| Year: | 1998 |
| Country: | Germany |
| Preselection: | Countdown Grand Prix 1998 |
| Preselection Date: | 26 February 1998 |
| Entrant: | Guildo Horn |
| Song: | Guildo hat euch lieb! |
| Final Result: | 7th, 86 points |
Germany participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 with the song "Guildo hat euch lieb!" written by Alf Igel. The song was performed by Guildo Horn. The German entry for the 1998 contest in Birmingham, United Kingdom was selected through the national final Countdown Grand Prix 1998, organised by the German broadcaster ARD in collaboration with Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). The national final took place on 26 February 1998 and featured eleven competing acts with the winner being selected through public televoting. "Guildo hat euch lieb!" performed by Guildo Horn was selected as the German entry for Birmingham after gaining 426,050 of the votes.
Germany competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May 1998. Performing during the show in position 9, Germany placed seventh out of the 25 participating countries, scoring 86 points.
See main article: Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest. Prior to the 1998 Contest, Germany had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-one times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in .[1] Germany has won the contest on one occasion: in 1982 with the song "Ein bißchen Frieden" performed by Nicole. Germany, to this point, has been noted for having competed in the contest more than any other country; they have competed in every contest since the first edition in 1956 except for the 1996 contest when the nation was eliminated in a pre-contest elimination round. In 1997, the German entry "Zeit" performed by Bianca Shomburg placed eighteenth out of twenty-five competing songs scoring 22 points.
The German national broadcaster, ARD, broadcasts the event within Germany and delegates the selection of the nation's entry to the regional broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). Since 1996, NDR had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Germany. The broadcaster organised a multi-artist national final in cooperation to select the German entry for the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest.
Countdown Grand Prix 1998 was the competition that selected Germany's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1998. Ten acts were selected by a panel consisting of representatives of NDR, which included head of the entertainment department Jürgen Meier-Beer, from proposals received by the broadcaster from record companies and producers and among the competing artists was Wind (with different group members) which represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1985, 1987 and 1992.[2] [3]
The televised final took place on 26 February 1998 at the Stadthalle in Bremen, hosted by Axel Bulthaupt and Nena and broadcast on Das Erste.[4] [5] The winner, "Guildo hat euch lieb!" performed by Guildo Horn, was selected solely through public televoting.[6] [7] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Nena performed her song "Was hast du mit meinem Traum gemacht" and 1997 Icelandic Eurovision entrant Paul Oscar performed his entry "Minn hinsti dans". The national final was watched by 7.73 million viewers in Germany and 689,402 votes were cast during the show.[8]
| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Televote | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shana | "Es regnet nie in Texas" | Franz Troja, Klaus Hirschburger | 9 | ||
| 2 | Ballhouse | "Can-Can" | Ralph Siegel, Bernd Meinunger | 6 | ||
| 3 | Maria Perzil | "Freut Euch | " | Markus Krüger, Dirk Schelpmeier | 10 | |
| 4 | Diana and Wind | "Lass die Herzen sich berühren" | Peter Weigel, Dave Tchorz, Andreas Lebbing | 5 | ||
| 5 | Sharon | "Kids" | Ralph Siegel, Bernd Meinunger | 8 | ||
| 6 | Guildo Horn | "Guildo hat euch lieb!" | Alf Igel | 426,050 | 1 | |
| 7 | Rosenstolz | "Herzensschöner" | Peter Plate, Andrea Rosenbaum | 73,077 | 2 | |
| 8 | Köpenick | "Carneval" | Ralph Siegel, Bernd Meinunger | 7 | ||
| 9 | Fokker | "Gel-Song (Kleine Melodie)" | Christian von Richthofen | 4 | ||
| 10 | Hearts and Roses | "Du bist ein Teil von mir" | Jörg Evers | 69,630 | 3 |
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. Germany was originally relegated for being one of the eight lowest scoring countries but was eventually allowed to compete after Italy withdrew from the contest. On 13 November 1997, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Germany was set to perform in position 9, following the entry from Israel and before the entry from Malta.[9] [10] The day before the contest, Germany was considered by bookmakers to be the eighth most likely country to win the competition.[11] The German conductor at the contest Stefan Raab who composed "Guildo hat euch lieb!" under the pseudonym Alf Igel, and Guildo Horn performed on stage together with his band Die Orthopädischen Strümpfe. Germany finished in seventh place with 86 points.[12] [13]
In Germany, the show was broadcast on Das Erste which featured commentary by Peter Urban.[14] [15] The show was watched by 12.67 million viewers in Germany.[16] The German spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the German televote, was Nena.
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Germany and awarded by Germany in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Turkey in the contest.