Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003

Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with the song "I'm Not Afraid to Move On" written by Arve Furset and VJ Strøm. The song was performed by Jostein Hasselgård. The Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) returned to the Eurovision Song Contest after a one-year absence following their withdrawal in 2002 as one of the bottom six countries in the 2001 contest. NRK organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2003 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2003 contest in Riga, Latvia. Twelve entries competed in a show that took place on 1 March 2003 and the winner was determined over two rounds of public televoting. The top four entries in the first round of voting advanced to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of public televoting, "I'm Not Afraid to Move On" performed by Jostein Hasselgård was selected as the winner with 78,460 votes.

Norway competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 24 May 2003. Performing during the show in position 18, Norway placed fourth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 123 points.

Background
Prior to the 2003 contest, Norway had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 41 times since its first entry in. Norway 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. Norway also had the two dubious 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. The country had finished last eight times and had failed to score a point during four contests.

The Norwegian national broadcaster, Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK), broadcasts the event within Norway and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. NRK confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest on 25 September 2002. The broadcaster has traditionally organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix, which has selected the Norwegian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in all but one of their participation. Along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster revealed details regarding their selection procedure and announced the organization of Melodi Grand Prix 2003 in order to select the 2003 Norwegian entry.

Melodi Grand Prix 2003
Melodi Grand Prix 2003 was the 41st edition of the Norwegian national final Melodi Grand Prix and selected Norway's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2003. The show took place on 1 March 2003 at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, hosted by Øystein Bache and was televised on NRK1 as well as streamed online at NRK's official website nrk.no. The national final was watched by 1.349 million viewers in Norway.

Competing entries
A submission period was opened by NRK between 25 September 2002 and 15 November 2002. Songwriters of any nationality were allowed to submit entries, and NRK reserved the right to directly invite certain artists and composers to compete in addition to the public call for submissions. At the close of the deadline, over 450 submissions were received. Twelve songs were selected for the competition and the competing acts and songs were revealed on 21 January 2003. Among the competing artists were former Eurovision Song Contest entrants Elisabeth Andreassen (Bettan) who represented Sweden in 1982 and Norway in 1985 (as part of Bobbysocks!), 1994 (alongside Jan Werner Danielsen) and 1996, Kikki Danielsson who represented Sweden in 1985, and Lotta Engberg who represented Sweden in 1987. The competing entries were premiered during broadcasts of the Nordic World Ski Championships 2003 between 17 and 28 February 2003.

Final
Twelve songs competed during the final on 1 March 2003. The winner was selected over two rounds of regional televoting. In the first round, the results of the public televote were divided into Norway's five regions and each region distributed points as follows: 1–8, 10 and 12 points. The top four entries were selected to proceed to the second round, the Gold Final, where the results of the public televote were revealed by Norway's five regions based on actual voting figures and led to the victory of "I'm Not Afraid to Move On" performed by Jostein Hasselgård with 78,460 votes. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval act featured Cheezy Keys performing several past Norwegian Eurovision entries.

Controversy
The interval act of Melodi Grand Prix 2003, performed by the group Cheezy Keys, caused a considerable amount of controversy in Latvia. Despite intending to incorporate Latvian culture into their performance, the group wore Cossack uniforms and used Russian matryoshka dolls and balalaikas. Latvian citizens threatened to boycott Norwegian goods in response, while Latvian ambassador in Norway, Normunds Popens, criticised the improper use of symbols even for humouristic purposes and claimed that it "draw [sic] a picture of my country as if it was a part of Russia, and that's simply not true". Criticism was also made by the Norwegian ambassador in Latvia, Jan Wessel Hegg, who described it as "painfully embarrassing" and "unfortunate for Norway as a country". The group later expressed regret that they have hurt the Latvian people and confessed that they "don't know much about Latvian culture".

At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the bottom five countries in the 2002 contest competed in the final on 24 May 2003. On 29 November 2002, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Norway was set to perform in position 18, following the entry from Greece and before the entry from France. Norway finished in fourth place with 26 points.

In Norway, the show was broadcast on NRK1 with commentary by Jostein Pedersen as well as broadcast via radio on NRK P1. The Norwegian spokesperson, who announced the Norwegian votes during the show, was Roald Øyen.

Voting
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Norway and awarded by Norway in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Iceland in the contest.