| Year: | 1998 |
| Country: | Norway |
| Preselection: | Melodi Grand Prix 1998 |
| Preselection Date: | 28 February 1998 |
| Entrant: | Lars A. Fredriksen |
| Song: | Alltid sommer |
| Final Result: | 8th, 79 points |
Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 with the song "Alltid sommer" written by David Eriksen and Linda Andernach Johansen. The song was performed by Lars A. Fredriksen. The Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 1998 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 1998 contest in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Eight entries competed in a show that took place on 27 February 1999 and the winner, "All I Ever Wanted (Was You)" performed by Lars A. Fredriksen, was determined by the votes from a six-member jury panel and a regional televote. The song was later translated from English to Norwegian for the Eurovision Song Contest and was titled "Alltid sommer".
Norway competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 29 May 1999. Performing during the show in position 22, Norway placed eighth out of the 25 participating countries, scoring 79 points.
See main article: Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest. Prior to the 1998 contest, Norway had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 37 times since its first entry in .[1] 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 seven 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. 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. The broadcaster organized of Melodi Grand Prix 1998 in order to select the 1998 Norwegian entry.
Melodi Grand Prix 1998 was the 37th edition of the Norwegian national final Melodi Grand Prix and selected Norway's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1998. The show took place on 28 February 1998 at Studio 2 of NRK in Oslo, hosted by Øystein Bache and Rune Gokstad and was televised on NRK1. A live orchestra conducted by Geir Langslet accompanied each performance in varying capacities.[2] The national final was watched by 1.271 million viewers in Norway.
Composers were directly invited by NRK to compete in the national final.[3] Eight songs were selected for the competition and among the competing artists was former Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest entrant Elisabeth Andreassen who represented Sweden in 1982 and Norway in 1985 (as part of Bobbysocks!), 1994 (alongside Jan Werner Danielsen) and 1996.[4] For the first time in Melodi Grand Prix, artists were allowed to perform their song in English, with Andreassen, G'stén and Lars A. Fredriksen opting to do so.[5] [6]
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bjelleklang | "På do" | Finn Evensen | |
| Christin Hoff and Erik Jacobsen | "Bare du og jeg" | Ulf Risnes | |
| Elisabeth Andreassen | "Winds of the Northern Seas" | Torhild Nigar, Rolf Graf | |
| G'stén | "Always Will" | Kyrre Fritzner, Åge Sten Nilsen | |
| Gjermund Elgenes | "Som en engel" | Ingrid Bjørnov | |
| Lars A. Fredriksen | "All I Ever Wanted (Was You)" | David Eriksen, Per Kristian Ottestad | |
| Malin Holberg | "En ny mårrån" | Stein Berge Svendsen, Nora Skaug, Malin Holberg | |
| Tore Holm | "Nam nam" | Geir Olav Bøkestad, Per Kristian Indrehus |
Eight songs competed during the final on 28 February 1998. The winner was selected by a combination of votes from regional televoting (5/7) and an expert jury (2/7). The results of the public televote were divided into Norway's five regions and each region distributed points as follows: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 10 points. The jury then distributed points that had a weighting equal to the votes of two televoting regions, leading to the victory of "All I Ever Wanted (Was You)" performed by Lars A. Fredriksen.[7] The jury panel consisted of Ellen Foss-Sørensen (NRK P2 radio host), Tor Milde (music journalist), Finn Bjelke (NRK P3 radio producer), Olve Brekke (product manager), Stein Dag Jensen (NRK P1 radio host) and Silje Stang (P4 Radio music director and TVNorge presenter). More than 63,000 votes were registered by the televote during the show, however Telenor later revealed that an additional 440,000 votes were unable to be registered due to technical issues.[8] [9] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval act featured the Great Garlic Girls performing several past British Eurovision entries.[10]
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lars A. Fredriksen | "All I Ever Wanted (Was You)" | 6 | 50 | 56 | 1 | |
| 2 | Christin Hoff and Erik Jacobsen | "Bare du og jeg" | 14 | 0 | 14 | 6 | |
| 3 | Gjermund Elgenes | "Som en engel" | 4 | 1 | 5 | 7 | |
| 4 | G'stén | "Always Will" | 20 | 11 | 31 | 3 | |
| 5 | Elisabeth Andreassen | "Winds of the Northern Seas" | 10 | 35 | 45 | 2 | |
| 6 | Bjelleklang | "På do" | 0 | 23 | 23 | 4 | |
| 7 | Tore Holm | "Nam nam" | 0 | 4 | 4 | 8 | |
| 8 | Malin Holberg | "En ny mårrån" | 2 | 16 | 18 | 5 |
| Draw | Song | Trondheim | Tromsø | Bergen | Kristiansand | Oslo | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "All I Ever Wanted (Was You)" | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 50 | |
| 2 | "Bare du og jeg" | 0 | ||||||
| 3 | "Som en engel" | 1 | 1 | |||||
| 4 | "Always Will" | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 11 | |
| 5 | "Winds of the Northern Seas" | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 35 | |
| 6 | "På do" | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 23 | |
| 7 | "Nam nam" | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 8 | "En ny mårrån" | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 16 |
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. On 13 November 1997, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Norway was set to perform in position 22, following the entry from Finland and before the entry from Estonia.[11] [12] The day before the contest, Norway was considered by bookmakers to be the twelfth most likely country to win the competition.[13] At the contest, Lars A. Fredriksen performed the Norwegian version of "All I Ever Wanted (Was You)", titled "Alltid sommer". The Norwegian conductor at the contest was Geir Langslet, and Norway finished in eighth place with 79 points.[14]
In Norway, the show was broadcast on NRK1 with commentary by Jostein Pedersen as well as broadcast via radio on NRK P1 with commentary by Stein Dag Jensen.[15] [16] The Norwegian spokesperson, who announced the Norwegian votes during the show, was Ragnhild Sælthun Fjørtoft.
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Norway and awarded by Norway in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Malta in the contest.[17]