The Eurovision Song Contest 1992 was the 37th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 9 May 1992 at the in Malmö, Sweden, and presented by Lydia Capolicchio and Harald Treutiger. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (SVT), who staged the event after winning the for with the song "" by Carola.
Broadcasters from twenty-three countries participated in the contesta new record number of participantswith the returning to the contest following a one-year break to join the twenty-two countries which had participated in the previous year's event.
The winner was with the song "Why Me", written by Johnny Logan and performed by Linda Martin. This marked Ireland's fourth win, and brought songwriter Logan his third win overall, having previously won the contest in as singer and in as both singer and songwriter.<br>The , , , and rounded out the top five, with the United Kingdom achieving its thirteenth second-place finish, while Malta and Greece achieved their best ever results up to this point. For the first time in the contest's history, the top three songs were all performed in English.
Location
thumb|200px|, Malmö – host venue of the 1992 contest
The 1992 contest took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Fångad av en stormvind", performed by Carola. It was the third time that Sweden had hosted the contest, following the and events held in Stockholm and Gothenburg respectively. The chosen venue was the , normally used as an indoor ice hockey arena and up until 2008 the home stadium of the Malmö Redhawks ice hockey team. Constructed in 1970, the venue had also previously hosted concerts by Frank Sinatra and Julio Iglesias amongst others. With a typical capacity of 5,800 spectators for ice hockey matches, for the contest an audience of around 3,700 was present. Ahead of the 1991 event the Maltese broadcaster had been told by the contest organisers that they would only be allowed to remain in the competition if another nation dropped out of the event, however after placing sixth in the 1991 contest, the organisers instead decided to raise the maximum number of participating countries to twenty-three to make space for continued Maltese participation. The contest marked the final participation of , whose entry represented the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for the first and only time, following the break-up of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the past year which had been responsible for all previous Yugoslav entries; following the 1992 contest Yugoslavia was excluded from participating and the nation would not return to the contest until , when it competed under its new name . The 1992 contest was notable in the fact that only two countries which had previously participated in past editions of the event were absent from the contest, namely and . Additionally, Evridiki participated as lead artist after previously performing backing vocals for , , and .
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sticky-header"
|-
|+ Eurovision Song Contest 1992 participants
|-
! scope="col" | Country
! scope="col" | Broadcaster
! scope="col" | Artist
! scope="col" | Song
! scope="col" | Language
! scope="col" | Songwriter(s)
! scope="col" | Conductor
|-
! scope="row" |
| ORF
| Tony Wegas
| ""
| German
|
| Leon Ives
|-
! scope="row" |
| RTBF
|
| ""
| French
|
| Frank Fievez
|-
! scope="row" |
| CyBC
| Evridiki
| "" <small>()</small>
| Greek
| George Theofanous
| George Theofanous
|-
! scope="row" |
| DR
| and
| ""
| Danish
| Carsten Warming
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| YLE
| Pave
| "Yamma Yamma"
| Finnish
|
| Olli Ahvenlahti
|-
! scope="row" |
|
| Kali
| ""
| French, Antillean Creole
|
| Magdi Vasco Noverraz
|-
! scope="row" |
| MDR
| Wind
| ""
| German
|
| Norbert Daum
|-
! scope="row" |
| ERT
|
| "" <small>()</small>
| Greek
| Christos Lagos
| Haris Andreadis
|-
! scope="row" |
| RÚV
|
| ""
| Icelandic
|
| Nigel Wright
|-
! scope="row" |
| RTÉ
| Linda Martin
| "Why Me"
| English
|
| Noel Kelehan
|-
! scope="row" |
| IBA
| Dafna
| "" <small>()</small>
| Hebrew
|
| Kobi Oshrat
|-
! scope="row" |
| RAI
| Mia Martini
| ""
| Italian
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| CLT
| and
| ""
| Luxembourgish
|
| Christian Jacob
|-
! scope="row" |
| PBS
| Mary Spiteri
| "Little Child"
| English
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| NOS
| Humphrey Campbell
| ""
| Dutch
|
| Harry van Hoof
|-
! scope="row" |
| NRK
| Merethe Trøan
| ""
| Norwegian
|
| Rolf Løvland
|-
! scope="row" |
| RTP
| Dina
| ""
| Portuguese
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| TVE
| Serafín
| ""
| Spanish
|
| Javier Losada
|-
! scope="row" |
| SVT
| Christer Björkman
| ""
| Swedish
| Niklas Strömstedt
| Anders Berglund
|-
! scope="row" |
| SRG SSR
|
| "Mister Music Man"
| French
| Gordon Dent
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| TRT
|
| ""
| Turkish
|
| Aydın Özarı
|-
! scope="row" |
| BBC
| Michael Ball
| "One Step Out of Time"
| English
|
| Ronnie Hazlehurst
|-
! scope="row" | Yugoslavia
| JRT
|
| "" <small>()</small>
| Serbian
|
| Anders Berglund
|}
Production and format
thumb|upright|[[Anders Berglund (pictured in 2019) was the contest's musical director and led the orchestra during the event]]
The Eurovision Song Contest 1992 was produced by the Swedish public broadcaster (SVT). served as executive producer, served as producer and director, Göran Arfs served as designer, and Anders Berglund served as musical director leading an assembled orchestra of around 50 musicians.
Each participating broadcaster submitted one song, which was required to be no longer than three minutes in duration and performed in the language, or one of the languages, of the country which it represented. A maximum of six performers were allowed on stage during each country's performance, and all participants were required to have reached the age of 16 in the year of the contest. Each entry could utilise all or part of the live orchestra and could use instrumental-only backing tracks, however any backing tracks used could only include the sound of instruments featured on stage being mimed by the performers.
Following the confirmation of the twenty-three competing countries, the draw to determine the running order was held on 3 December 1991 and was conducted by Carola.
The results of the 1992 contest were determined through the same scoring system as had first been introduced in : each country awarded twelve points to its favourite entry, followed by ten points to its second favourite, and then awarded points in decreasing value from eight to one for the remaining songs which featured in the country's top ten, with countries unable to vote for their own entry. The points awarded by each country were determined by an assembled jury of sixteen individuals, which was required to be split evenly between members of the public and music professionals, between men and women, and by age. Each jury member voted in secret and awarded between one and ten votes to each participating song, excluding that from their own country and with no abstentions permitted. The votes of each member were collected following the country's performance and then tallied by the non-voting jury chairperson to determine the points to be awarded. In any cases where two or more songs in the top ten received the same number of votes, a show of hands by all jury members was used to determine the final placing.
The stage design for the Malmö contest centred around a large representation of the bow of a Viking ship, flanked on either side by sets of stairs, while a hexagonal design was used for the floor area in front which was painted to resemble the Eurovision network logo.
Rehearsals in the contest venue began on 3 May 1992, focussing on the opening performances and interval act. The participating artists began their rehearsals on 4 May, and each participating delegation was afforded two technical rehearsals in the week of the contest, with countries rehearsing in the order in which they would perform. The first rehearsals, held on 4 and 5 May, saw each country given a 40-minute slot on stage, followed by a press conference. Each delegation was then given a second slot to rehearse on stage, this time for 30 minutes, on 6 and 7 May. Three dress rehearsals were held with all artists, two held in the afternoon and evening of 8 May and one final rehearsal in the afternoon of 9 May. Audiences were present for the latter two dress rehearsals, and the final afternoon dress rehearsal was also recorded for use as a production stand-by. During the contest week the participating delegations were also invited to a welcome reception, which was held in . The Yugoslav representative had been given additional security in the form of bodyguards and a doctor due to the breakout of the Yugoslav Wars.
This year's contest featured a mascot: the "Eurobird", an anthropomorphic bird, featured as a computer animated character during the transition between the competing songs. This was followed by performances within the venue by the rhythmic gymnastics troupe, involving ribbon choreography to an instrumental version of "", and the previous year's winning artist Carola who sang the song "All the Reasons to Live". The interval act, entitled "A Century of Dance", featured David Johnson, Teresa Ibrahim, the Crazy Feat dance troupe and dancers from the , in a performance that showed the evolution of dance in Sweden and worldwide over the previous century; among the music pieces featured during the performance was "It Must Have Been Love" originally recorded by the Swedish duo Roxette. This was the fourth time that Ireland had won the contest, following victories , , and . Having come second , Martin became the third artist to have placed both first and second in the contest, alongside Lys Assia and Gigliola Cinquetti, and songwriter Logan, who had already won the contest twice as a performer in 1980 and 1987the latter win additionally as the songwriterbecame the third individual to record two songwriting wins, alongside Willy van Hemert and Yves Dessca, and became the first, and only, individual to record three wins as either singer or songwriter. The finished in second place for a record-extending thirteenth time, while and recorded their best ever results to date with third- and fifth-place finishes respectively. Conversely host country recorded one of its worst ever results, finishing 22nd and second-to-last, and picked up its seventh last-place finish.
{| class="sortable wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
|+ Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1992
|-
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Country
! scope="col" | Artist
! scope="col" | Song
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Points
! scope="col" | Place
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 1
|
| Serafín
| ""
| 37
| 14
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 2
|
| Morgane
| ""
| 11
| 20
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 3
|
| Dafna
| ""
| 85
| 6
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 4
|
|
| ""
| 17
| 19
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 5
|
| Cleopatra
| ""
| 94
| 5
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 6
|
| Kali
| "Monte la riviè"
| 73
| 8
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 7
|
|
| ""
| 9
| 22
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 8
|
| Dina
| ""
| 26
| 17
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 9
|
| Evridiki
| ""
| 57
| 11
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 10
|
|
| "Little Child"
| 123
| 3
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 11
|
| Heart 2 Heart
| ""
| 80
| 7
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 12
|
| Pave
| "Yamma Yamma"
| 4
| 23
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 13
|
|
| "Mister Music Man"
| 32
| 15
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 14
|
| and Kontinent
| ""
| 10
| 21
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 15
|
|
| ""
| 63
| 10
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 16
|
|
| "One Step Out of Time"
| 139
| 2
|- style="font-weight:bold; background:gold;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 17
|
|
| "Why Me"
| 155
| 1
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 18
|
| and Kenny Lübcke
| ""
| 47
| 12
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 19
|
|
| ""
| 111
| 4
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 20
| Yugoslavia
|
| ""
| 44
| 13
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 21
|
|
| ""
| 23
| 18
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 22
|
| Wind
| ""
| 27
| 16
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 23
|
|
| ""
| 67
| 9
|}
Spokespersons
Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson, connected to the contest venue via telephone lines and responsible for announcing, in English or French, the votes for its respective country. Known spokespersons at the 1992 contest are listed below.
- Solveig Herlin
- Olivier Minne
- Eileen Dunne
- Joanna Drake
|-
! colspan="2" |
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
|-
! rowspan="23"
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Spain
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 37 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 1 || || 1 || 4 || 6 || || || || 2 || || 3 || || 3 || 2 || 1 || || 1 || 7 || || 5 || || 1
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Belgium
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 11 || 3 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || 4 || || 3 || || || || || || || || 1 || || || || || || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Israel
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 85 || 10 || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 2 || || 8 || 4 || 7 || 4 || 7 || || || 4 || 8 || 1 || 7 || || 2 || || 12 || 2 || 4 || 3
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Turkey
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 17 || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || || || 8 || || || || || || || 3 || || || 6 || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Greece
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 94 || || || 7 || 8 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 7 || 3 || 5 || 12 || || 2 || 5 || 10 || || 4 || || || || 12 || 7 || 8 || || 4
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | France
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 73 || 6 || || 12 || 3 || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || 3 || || || 7 || 12 || || || || 5 || || 6 || || 10 || 3 || 6
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Sweden
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 9 || || || || || || 1 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || || || || || || || || 4 || || 4 || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Portugal
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 26 || || || 8 || || 2 || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || 2 || || || || || || || 1 || 5 || || 8 ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Cyprus
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 57 || || || 3 || || 10 || 2 || || 2 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 1 || || 8 || 2 || || || || 6 || || 4 || 8 || 3 || || 8
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Malta
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 123 || 12 || 10 || || || 7 || || 12 || 12 || 1 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 8 || || 5 || 12 || 8 || || 10 || 8 || 3 || 10 || || || 5
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Iceland
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 80 || 8 || 4 || 4 || || 6 || || 6 || 6 || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || 3 || 5 || 7 || 12 || || 5 || 5 || || 1 || 6 || 2
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Finland
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 4 || || || 1 || || || || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || || || || || 3 || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Switzerland
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 32 || || 5 || || || || || || || || || 12 || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || 4 || 1 || || 10 || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Luxembourg
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 10 || || || || || || || || || || 10 || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || || || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Austria
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 63 || 2 || 8 || || || 8 || || 1 || 3 || 8 || 4 || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 10 || 12 || 7 || || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | United Kingdom
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 139 || 5 || 12 || 2 || 10 || || 10 || 5 || || 6 || 6 || 4 || 6 || 8 || 7 || 12 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 7 || 12 || 8 || || || 12 || 7
|- style="background:gold;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; font-weight:bold; background:gold;" | Ireland
| style="text-align:right; font-weight:bold;" | 155 || 1 || 7 || || 12 || 12 || || 10 || 4 || 5 || 12 || 7 || 10 || 6 || 10 || 10 || 8 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 10 || 2 || 2 || 7 || 10 || 10
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Denmark
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 47 || 4 || || 6 || || || || 7 || 1 || || || 6 || || || 6 || 3 || 3 || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || 6 || 5 ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Italy
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 111 || || || || 5 || 3 || 12 || 8 || 8 || 10 || 5 || 10 || 12 || 7 || || 6 || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || 12 || 1 || 12
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Yugoslavia
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 44 || || || 10 || 6 || 1 || 5 || || || 2 || 3 || 5 || 4 || || 2 || || || 4 || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || 2 ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Norway
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 23 || || 3 || || || || || 2 || || || || 1 || 1 || || 4 || || 5 || || 6 || || 1 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Germany
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 27 || || 6 || || || || || || 10 || || || || || || || || 6 || 2 || 3 || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Netherlands
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 67 || 7 || 2 || 5 || 7 || 5 || 4 || || || 7 || || 3 || || 1 || || 5 || 2 || 8 || || || || 4 || 7 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" |
|}
12 points
The below table summarises how the maximum 12 points were awarded from one country to another. The winning country is shown in bold. Italy, Malta and the United Kingdom each received the maximum score of 12 points from four of the voting countries, with Ireland receiving three sets of 12 points, France and Greece receiving two sets of maximum scores each, and Austria, Iceland, Israel and Switzerland each receiving one maximum score.
The contest was broadcast in 44 countries, including Australia and South Korea, with an estimated global audience of 150 to 250 million viewers. Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sticky-header"
|-
|+ Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
|-
! scope="col" | Country
! scope="col" | Broadcaster
! scope="col" | Channel(s)
! scope="col" | Commentator(s)
! scope="col" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| ORF
| FS1
| Ernst Grissemann
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |
| RTBF
| RTBF1
| Claude Delacroix
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| Radio 2
| and
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |
| rowspan="2" | CyBC
| RIK 1
| Evi Papamichail
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| colspan="2"