After speculation as to whether the Estonian broadcaster could afford to hold it, the contest moved to a country in the former Soviet Union for the first time. As one Baltic nation held the contest another wins it. Latvia only gained entry to the contest after the Portuguese had declined to take part. Constantinos Christoforiou returned for Cyprus, this time as part of boy-band One, 6 years after he first took part. He would return again 3 years later. Karolina Goceva represented Macedonia and would return 5 years later. After being a backing vocalist for Sweden in 1999 and Malta in 2000, Sahlene represented the home nation. Corinna May represented Germany. She'd been chosen to represent Germany in 1999 but her song was disqualified. Monica Anghel was half of the Romanian duo. She was Romania's representative in 1996 but that song did not make it through the qualifying round. The Slovenian entry was the most controversial of the evening being performed by 3 men dressed as female air hostesses. The voting was close throughout between Malta and Latvia. Malta held a slender lead for almost half of the voting. After the Swiss votes Latvia took the lead and held it until the end. With only one country left to vote Latvia held a 3 point lead over the Maltese. The last country to vote was Lithuania who gave Malta 3 points to tie the score. Surely they wouldn't ignore their neighbours Latvia. They didn't and gave them 12. The win owed as much to performance as to the song. Marie N had 3 costume changes during the performance.

Results
1.(23) 176 points - Latvia - I Wanna - Marie N
2.(20) 164 points - Malta - 7th Wonder - Ira Losco
3.(2) 111 points - United Kingdom - Come Back - Jessica Garlick
(8 ) 111 points - Estonia - Runaway - Sahlene
5.(17) 104 points - France - Il faut du temps - Sandrine François
6.(1) 85 points - Cyprus - Gimme - One
7.(5) 81 points - Spain - Europe's Living A Celebration - Rosa
8.(12) 72 points - Sweden - Never Let It Go - Afro-Dite
9.(21) 71 points - Romania - Tell Me Why - Monica Anghel & Marcel Pavel
10.(7) 55 points - Russia - Northern Girl - Prime Minister
11.(6) 44 points - Croatia - Everything I Want - Vesna Pisarovic
12.(10) 37 points - Israel - Light A Candle - Sarit Hadad
13.(15) 33 points - Bosnia & Herzegovina - Fairytales About Love - Maja Tatic
(16) 33 points - Belgium - Sister - Sergio & The Ladies
(22) 33 points - Slovenia - Samo ljubezen - Sestre
16.(19) 29 points - Turkey - Leylaklar soldu kalbinde - Buket Bengisu & Group Sapphire
17.(4) 27 points - Greece - S.A.G.A.P.O. - Michalis Rakintzis
18.(3) 26 points - Austria - Say A Word - Manuel Ortega
19.(9) 25 points - Macedonia - Od nas zavesi - Karolina
20.(13) 24 points - Finland - Addicted To You - Laura
21.(18 ) 17 points - Germany - I Can't Live Without Music - Corinna May
22.(11) 15 points - Switzerland - Dans le jardin de mon âme - Francine Jordi
23.(24) 12 points - Lithuania - Happy You - Aivaras
24.(14) 7 points - Denmark - Tell Me Who You Are - Mahlene