Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998
Finland was represented by the group Edea, with the song "Aava", at the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 9 May in Birmingham. "Aava" was chosen as the Finnish entry at the national final on 14 February and is noted for containing the fewest different words (six) of any Eurovision entry. Before Eurovision. Euroviisut 1998. "Euroviisut 1998" was the national final that selects Finland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1998. The competition took place on 14 February 1998, held at the Yle Studio 2 in Helsinki and hosted by  Olga K and Sami Aaltonen. Competing entries. 189 submissions were received by Yle during a submission period. A panel of experts appointed by Yle selected two entries for the competition from the received submissions, with an additional seven entries being selected from submissions by composers directly invited by Yle to compete. Final. The final took place on 14 February 1998 where nine entries competed. "Aava" performed by Edea was selected as the winner. The winner was selected by a combination of public votes, an international expert jury panel and a jury panel consisting of members from international OGAE fan clubs . Each voting group distributed their points as follows: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10 points. At Eurovision. On the night of the final Edea performed 21st in the running order, following Belgium and preceding Norway. "Aava" had an ethnic new age-type sound which did not prove overly popular in the first year of full televoting as at the close it had received only 22 points, placing Finland 15th of the 25 entries, Finland's highest position in the 1990s. The 12 points from the Finnish televote were likewise awarded in neighbourly fashion to Estonia (who  finished 12th). Having had to sit out the 1997 contest due to relegation, Finland were again demoted on the cumulative countback rule and would not take part in 1999. External links. Full national final on Yle Elävä Arkisto