Country Finland Selection date(s) 14 February 1998 Selected song "Aava" | Selection process National Final Selected entrant Edea Final result 15th, 22 points | |
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 number of different words (six) of any Eurovision entry.
Contents
Final
The final was held at the studios of broadcaster YLE in Helsinki, hosted by Olga K and Sami Aaltonen. Nine songs took part, with the winner chosen by a combination of televoting and two juries made up of "experts" and Eurovision fans. The final result was very close, with only 4 points separating the top five songs.
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 (all but 2 of which came from neighbours Estonia and Sweden), 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.