The was the tenth time that '''
Estonia ''' had entered the
Eurovision Song Contest , and was the ninth time that they competed in the final. Estonia had hosted the
2002 Finals , and had won the
2001 Contest , meaning that they had been one of the key participants in recent years. The preselection process used was again an international judging panel, with the
Eurolaul event again be broadcast across the country. The panel would select
Ruffus as their favourite, and the group would go on and compete in the final, placing 21st.
The
2003 preselections took place at the
Eesti Televisioon studios on
February 8 , 2003, and were hosted by
Marko Reikop and
Romi Erlach . As with all previous Estonian preselections, a judging panel from various countries was used to decide the 2003 Eurovision entrant. Amongst the judging panel was six former Eurovision entrants, including
Michael Ball ,
Renars Kaupers and
Moshe Datz . The judging panel would favour the entries by
Koit Toome and Ruffus, with Ruffus winning by one point and going on to represent Estonia in the
Riga final.
The 2003 preselections were controversial in that a public televote just before the Eurolaul event clearly showed that the
Girl Group Vanilla Ninja 's entry "Club Kung Fu" was the favourite of the nation. Residents of Estonia had been calling for the voting process to be changed to a public televote, as the Eurovision finals itself had some years ago, but Eesti Televisioon had decided to continue with a judging panel. This would prove to annoy many viewers, as despite Vanilla Ninja's clear popularity, the judging panel placed them tied last in the voting. Vanilla Ninja would still end up participating in the Eurovision final two years later, however, representing
Switzerland with the song "Cool Vibes" (and beating the Estonian entry by
Suntribe in the process).
Ruffus automatically qualified for the 2003 final, but performed poorly, and ended up finishing in 21st place with a total of only 14 points.
