First qualification heat

The small city of Millstreet, Ireland, was the host for this year's Eurovision Song Contest. 1993 was the first year to feature a pre-qualifying heat for Eastern European countries. In the run-up to the contest, the European Broadcasting Union started to take into account how many potential countries would apply to enter the contest. The dissolution of the Eastern bloc and the disintegration of Yugoslavia created many new potential applicants. Because of that, seven countries from Eastern Europe had to participate in a preliminary heat called Kvalifikacija za Millstreet in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on the 3rd of April, in order to go to the final night of the 1993 Eurovision Song Contest. Bosnia & Herzegovina, Slovenia and Croatia made it through the preliminary heat and made their debut in the song contest as independent nations. Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Estonia had to wait till the following year to be eligible to enter Europe's biggest musical event.

About the winner

Ireland had their second victory in a row with the song In Your Eyes performed by Niamh Kavanagh who shot to fame due to the original soundtrack to the movie The Commitments. After a nailbiting finish, Niamh managed to keep the entry from the United Kingdom second with the very last vote. The UK entry Better The Devil You Know by Sonia was seen by many as the favorite to win, as Sonia had had some international hits with the legendary producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman.

Facts & figures

• The venue for the 1993 contest was very unusual - it was a hall normally used for horse auctions in the tiny town of Millstreet, near Cork. The contestants complained they were in the middle of nowhere with not a pub in sight. However, the Irish audience made up for this inconvenience as they enthusiastically welcomed all participating nations and also gave a special warm reception for the entry from Bosnia & Herzegovina - a country in a state of war in 1993.