" | Tommy Mansikka-Aho, Alexi Ahoniemi | 69 | 10 | 65 | 8 | 1,471 | 5 | 23 | 1 |
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Edea performed 21st in the running order, following Belgium and preceding Norway. "Aava" had an ethnic new age-type sound which did not prove overly popular in the first year of full televoting as at the close it had received only 22 points (all but 2 of which came from neighbours Estonia and Sweden), placing Finland 15th of the 25 entries, Finland's highest position in the 1990s. The 12 points from the Finnish televote were likewise awarded in neighbourly fashion to Estonia (who finished 12th).[2] Having had to sit out the 1997 contest due to relegation, Finland were again demoted on the cumulative countback rule and would not take part in 1999.
Points awarded to Finland
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
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Points awarded by Finland
| 12 points |  |
| 10 points |  |
| 8 points |  |
| 7 points |  |
| 6 points |  |
| 5 points |  |
| 4 points |  |
| 3 points |  |
| 2 points |  |
| 1 point |  |