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Eurovision Song Contest 1997
Participating broadcaster	Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK)
Country	Norway
National selection
Selection process	Melodi Grand Prix 1997
Selection date(s)	8 February 1997
Selected artist(s)	Tor Endresen
Selected song	"San Francisco"
Selected songwriter(s)	Tor Endresen Arne Myksvoll
Finals performance
Final result	24th, 0 points
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1996 • 1997 • 1998►

Norway was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 with the song "San Francisco", written by Tor Endresen and Arne Myksvoll, and performed by Endresen himself. The Norwegian participating broadcaster, Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK), organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 1997 in order to select its entry for the contest. Eight entries competed in a show that took place on 8 February 1997 and the winner, "San Francisco" performed by Tor Endresen, was determined by the votes from a six-member jury panel and a public televote. Endresen won Melodi Grand Prix on his eighth attempt.

Norway competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 3 May 1997. Performing during the show in position 3, Norway placed twenty-fourth (joint last) out of the 25 participating countries and failed to score any points.

Background

Prior to the 1997 contest, Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Norway 36 times since its first entry in 1960. It had won the contest on two occasions: in 1985 with the song "La det swinge" performed by Bobbysocks!, and in 1995 with the song "Nocturne" performed by Secret Garden. It also had the two distinctions of having finished last in the Eurovision final more than any other country and for having the most nul points (zero points) in the contest, the latter being a record the nation shared together with Austria. It had finished last seven times and had failed to score a point during four contests.

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, NRK organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster has traditionally organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix to select its entry for the contest in all but one of its participation. NRK organized of Melodi Grand Prix 1997 in order to select its 1997 entry.

Before Eurovision

Melodi Grand Prix 1997

Melodi Grand Prix 1997 was the 36th edition of the national final Melodi Grand Prix and was organised by NRK to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1997. Eight songs, selected for the competition by a three-member jury panel from 350 received submissions, competed during the final which was televised on NRK1 on 8 February 1997 and hosted by Tande-P. A live orchestra conducted by Geir Langslet accompanied each performance in varying capacities and the combination of votes from public televoting (60%) and an expert jury (40%) led to the victory of "San Francisco" performed by Tor Endresen. The jury consisted of H.C. Andersen (NRK P3 radio host), Elisabeth Andreassen (singer), Kari Gjærum (singer), Ole Evenrud (producer), Leif Erik Forberg (TV3 presenter) and Frode Viken (composer). The national final was watched by 1.308 million viewers in Norway.

70,000 votes were registered by the televote during the show, however Telenor later revealed that at least 400,000 additional votes were unable to be registered due to technical issues, which led to strong dissatisfaction from viewers that failed to cast their votes during the 15-minute window. There was also criticism of Tor Endresen's victory as several of the jury members were friends of Endresen; Elisabeth Andreassen told the press that "Endresen deserved to win" regardless of what song he participated with.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, the twenty-four countries which had obtained the highest average number of points over the last four contests competed in the final on 3 May 1997. On 28 November 1996, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Norway was set to perform in position 3, following the entry from Turkey and before the entry from Austria. Heading into the final of the contest, Norway was considered by bookmakers to be the seventeenth most likely country to win the competition. The Norwegian conductor at the contest was Geir Langslet and Norway finished in twenty-fourth (joint-last) place failing to score any points.

In Norway, the contest was broadcast on NRK1 with commentary by Jostein Pedersen as well as broadcast via radio on NRK P1 with commentary by Kristian Lindeman. NRK appointed Ragnhild Sælthun Fjørtoft as its spokesperson to announce the Norwegian votes during the show.

Voting

Norway did not receive any points at the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to France in the contest with the full breakdown of points awarded by Norway displayed below.

Points awarded by Norway

Score	Country
12 points	France
10 points	Malta
8 points	Sweden
7 points	Denmark
6 points	United Kingdom
5 points	Greece
4 points	Poland
3 points	Ireland
2 points	Cyprus
1 point	Russia

References

1. "Norway Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
2. "Norway: Melodi Grand Prix 1997". Eurovisionworld. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
3. Jacobsen, Hasse Christian. "MGP 1997 -" (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 20 May 2024.
4. "8. Februar". Sarpsborg Arbeiderblad (in Norwegian). 7 February 1992. p. 35. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
5. ESC National Finals database 1997
6. Melodi Grand Prix 1997 - norsk finale (in Norwegian Bokmål). 13 January 2023. Retrieved 20 May 2024 – via tv.nrk.no.
7. Brunmark, Kristine (11 February 1997). "Nedover med GP". Verdens Gang (in Norwegian).
8. "Endelig, Tor!". Verdens Gang (in Norwegian). 9 February 1997. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
9. Kato M. Hansen. "Norway national final 1997" in OGAE News 56/57, 1997:19.
10. "Rules of the Eurovision Song Contest (Part 1)". Radió Telefís Éireann. Archived from the original on 2 February 1999. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
11. "Rules of the Eurovision Song Contest (Part 1)". Radió Telefís Éireann. Archived from the original on 2 February 1999. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
12. "What are the Odds?". Radio Telefís Éireann. Archived from the original on 24 February 1999. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
13. "Final of Dublin 1997". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
14. "Radio- og TV-Programmene – Lørdag 3. mai 1997" [Radio and TV Programmes – Saturday 3 May 1997]. Moss Dagblad (in Norwegian). 3 May 1997. pp. 38–40. Retrieved 26 June 2022 – via National Library of Norway.
15. "Norgeskanalen NRK P1 – Kjøreplan lørdag 3. mai 1997" [The Norwegian channel NRK P1 – Schedule Saturday 3 May 1997] (in Norwegian). NRK. 3 May 1997. pp. 16–17. Retrieved 20 June 2022 – via National Library of Norway. (subscription may be required or content may be available in libraries)
16. "Results of the Final of Dublin 1997". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
17. "Results of the Final of Dublin 1997". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.

• Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997
• Melodi Grand Prix by year
• 1997 in Norwegian music
• 1997 in Norwegian television