The Semifinals
The Dutch Semi-Finals were held at Hart van Holland near Nijkerk, hosted by Harm Edens. The favourite song of an „expert“ jury and the favourite of the televoters went forward to the final. If both had the same favourite then the 2nd favourite of the televoters went through. The „expert“ jury included Corry Brokken who won the 1957 ESC. The points awarded by the jury are in the first column of results, with the televoting percentages in the second.
Semi-Final 1 – February 1st
| 1 | Mamboleo | Mamboleo | Sonny’s Inc | 10 | 7% | – |
| 2 | Wanna be the one | Wanna be the one | Aletia Bourne | 49 | 4% | – |
| 3 | Zoeken in de lucht | Searching in the sky | Martin Frankena | 45 | 8% | – |
| 4 | Together forever | Together forever | Astrit | 38 | 9% | – |
| 5 | All about love | All about love | Jerique Allan | 35 | 8% | – |
| 6 | Somewhere by the river | Somewhere by the river | Mary Amora | 61 | 41% | F |
| 7 | Hotel ’t hart | The heart hotel | Blauwdruk | 5 | 6% | – |
| 8 | Boogie | Boogie | Zooom | 37 | 17% | F |
Semi-Final 2 – February 8th
| 1 | Give it up! | Give it up! | The Beanuts | 26 | 7% | – |
| 2 | Als twee vrienden | Like two friends | Barbara Lok | 18 | 10% | – |
| 3 | One more night | One more night | Esther Hart | 73 | 30% | F |
| 4 | She would | She would | Sofuja & Glenn Corneille | 63 | 15% | – |
| 5 | Jij laat me nooit meer los | You never let me go alone | Steffen de Wolff | 9 | 3% | – |
| 6 | Time to party | Time to party | Mango Nuts | 53 | 18% | F |
| 7 | Over the moon | Over the moon | Suzanne | 21 | 11% | – |
| 8 | Footprints in the sand | Footprints in the sand | Georges Lotze | 17 | 6% | – |
Semi-Final 3 – February 15th
| 1 | We can’t stop the music | We can’t stop the music | The Soullisticks | 21 | 9% | – |
| 2 | Talking angels | Talking angels | Julia West | 49 | 6% | – |
| 3 | Nananana | Nananana | Mazzel | 12 | 19% | – |
| 4 | Stand as one | Stand as one | Brothers | 10 | 3% | – |
| 5 | Beautiful life | Beautiful life | Sandra Abbink | 61 | 18% | – |
| 6 | Waar en wanneer | Where and when | Jeffrey | 5 | 4% | – |
| 7 | Turiddu | Turiddu | Arwin Kluft | 47 | 24% | F |
| 8 | Heatwave | Heatwave | Ebonique | 75 | 17% | F |
Semi-Final 4 – February 22nd
| 1 | I’m on fire | I’m on fire | Kathy Bloom | 46 | 4% | – |
| 2 | Souvenirs | Souvenirs | Boulevard | 20 | 6% | – |
| 3 | Let’s give it a try | Let’s give it a try | Lewis & Simon | 58 | 5% | – |
| 4 | Rauw | Raw | Sasja Brouwers | 4 | 6% | – |
| 5 | I’ll be your voice | I’ll be your voice | Gordon | 82 | 36% | F |
| 6 | Blue skies are for free | Blue skies are for free | Bert Heerink & Manou | 11 | 23% | F |
| 7 | Omdat jij jij bent | Because you are what you are | De Helden | 23 | 4% | – |
| 8 | Don’t cry | Don’t cry | A-Teaze | 36 | 16% | – |
- Julia West was a backing singer for the UK in the 2000 ESC.
- One of the backing singers for A-Teaze was Mandy Huyts who represented the Netherlands in the 1986 ESC as part of the group Frizzle Sizzle.
The Final
The Dutch Final was held on March 1st at the Ahoy in Rotterdam, hosted by Loes Luca. The winning song was chosen by televoting (50%) and an „expert“ jury (50%) which included Corry Brokken who won the 1957 ESC. Esther Hart was favourite with both the jury and televoters.
There were some problems with many of the SMS votes which didn’t arrive until the day after the final. Once these votes were included the result would have been slightly different – Esther (165), Gordon (123), Arwin (87), Ebonique (63), Bert Heerink (50), Mango Nuts (31), Mary Amora (28) & Zooom (13).
| 1 | Time to party | Mango Nuts | 31 | 5th |
| 2 | Somewhere by the river | Mary Amora | 28 | 6th |
| 3 | Blue skies are for free | Bert Heerink & Manou | 25 | 7th |
| 4 | I’ll be your voice | Gordon | 124 | 2nd |
| 5 | One more night | Esther Hart | 170 | 1st |
| 6 | Heatwave | Ebonique | 67 | 4th |
| 7 | Turiddu | Arwin Kluft | 102 | 3rd |
| 8 | Boogie | Zooom | 13 | 8th |
- Richard Rodermond from the group Mango Nuts was a backing singer for Linda Wagenmakers in ESC 2000.
- Esther Hart also took part in the 2003 UK Semi-Final, but withdrew from the UK Final when she qualified for the Dutch Final. At the ESC, she came 13th. Amongst her backing singers was Roger Happel (Dutch Final 1999).
- Ebonique member Ingrid Simons was a backing singer for the Netherlands in the 1996 ESC and was one of the ‚Ladies‘ who accompanied Sergio in the 2002 ESC for Belgium. Fellow member Carolien Dest was a backing singer for the Netherlands in the 1999 ESC.