| Dates | |
| Final | Thursday 19 May 2005 |
| Host | |
| Venue |  Palace of Sports, Kiev, 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) |
| Opening Act | The Song and Dance Company of Ukraine Military Forces, A-6 Ballet and Diezel DJ Power (Freak show) |
| Interval act | Irina Mazur’s Ballet „Life“ |
| Qualifiers | Moldova Latvia Israel Norway Romania Hungary F.Y.R. Macedonia Switzerland Croatia Denmark |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 24 in Final , 39 in Total |
| Debuting countries |  Bulgaria Moldova |
| Returning countries |  Hungary |
| Non-returning countries | None |
The tension was extremely high on 21st May, 2005 when 24 countries competed to get the crown of Europe’s biggest musical event which took place in Kiev in its 50th edition. Ukrainian TV had decided that the motto for the 2005 contest would be Awakening, following the country’s political shifts the year before.
No clear favorite
Just like in 2004, ten countries had a reason for partying as the went on to qualify for the Final of the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest: Romania, Moldova, Denmark, Croatia, Hungary, Norway, Israel, Switzerland, FYR Macedonia and Latvia. Unlike in 2004, there was no clear favorite among the ten qualifiers and the 14 who already pre-qualified to the Final. A handful of countries were tipped as the winner.
About the winner
After an exciting start of the voting, it soon became clear that Greece,represented by Helena Paparizou with the song My Number One, and Malta’s Chiara would fight for the crown of European music. Both had already participated before in the Eurovision Song Contest; Helena as part of the group Antique, which came 3rd in the 2001 contest (which was Greece’s best ever result at that time). Chiara had also come third in a nail-biting finish in Birmingham. in 1998. However, in the last part of the voting, it became clear that Greece would take the trophy home to Athens. The Romanian entry Let Me Try by Luminita Anghel & Sistem came third after winning the Semi-Final. 2005 is the only contest to date where a pre-qualified finalist has won the contest’s Final.
The Kyiv contest marked the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest, which later in 2005 would see a gala in Copenhagen to celebrate the birthday of this middle-aged but young hearted lady, better known as the Eurovision Song Contest to millions of European television viewers.
The Participants
| # | Representing country | Performer(s) | Song title, writer(s) and composer(s) | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Hungary MTV | NOX | Forogj Világ | 097 | 12 |
| 02 | United Kingdom BBC | Javine | Touch My Fire | 018 | 22 |
| 03 | Malta PBS | Chiara | Angel | 192 | 02 |
| 04 | Romania TVR | Luminita Anghel & Sistem | Let Me Try | 158 | 03 |
| 05 | Norway NRK | Wig Wam | In My Dreams | 125 | 09 |
| 06 | Turkey TRT | Gülseren | Rimi Rimi Ley | 092 | 13 |
| 07 | Moldova TRM | Zdob si Zdub | Boonika Bate Toba | 148 | 06 |
| 08 | Albania RTSH | Ledina Celo | Tomorrow I Go | 053 | 16 |
| 09 | Cyprus CyBC | Constantinos Christoforou | Ela Ela | 046 | 18 |
| 10 | Spain TVE | Son de sol | Brujería | 028 | 21 |
| 11 | Israel IBA | Shiri Maymon | Hasheket Shenish’ar | 154 | 04 |
| 12 | Serbia & Montenegro RTS | No Name | Zauvijek Moja | 137 | 07 |
| 13 | Denmark DR | Jakob Sveistrup | Talking To You | 125 | 09 |
| 14 | Sweden SVT | Martin Stenmarck | Las Vegas | 030 | 19 |
| 15 | F.Y.R. Macedonia MKRTV | Martin Vucic | Make My Day | 052 | 17 |
| 16 | Ukraine NTU | Greenjolly | Razom Nas Bahato | 030 | 19 |
| 17 | Germany ARD | Gracia | Run & Hide | 004 | 24 |
| 18 | Croatia HRT | Boris Novkovic feat. Lado members | Vukovi Umiru Sami | 115 | 11 |
| 19 | Greece ERT | Helena Paparizou | My Number One | 230 | 01 |
| 20 | Russia C1R | Natalia Podolskaya | Nobody Hurt No One | 057 | 15 |
| 21 | Bosnia & Herzegovina PBSBIH | Feminnem | Call Me | 079 | 14 |
| 22 | Switzerland SSR SRG | Vanilla Ninja | Cool Vibes | 128 | 08 |
| 23 | Latvia LTV | Walter & Kazha | The War Is Not Over | 153 | 05 |
| 24 | France France 3 | Ortal | Chacun Pense à Soi | 011 | 23 |
Scoreboard
| Participant | |  |  |  |  | |  | | | |  | |  | | | | |  |  | | |  | | |  | |  |  | | | |  | | | |  | | | | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hungary | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 97 | 12 | |||||||||||||||||
| United Kingdom | 5 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 18 | 22 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Malta | 4 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 12 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 192 | 2 | |||||||||
| Romania | 5 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 3 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 158 | 3 | ||||||||||||
| Norway | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 4 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 125 | 9 | ||||||||||||||
| Turkey | 8 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 1 | 92 | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Moldova | 2 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 2 | 148 | 6 | |||||||||||
| Albania | 3 | 5 | 2 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 2 | 53 | 16 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cyprus | 7 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 46 | 18 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spain | 12 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 28 | 21 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Israel | 3 | 8 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 154 | 4 | |||||||||||
| Serbia & Montenegro | 6 | 12 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 137 | 7 | |||||||||||||||||
| Denmark | 3 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 125 | 9 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sweden | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 30 | 19 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| F.Y.R. Macedonia | 10 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 52 | 17 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ukraine | 8 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 30 | 19 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Germany | 2 | 2 | 4 | 24 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Croatia | 2 | 8 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 2 | 8 | 115 | 11 | |||||||||||||||||
| Greece | 12 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 5 | 12 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 12 | 2 | 8 | 12 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 230 | 1 | ||||||
| Russia | 12 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 4 | 57 | 15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bosnia & Herzegovina | 10 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 79 | 14 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Switzerland | 1 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 128 | 8 | |||||||||||||||
| Latvia | 10 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 153 | 5 | ||||||||||||||
| France | 1 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 23 |