Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004

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 the event in Manchester. However, ITV pulled out in May 2004 due to finance and scheduling problems.[6] It is also thought that another factor to their decision was the previous years' audience ratings for ITV which were below the expected amount.[7]

The venue was therefore moved to Croatia, the winning country of 2003,[8] 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.[9] It was at this point, with five months remaining until the event would be held, that Norwegian broadcaster NRK offered to organise the next contest.

Håkons Hall, Lillehammer. Venue of the 2004 Junior Eurovision Song Contest.

Håkons Hall, sometimes anglicized as Håkon Hall and Haakons Hall, is an arena located at Stampesletta in Lillehammer, Norway, built for the 1994 Winter Olympics. With a spectator capacity of 11,500 people, it is the largest handball and ice hockey venue in the country.

Håkons Hall is regularly used for handball and ice hockey tournaments, concerts, exhibitions, conferences and banquets. The venue is owned by Lillehammer Municipality via the subsidiary Lillehammer Olympiapark, which owns all the Olympic venues in Lillehammer. The Norwegian Olympic Museum is located in the arena, which is located next to the smaller Kristins Hall. The hall was opened on 1 February 1993 having cost 238 million Norwegian krone (NOK).

On 2 September 2004, host broadcaster NRK presented the official logo of the contest.[10] The theme of the show was later confirmed as bright Nordic winter nights, sparkling stars and snow crystals, set in a hip-hop atmosphere.[11]

On 23 September 2004, it was announced that Nadia Hasnaoui and Stian Barsnes Simonsen would host the contest. The hosting couple also led the final of national qualifying rounds to the competition, Melodi Grand Prix Junior 2004 on 12 June.[12]

The draw for the running order of the contest was held on 14 October, with Greece drawn to open the contest for a second time and Romania drawn to close.[13]

All countries used televoting to decide on their top ten. In normal Eurovision fashion, each country's favourite song was given 12 points, their second favourite 10, and their third to tenth favourites were given 8–1 points.

On television, the show opened with the usual EBU ident and fanfare, followed by a placard of a starry night sky with suspensful music and the NRK logo in the middle of the card. The "JESC singing girl" would then zoom into the screen on a snowboard with the JESC 2004 logo on the bottom, and trailing behind the board would be stars. The singing girl would then hover towards a rotating disco ball, and as the camera would move closer, the words "JUNIOR EUROVISION SONG CONTEST - LILLEHAMMER 2004" would also start rotating. During this time, a person would start rapping the word "JESC" over and over again, then the placard would give way to a ceiling shot of the arena.

After the flag parade, the hosts, Stian and Nadia were to land on the stage from a snowboard. Stian landed on the left hand side of the stage, but when Nadia came through, she 'accidentally' crash-landed behind the stage. She emerged a few minutes later in comedic style coughing, but no bodily injuries were seen. Nonetheless, when she came out, the audience continued cheering and the show proceeded like it was supposed to.

The camera angle would then switch, this time to a camera positioned in the audience of the arena, where all the participants would walk through in a first ever Eurovision-related flag parade. In future editions, the flag parade would occur on the stage of the arena.

During a ten-minute break for televoting,[14] boy band Westlife performed "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?" live on stage as the interval act.[15]

Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another:

•  Australia – No commentator (SBS TV, delayed)
•  Estonia – Unknown (ETV, delayed)[21]