# Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000

Estonia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 with the song "Once in a Lifetime", composed by Pearu Paulus, Ilmar Laisaar, and Alar Kotkas, with lyrics by Jana Hallas, and performed by Ines. The Estonian participating broadcaster, Eesti Televisioon (ETV), organised the national final Eurolaul 2000 in order to select its entry for the contest. Ten songs competed in the national final and "Once in a Lifetime" performed by Ines was selected as the winner by a jury panel.
Estonia competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 13 May 2000. Performing during the show in position 4, Estonia placed fourth out of the 24 participating countries, scoring 98 points.

## Background

Prior to the 2000 Contest, Eesti Televisioon (ETV) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Estonia five times since its first entry in 1994. Its best result in the contest was fifth, which was achieved in 1996 with the song "Kaelakee hääl" performed by Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna. In 1999, "Diamond of Night" performed by Evelin Samuel and Camille placed sixth.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, ETV organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Since its debut, the broadcaster has organised national finals that feature a competition among multiple artists and songs in order to select its entry for the contest. ETV has organised the Eurolaul competition since 1996 in order to select its entry, with the broadcaster organising Eurolaul 2000 in order to select its 2000 entry.

## Before Eurovision
### Eurolaul 2000

Eurolaul 2000 was the seventh edition of the national selection Eurolaul organised by ETV to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2000. The competition consisted of a ten-song final on 5 February 2000 at the ETV studios in Tallinn, hosted by Marko Reikop and broadcast on ETV.

#### Competing entries

41 submissions were received by ETV which opened a submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries. A 10-member jury panel selected ten finalists from the submissions and the selected songs were announced on 17 December 1999. Among the competing artists was previous Eurovision Song Contest entrant Evelin Samuel, who represented Estonia in 1999 together with Camille. Hedvig Hanson, Kate, Lauri Liiv (member of White Satin) and Siiri Sisask have all competed in previous editions of Eurolaul. The selection jury consisted of Maarja-Liis Ilus (singer), Andres Jõesaar (TV3 vice president), Priit Hõbemägi (culture critic), Antti Kammiste (musician), Tõnu Kõrvits (composer), Elektra (Kanal 2 presenter), Urmas Lattikas (composer), Ivo Linna (singer), Allan Roosileht (Raadio 2 music editor) and Raivo Sersant (music manager).
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
| Evelin Samuel | "Over the Water Blue" | Evelin Samuel, Priit Pajusaar, Glen Pilvre |
| Hedvig Hanson and Mac McFall | "When We're Flying High" | Hedvig Hanson |
| Ines | "Kuulatan su ootamist" | Lauri Saatpalu |
| Ines | "Once in a Lifetime" | Jana Hallas, Pearu Paulus, Ilmar Laisaar, Alar Kotkas |
| Kate | "Verevend" | Villu Kangur, Aivar Joonas |
| Maian Kärmas | "Mõistus ja tunded" | Maian Kärmas |
| Maian Kärmas | "One Sweet Moment" | Maian Kärmas |
| Sarah and Lea | "Sunshine" | Peter Ross |
| Siiri Sisask | "Goodnight" | Siiri Sisask, Tomi Rahula |
| White Satin | "Church of Love" | Sulev Lõhmus |

#### Final

The final took place on 5 February 2000. Ten songs competed during the show and a jury selected "Once in a Lifetime" performed by Ines as the winner. A non-competitive public televote which registered 9,866 votes was also held and also selected Ines as the winner. The jury panel that voted in the final consisted of Jernej Verne (music editor and presenter of the Slovenian radio station Val 202), Noel Kelehan (Irish conductor), Corinne Hermès (French singer), Manfred Witt (music, show and entertainment producer of the German broadcaster NDR), Anders Berglund (Swedish composer and conductor), André Vermeulen (journalist for the Belgian broadcaster VRT), Jorge de Carmo (Portuguese composer and producer), Michael Ball (British singer), Bo Halldórsson (Icelandic singer) and Moshe Datz (Israeli composer and singer).
Final – 5 February 2000 :
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury Votes | Jury Votes | Jury Votes | Jury Votes | Jury Votes | Jury Votes | Jury Votes | Jury Votes | Jury Votes | Jury Votes | Total | Place |
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jernej Verne | Noel Kelehan | Corinne Hermès | Manfred Witt | Anders Berglund | André Vermeulen | Jorge do Carmo | Michael Ball | Björgvin Halldórsson | Moshe Datz | Total | Place |
| 1 | Maian Kärmas | "Mõistus ja tunded" | 4 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 68 | 4 |
| 2 | White Satin | "Church of Love" | 6 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 42 | 9 |
| 3 | Ines | "Kuulatan su ootamist" | 8 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 43 | 8 |
| 4 | Sarah and Lea | "Sunshine" | 5 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 36 | 10 |
| 5 | Maian Kärmas | "One Sweet Moment" | 3 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 57 | 5 |
| 6 | Hedvig Hanson and Mac McFall | "When We're Flying High" | 10 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 77 | 2 |
| 7 | Siiri Sisask | "Goodnight" | 2 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 45 | 6 |
| 8 | Kate | "Verevend" | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 45 | 6 |
| 9 | Ines | "Once in a Lifetime" | 12 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 98 | 1 |
| 10 | Evelin Samuel | "Over the Water Blue" | 7 | 8 | 1 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 69 | 3 |

## At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2000 took place at Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, on 13 May 2000. According to Eurovision rules, the participants list included the previous year's winning country, the "Big Four" countries (France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom), the countries with the highest average scores between the 1995 and 1999 contests, and any countries which had not competed in the 1999 contest. On 21 November 1999, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Estonia was set to perform in position 4, following the entry from the United Kingdom and before the entry from France.
Ahead of the contest Estonia were considered one of the favourites to win among bookmakers, alongside the entries from Norway, Ireland, and the Netherlands. Ines was joined on stage by Maiken, Kaire Vilgats, Jelena Juzvik, the co-composer of "Once in a Lifetime" Pearu Paulus, and Tanel Padar, and Estonia finished in ninth place with 98 points, their highest finish up to that time. Later, Ines claimed in a 2002 BBC documentary that she had been widely criticised on her return to Estonia, where people had been fully expecting a victory and felt let down that she had been unable to deliver it.
The contest was broadcast in Estonia on ETV and via radio on Raadio 2, both with commentary by Marko Reikop. ETV appointed Evelin Samuel (who represented Estonia in 1999) as its spokesperson to announce the results of the Estonian televote during the show. The contest was watched by a total of 545,000 viewers in Estonia with the market share of 46.6%.

### Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Estonian and awarded by Estonian in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to the Latvia in the contest.