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Eurovision Song Contest 1998
Participating broadcaster	Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTVSLO)
Country	Slovenia
National selection
Selection process	Evrovizijska Melodija 1998
Selection date(s)	28 February 1998
Selected artist(s)	Vili Resnik
Selected song	"Naj bogovi slišijo"
Selected songwriter(s)	Matjaž Vlašič Urša Vlašič
Finals performance
Final result	18th, 17 points
Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1997 • 1998 • 1999►

Slovenia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 with the song "Naj bogovi slišijo" composed by Matjaž Vlašič, with lyrics by Urša Vlašič, and performed by Vili Resnik. The Slovene participating broadcaster, Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTVSLO), held the national final Evrovizijska Melodija 1998 in order to select its entry for the contest. 14 entries competed in the national final where "Naj bogovi slišijo" performed by Vili Resnik was selected as the winner entirely by a public televote.

Slovenia competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May 1998. Performing during the show in position 12, Slovenia placed eighteenth out of the 25 participating countries, scoring 17 points.

Background

Prior to the 1998 contest, Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTVSLO) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Slovenia four times since its first entry in 1993. Its highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been seventh place, achieved in in 1995 with the song "Prisluhni mi" performed by Darja Švajger. Its only other top ten result was achieved in 1997 when "Zbudi" performed by Tanja Ribič placed tenth.

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, RTVSLO organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster has traditionally selected its entry through a national final entitled Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA), which has been produced with variable formats. For 1998, the broadcaster opted to organise Evrovizijska Melodija 1998 (EMA 1998) to select its entry..

Before Eurovision

Evrovizijska Melodija 1998

Evrovizijska Melodija 1998 (EMA 1998) was the fourth edition of the national final format Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA). The competition was used by RTVSLO to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 and took place on 28 February 1998 at its Studio 1 in Ljubljana. The show was hosted by Mojca Mavec and was broadcast on TV SLO1 as well as online via the broadcaster's website rtvslo.si.

Competing entries

An expert committee consisting of Miša Molk (Head of Entertainment and Sports at RTVSLO), Mojmir Sepe (conductor and composer) and Andrej Karoli (music editor for Radio Slovenija) was tasked to select the entries for the competition from 43 received submissions. However, additional artists and composers were later directly invited by the broadcaster to submit entries due to the poor quality of the previously submitted songs. Fourteen artists and songs were ultimately selected from those received through both entry methods and among the competing artists were former Slovenian Eurovision contestants Darja Švajger who represented Slovenia in 1995 and Regina who represented Slovenia in 1996.

Final

EMA 1998 took place on 28 February 1998. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Tanja Ribič, who represented Slovenia in 1997, performed as a guest. A public televote selected "Naj bogovi slišijo" performed by Vili Resnik as the winner.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the eight countries which had obtained the lowest average number of points over the last five contests competed in the final on 9 May 1998. On 13 November 1997, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Slovenia was set to perform in position 12, following the entry from Hungary and before the entry from Ireland. The day before the contest, Slovenia was considered by bookmakers to be the nineteenth most likely country to win the competition. The Slovenian conductor at the contest was Mojmir Sepe, and Slovenia finished in nineteenth place with 17 points.

The show was televised in Slovenia on RTV SLO1. RTVSLO appointed Mojca Mavec as its spokesperson to announce the Slovenian votes during the show.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Slovenia and awarded by Slovenia in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Croatia in the contest.

Points awarded to Slovenia Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points  Romania 4 points  Finland 3 points  Croatia  Turkey 2 points  Greece 1 point

Points awarded by Slovenia Score Country 12 points  Croatia 10 points  Norway 8 points  Germany 7 points  Israel 6 points  Belgium 5 points  United Kingdom 4 points  Macedonia 3 points  Malta 2 points  Estonia 1 point  Ireland

References

1. "Slovenia Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
2. ^ "1998. - Ljubljana". eurosong.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 5 June 2023.
3. "EMA '98". rtvslo.si. Archived from the original on 23 October 1999. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
4. Maatko, Alesh (21 November 2017). "Poglejmo, kdo vse je izbiral skladbe za Emo in tako krojil našo usodo". Evrovizija.com (in Slovenian). Retrieved 5 June 2023.
5. "SLOVENE NATIONAL FINAL 1998".
6. "Slovenia 1998". mylittleworld.nfshost.com. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
7. "Slovenia: EMA 1998". Eurovisionworld. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
8. "Birmingham to stage Eurovision". The Irish Times. 9 August 1997. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
9. Jones, David (13 November 1997). Eurovision Song Contest winner Katrina and compere Terry Wogan[...]. Birmingham, United Kingdom: Alamy. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
10. "The bookies' favourites". BBC News. 8 May 1998. Archived from the original on 1 November 2002. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
11. "Final of Birmingham 1998". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
12. "Panorama – sobota, 9. maja 1998" [Panorama – Saturday 9 May 1998] (PDF). Gorenjski glas (in Slovenian). 8 May 1998. p. 32. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 July 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
13. ^ "Results of the Final of Birmingham 1998". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.

• Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998
• 1998 in Slovenia