Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997
Estonia made their third Eurovision Song Contest appearance in 1997. The preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 final would follow the same format of previous years, with a judging panel selecting the song and artist that would represent Estonia in the final. The judges would eventually choose Maarja-Liis Ilus again, making her the first (and thus far only) Estonian entrant to have made back-to-back appearances in the Eurovision Song Contest. In the final, Ilus finished 8th.
| Eurovision Song Contest 1997 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Estonia | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Eurolaul 1997 | |||
| Selection date(s) | 15 January 1997 | |||
| Selected entrant | Maarja-Liis Ilus | |||
| Selected song | "Keelatud maa" | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 8th, 82 points | |||
| Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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Before Eurovision
Eurolaul 1997
The final took place at the Linnahall in Tallinn, Estonia, and was hosted by Marko Reikop and Anu Välba. Eight different songs were entered, with Pearu Paulus, Hanna-Liina Võsa and Maarja-Liis Ilus performing on more than one entry. A panel of international judges voted on each song, with Ilus' "Keelatud maa" winning by a large margin of 32 points.[1]
Despite this large margin, a public telephone poll had voted the night before that "Aeg" by Ilus, Võsa and Anne Värvimann was the nation's favourite. Despite this, "Keelatud maa" became the Estonian entrant for the 1997 contest.
| Final – 15 January 1997 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Points | Place |
| 1 | Maarja-Liis Ilus | "Keelatud maa" | Kaari Sillamaa, Harmo Kallaste | 72 | 1 |
| 2 | Hanna-Liina Võsa & Pearu Paulus | "Liiga noor, et armuda" | Leelo Tungal, Ivar Must | 38 | 3 |
| 3 | Tanya | "Homme" | Heldur Karmo, Heini Vaikmaa | 29 | 8 |
| 4 | Code One | "Tantsupalavik" | Kaari Sillamaa, Mikk Targo | 38 | 3 |
| 5 | Hanna Pruuli | "Üksik hing" | Hanna Pruuli | 40 | 2 |
| 6 | Pearu Paulus | "Meeletu soov" | Anneli Tõevere, Toomas Vanem | 32 | 5 |
| 7 | Maarja-Liis Ilus, Hanna-Liina Võsa & Anne Värvimann | "Aeg" | Kaari Sillamaa, Priit Pajusaar | 31 | 7 |
| 8 | Kate | "Perpetuum mobile" | Leelo Tungal, Aivar Joonas | 32 | 5 |
| Detailed International Jury Votes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Song |  ESP |
 GBR |
 ITA |
 NOR |
 SWE |
 GER |
 SLV |
 HUN |
Total |
| 1 | "Keelatud maa" | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 72 |
| 2 | "Liiga noor, et armuda" | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 38 |
| 3 | "Homme" | 5 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 29 |
| 4 | "Tantsupalavik" | 6 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 38 |
| 5 | "Üksik hing" | 2 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 40 |
| 6 | "Meeletu soov" | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 32 |
| 7 | "Aeg" | 4 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 31 |
| 8 | "Perpetuum mobile" | 3 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 32 |
At Eurovision
On the night of the final, Ilus performed 13th, following Poland and preceding Bosnia and Herzegovina. She performed strongly again and at the end of the voting she received 82 points (including maximum 12 points from Italy) placing 8th in a field of 25. The Estonian jury awarded its 12 points to France.
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References
| Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest | |||||||||||||
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Note: Entries scored out are when Estonia did not compete | |||||||||||||