Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest

Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest
Dates
Air date22 October 2005
Host
VenueForum Copenhagen,
Copenhagen, Denmark
Presenter(s)
Musical directorMichael Bojesen
Directed byLars Hammer
Executive supervisor
Executive producerJan Frifelt
Host broadcasterEBU, DR
Vote
Voting systemEach country awarded 1–8, 10, and 12 points to ten songs; the five songs with the most points progressed to a second round of voting, where each country awarded 6–8, 10, and 12 points.
Winning song"Waterloo" by ABBA

Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest was a television programme organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to commemorate the Eurovision Song Contest's fiftieth anniversary and to determine the contest's most popular entrant of its fifty years. Hosted by Katrina Leskanich and Renārs Kaupers, the event took place at Forum, in Copenhagen on 22 October 2005. The host was Danish broadcaster DR. Fourteen songs from the contest's first half-century, chosen through an internet poll and by a jury, contested the event.[1]

Thirty-one EBU-member countries broadcast the concert (although notably France, Italy and the United Kingdom did not) and televoting and juries in these countries decided the winner.[2] A total of 2.5 million votes were cast during the live broadcast.[3] The event was won by Swedish group ABBA, who did not attend, with the song "Waterloo"; the band had originally won the Contest for Sweden in 1974.[4]

To coincide with the event, the EBU released two double album CDs featuring Eurovision songs from the previous fifty years. Two DVDs with original Eurovision performances of these songs were also released.[5]

  1. ^ Michael Dwyer (20 October 2005). Dearth of the cool. The Age. Retrieved on 26 December 2007.
  2. ^ "Participating broadcasters in the 50th anniversary show". Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 13 October 2005. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  3. ^ Jeffrey de Hart (25 October 2005). ABBA's "Waterloo" named best Eurovision song. Billboard.com. Retrieved on 26 December 2007.
  4. ^ "Abba win 'Eurovision 50th' vote". BBC News. 23 October 2005. Retrieved 20 July 2006.
  5. ^ Roel Phillips (9 April 2005). 100 Eurovision songs on CD and DVD Archived 29 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 26 December 27.