Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003

Nationaal Songfestival 2003 was the national final format created by TROS and NOS in order to select the Netherlands’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2003.

The format of the competition consisted of five shows: four semi-finals and a final. The four shows were held at the Hart van Holland venue in Nijkerk and were hosted by Harm Edens. The four semi-finals, held between 1 and 22 February 2003, each featured eight competing entries from which two advanced to the final from each show.

Results during the semi-finals and the final were determined by the votes from a jury panel and votes from the public via SMS and televoting. In the semi-finals, the song placed first by the jury and that placed first by televoting qualified for the final. In the event that both the jury and the televoters placed the same song first, the song placed second in the televote will qualify for the final. In the final, The winner was selected by a combination of the votes of the jury (50%) and televoting (50%).

Artists and composers were able to submit their entries to NOS. From all 502 songs submitted, a five-member selection jury panel selected 32 songs for the competition. The selection jury consisted of Willem van Beusekom, Jerney Kaagman, Ron Stoeltie, Daniël Dekker and Daan van Rijsbergen.

The first semi-final took place on 1 February 2003. Two entries qualified to the final, with the song placed first by the jury and that placed first by televoting qualifying for the final. As both the jury and the televoters placed the same song first, the song placed second in the televote qualified for the final.

The second semi-final took place on 8 February 2003. Two entries qualified to the final, with the song placed first by the jury and that placed first by televoting qualifying for the final. As both the jury and the televoters placed the same song first, the song placed second in the televote qualified for the final.

The third semi-final took place on 15 February 2003. Two entries qualified to the final, with the song placed first by the jury and that placed first by televoting qualifying for the final.

The fourth semi-final took place on 22 February 2003. Two entries qualified to the final, with the song placed first by the jury and that placed first by televoting qualifying for the final. As both the jury and the televoters placed the same song first, the song placed second in the televote qualified for the final.

The final took place on 1 March 2003 at the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam, hosted by Loes Luca. The winner was selected by a combination of the votes of a jury panel (50%) and televoting (50%). Esther Hart emerged the comfortable victor with Gordon in second place.[1]

On the day after the contest, a technical problem came to light, whereby a significant number of SMS votes had been either not counted at all or attributed to the wrong song. A revised scoring table (as shown below) was issued to correct the mistakes. The only change in placement was that Bert Heerink & Manou, who had originally placed seventh, were moved up to fifth, with Mango Nuts and Mary Amora correspondingly dropping a place.