Eurovision Song Contest Ukraine 2005

After Ruslana won the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with Wild Dances, the 2005 contest was held in Kyiv, Ukraine. It was the first time Ukraine hosted the contest. The shows were held in the Palace of Sports, the host broadcaster was NTU and the presenters were Maria Efrosinina and Pavlo Shylko. Ruslana performed in the interval and interviewed the contestants in the green room. 39 countries took part, three more than the previous record. The semi-final was held on 19 May and the Grand Final on 21 May. Bulgaria and Moldova made their debuts and Hungary returned after six years away.

Helena Paparizou from Greece won with My Number One and 230 points, 38 points ahead of Malta’s Angel. It was Greece’s first victory after 31 years of participation. Romania, Israel and Latvia completed the top five, and Romania achieved its best result so far with third place. Unusually, the four “Big Four” countries, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, finished in the last four places of the final. A new rule set a minimum number of televotes for a country’s votes to count; otherwise its backup jury voted instead, which affected Albania, Andorra and Monaco in the semi-final and Andorra, Moldova and Monaco in the final.

Sources: Wikipedia: Eurovision Song Contest 2005 (host broadcaster, presenters, participants, voting rules).