Eurovision Song Contest 2005

Eurovision Song Contest 2005
Awakening
Dates
Semi-final	19 May 2005 (2005-05-19)
Final	21 May 2005 (2005-05-21)
Host
Venue	Palace of Sports Kyiv, Ukraine
Presenter(s)	Maria Efrosinina Pavlo Shylko
Directed by	Sven Stojanovic
Executive supervisor	Svante Stockselius
Executive producer	Pavlo Grytsak
Host broadcaster	National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU)
Website	eurovision.tv/event/kyiv-2005
Participants
Number of entries	39
Number of finalists	24
Debuting countries	Bulgaria  Moldova
Returning countries	Hungary
Non-returning countries	None
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

The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the 2004 contest with the song "Wild Dances" by Ruslana. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU), the contest was held at the Palace of Sports, and consisted of a semi-final on 19 May, and a final on 21 May 2005. The two live shows were presented by Ukrainian television presenters Maria Efrosinina and Pavlo Shylko.

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.