Eurovision Song Contest 2005

Eurovision Song Contest 2005
Awakening
Dates and venue
Semi-final	19 May 2005 (2005-05-19)
Final	21 May 2005 (2005-05-21)
Venue	Palace of Sports Kyiv, Ukraine
Organisation
Organiser	European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
Executive supervisor	Svante Stockselius
Production
Host broadcaster	National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU)
Director	Sven Stojanovic
Executive producer	Pavlo Grytsak
Presenters	Maria Efrosinina Pavlo Shylko
Participants
Number of entries	39
Number of finalists	24
Debuting countries	Bulgaria  Moldova
Returning countries	Hungary
Participation map      Finalist countries     Countries eliminated in the semi-final     Countries that participated in the past but not in 2005
Vote
Voting system	Each country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 points to their 10 favourite songs.
Winning song	Greece "My Number One"
2004 ← Eurovision Song Contest → 2006 Event page at eurovision.tv

The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It consisted of a semi-final on 19 May and a final on 21 May 2005, held at the Palace of Sports in Kyiv, Ukraine, and presented by Maria Efrosinina and Pavlo Shylko. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU), who staged the event after winning the 2004 contest for Ukraine with the song "Wild Dances" by Ruslana.

Broadcasters from thirty-nine countries participated in the contest, three more than the previous record of thirty-six, that took part the year before. Bulgaria and Moldova made their first participation this year, while Hungary returned to the contest after a six-year absence, having last taken part in 1998.

The winner was Greece with the song "My Number One", performed by Helena Paparizou and written by Manos Psaltakis, Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou. This was Greece's first victory in the contest after 31 years of participation. Malta, Romania, Israel, and Latvia rounded out the top five. Malta equalled their best result from 2002, while Romania achieved their best result in their Eurovision history. Unusually, all "Big Four" countries (France, Germany, Spain and United Kingdom) ended up as the "Last Four", all placing in the bottom four positions in the final.