Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999

Eurovision Song Contest 1999
Participating broadcaster	Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT)
Country	Belgium
National selection
Selection process	Eurosong '99
Selection date(s)	Semi-finals: 7 February 1999 14 February 1999 21 February 1999 Final 28 February 1999
Selected artist(s)	Vanessa Chinitor
Selected song	"Like the Wind"
Selected songwriter(s)	Ilia Beyers John Terra Emma Philippa Hjälmås Wim Claes
Finals performance
Final result	12th, 38 points
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1998 • 1999 • 2000►

Belgium was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1999 with the song "Like the Wind", written by Ilia Beyers, John Terra, Emma Philippa-Hjälmås and Wim Claes, and performed by Vanessa Chinitor. The Belgian participating broadcaster, Flemish Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT), selected its entry for the contest through the national final Eurosong '99. The competition featured twenty-five competing entries and consisted of three shows. In the final on 28 February 1999, "Like the Wind" performed by Vanessa Chinitor was selected as the winner via the votes of three televoting groups and two jury groups.

Belgium competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 29 May 1999. Performing during the show in position 2, Belgium placed twelfth out of the 23 participating countries, scoring 38 points.

Prior to the 1999 contest, Belgium had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-one times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in 1956.^[1] Since then, they have won the contest on one occasion in 1986 with the song "J'aime la vie", performed by Sandra Kim. In 1998, "Dis oui" performed by Mélanie Cohl placed sixth.

The Belgian participation in the contest alternates between two broadcasters: Flemish Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT) and Walloon Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française (RTBF) at the time, with both broadcasters sharing the broadcasting rights. Both broadcasters –and their predecessors– had selected the Belgian entry using national finals and internal selections in the past. VRT had the turn to participate in 1999. Both RTBF in 1998 and VRT's predecessor BRTN in 1996 organised a national final in order to select the Belgian entry. VRT held the Eurosong national final to select its entry for the 1999 contest.

Eurosong '99 was the national final organised by VRT to selecte its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999. The competition consisted of four shows that commenced on 7 February 1999 and concluded with a final on 28 February 1999 where the winning song and artist were selected. All shows took place at the Studio 100 in Schelle, hosted by Bart Peeters and were broadcast on TV1.^[2][3]

Twenty-five entries were selected to compete in Eurosong, of which 21 competed in three semi-finals that took place on 7, 14 and 21 February 1999 with each show featuring seven entries. The winner of each semi-final qualified to the final and the highest scoring second placed act in the semi-finals was also selected to advance. The final took place on 28 February 1999 where the four semi-final qualifiers were joined by the remaining four entries that were automatically qualified for the final and the winner was chosen. The results of all shows were determined by an expert jury, an international jury consisting of 40 European expats living in Belgium from countries that participate in Eurovision, and public televoting on Radio 2, Radio Donna and TV1. Each voting group had an equal stake in the result. Televoting on Radio 2 and Radio Donna was held for a week prior to each of the five shows after the songs were presented on their radio shows; 'Met Twee' and 'Schrappen wat niet past' respectively; while televoting on TV1 was held during the show. Each show was split into two parts: in the first part, the songs were performed and the results of the expert jury were announced; after the first part an episode of Heterdaad was aired while the rest of the results were being collected; and in the second part, the results of the international jury and three televoting groups were announced.^[4][5][6]

During each of the five shows, the expert jury provided commentary and feedback to the artists and selected entries to advance in the competition. These experts were:

• Liliane Saint-Pierre – singer, represented Belgium in 1987
• Anja Daems – Radio 2 presenter
• Marcel Vanthilt – singer and television presenter
• Marc Coenegracht – journalist for Het Laatste Nieuws
• Koen Lauwereyns – journalist for Het Volk
• Steve Stevens – journalist for TV Expres

A submission period was opened on 1 November 1998 for artists and songwriters to submit their entries until 15 December 1998. Twenty-one entries were selected from 199 received during the submission period, while VRT also directly invited four composers to each submit a song which would directly qualify for the final: Marc Paelinck, Marc Vanhie, Miguel Wiels and Stefan Wuyts. The twenty-five acts selected for the competition were announced on 12 January 1999.^[7]

The four semi-finals took place on 7, 14 and 21 February 1999. In each show seven entries competed and the combination of results from three televoting groups and two jury groups determined the winner that qualified to the final. The highest scoring second placed act in the semi-finals, "This Is My Life" performed by Voice Male, also proceeded to the final.^[8]

The final took place on 28 February 1999 where the four entries that qualified from the preceding three semi-finals and the four pre-qualified entries competed. The winner, "Like the Wind" performed by Vanessa Chinitor, was selected by the combination of results from three televoting groups and two jury groups.^[9][10] "Like the Wind" received over 100,000 of the 242,000 registered televotes.^[4]

The Eurovision Song Contest 1999 took place at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, Israel, on 29 May 1999. According to the Eurovision rules, the 23-country participant list for the contest was composed of: the previous year's winning country and host nation, the seventeen countries which had obtained the highest average points total over the preceding five contests, and any eligible countries which did not compete in the 1998 contest. On 17 November 1998, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Belgium was set to perform in position 2, following the entry from Lithuania and before the entry from Spain.^[11][12] Belgium finished in twelfth place with 38 points.^[13]

The contest was broadcast in Belgium by both the Flemish and Walloon broadcasters. VRT broadcast the show on TV1 with commentary in Dutch by André Vermeulen and Bart Peeters; the broadcast reached 1.399 million viewers with a marker share of 69%.^[14][15][16] RTBF televised the shows on La Une with commentary in French by Jean-Pierre Hautier.^[17] VRT appointed Sabine De Vos as its spokesperson to announce the results of the Belgian televote during the final.

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

Points awarded to Belgium[18] Score Country 12 points 10 points  Ireland  Netherlands 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points  Estonia  Israel 4 points  Croatia 3 points 2 points  France  Poland 1 point

Points awarded by Belgium[18] Score Country 12 points  Netherlands 10 points  Germany 8 points  Iceland 7 points  Sweden 6 points  Austria 5 points  Croatia 4 points  Estonia 3 points  Israel 2 points  Slovenia 1 point  Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Belgium National Final 1999