Eurovision Song Contest 2002

Infobox Eurovision
name = Eurovision Song Contest 2002
theme = "A Modern Fairytale"


final = 25 May 2002
presenters = Annely Peebo,
Marko Matvere
conductor =
director = Marius Bratten
host = flagicon|Estonia ETV
venue = Saku Suurhall, Tallinn, Estonia
winner = flag|Latvia
"nowrap|I Wanna"
vote = Each country awards 1-8, 10, and 12 points to their 10 favourite countries
entries = 24
debut = None
return = flag|Austria
flag|Belgium
flag|Cyprus
flag|Finland
flag|Macedonia|name=FYR Macedonia
flag|Romania
flag|Switzerland
withdraw =flag|Iceland
flag|Ireland
flag|Netherlands
flag|Norway
flag|Poland
flag|Portugal
null = None
interval =
opening =
con = Eurovision Song Contest
pre = ◄2001
nex = 2003►

The Eurovision Song Contest 2002 was the 47th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 25 May 2002 in the Saku Suurhall Arena in Tallinn, Estonia. The presenters were Annely Peebo and Marko Matvere. Latvia won the contest for the first time, with Marie N and the song I Wanna. Estonia was the first country from the former Eastern bloc to organize the Eurovision Song Contest. There had been worries about whether Estonia would have enough funds to stage the competitions, but they were put to rest when a combination of fundraising activities and the Estonian Government enabled them to host a satisfying event. The theme created around this year's contest was 'a modern fairytale', which was evident in the postcards aired between the songs.

This edition was originally scheduled to have 22 competitors; the top 15 from the previous year's contest, plus the seven countries that had been excluded from the 2001 event due to their low five-year point average. However, the European Broadcasting Union increased the number of participants to 24, granting Israel and Portugal the opportunity to enter. Portugal declined and was replaced by eventual winner Latvia.

This year's contest proved the unpredictability of Eurovision, as few could have guessed beforehand that the contest would turn into a two horse race between Malta and Latvia. The United Kingdom returned to their success with Jessica Garlick's entry 'Come Back', which made it into joint third position with Estonia. France continued their good results from last year, when Sandrine François came 5th. There were many rhythms and sounds in this year's songs that made them unique. The stage acts became more elaborate with the winner Latvia pulling a strip routine while the Greek entrants dressed up and moved like robots. Germany sent singer Corinna May who had been blind from birth. Slovenia entered three men dressed as female flight attendants.

Italy and Luxembourg continued to refuse to participate in the event.

The official EBU compilation CD was released with the songs in the order in which they were performed at the contest.

Spokespersons

* Austria - Dodo Roscic
* Belgium - Geena Lisa Peeters
* Bosnia and Herzegovina - Segmedina Srna
* Croatia - Duško Čurlić
* Cyprus - Melani Steliou
* Denmark - Signe Svendsen
* Estonia - dn|Elektra
* Finland - Marion Rung
* France - Marie Myriam
* FYR Macedonia - Biljana Debarlieva
* Germany - Axel Bulthaupt
* Greece - Alexis Kostalas
* Israel - Michal Zoharetz
* Latvia - Eriks Niedra
* Lithuania - Loreta Tarozaite
* Malta - Yvette Portelli
* Romania - Leonard Miron
* Russia - Arina Sharapova
* Slovenia - Nuša Derenda
* Spain - Anne Igartiburu
* Sweden - Kristin Kaspersen
* Switzerland - Diana Jörg
* Turkey - Meltem Ersan Yazgan
* United Kingdom - Colin Berry

Map

* Green = Participating countries
* Yellow = Countries who have participated in the past but don't this year