Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2003

The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2003 was the first Eurovision Song Contest for young singers aged eight to fifteen. It was held on 15 November 2003, in Copenhagen, Denmark. With Camilla Ottesen and Remee as the presenters, the contest was won by the then eleven-year-old Dino Jelušić, who represented Croatia with his song "Ti si moja prva ljubav" (You are my first love) while second and third place went to Spain and the United Kingdom respectively. The next time that a country would win on its first attempt was Italy in 2014.

It was the first Eurovision to be broadcast in the 16:9 widescreen format. It was also the first Eurovision Song Contest where a DVD of the contest would be released. It was decided that the country that won the contest would not necessarily host the next contest, in order to reduce the pressure on the contestants.

Participating countries

16 countries competed in the first edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. In an original press release for the contest, then entitled the "Eurovision Song Contest for Children", a draw was held to select 15 countries to take part in the inaugural contest, with Slovakian broadcaster Slovenská televízia (STV) and German broadcaster ARD being drawn to compete along with 13 other countries. These countries would eventually be replaced by entries from Poland, Cyprus and Belarus, in their first ever Eurovision event. The Finnish broadcaster Yleisradio (YLE) also expressed a debut in the first contest, but went on to just broadcast it instead.