Estonia was represented by
Koit Toome, with the song "Mere lapsed", at the
1998 Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May in
Birmingham. "Mere lapsed" was chosen as the Estonian entry at the national final,
Eurolaul, on 24 January.
Before Eurovision
Eurolaul 1998
The final was held at the studios of broadcaster
ETV in
Tallinn, hosted by Marko Reikop and Anu Välba. Ten songs took part with the winner being chosen by an "expert" international jury. Other participants included former Estonian representatives
Janika Sillamaa and
Ivo Linna, and the following year's
Evelin Samuel. "Mere lapsed" was an unexpected winner and had never been ahead in the voting until the final juror's votes enabled it to snatch an unpredicted last minute victory.[1]
Heading into the final of the contest, BBC reported that bookmakers ranked the entry joint 12th out of the 25 entries.[2] On the night of the final Toome performed 23rd in the running order, following
Norway and preceding
Turkey. At the close of voting "Mere lapsed" had picked up 36 points, placing Estonia joint 12th (with
Portugal) of the 25 entries.[3] The 12 points from the Estonian televote were awarded to
Sweden.[4]