Immediately after Estonia won the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest the media began to speculate whether the country would be able to host the competition in 2002, citing a lack of a suitable venue and budgetary concerns. Estonian Television defied the critics though and produced a professional show in Tallinn.
23 countries participated in 2002. Latvia entered the contest after Portugal declined the opportunity to participate. This was a rather peculiar situation, since Latvia ended up winning the whole contest in the end! There was no clear favorite among the 24 countries competing. Sweden, Germany and the host country Estonia were tipped as winners, but it was Marie N (Marija Naumova) who lifted the trophy
Marie N had already tried to enter the 2000 and 2001 Eurovision Song Contests, but narrowly missed out both times. Her 2002 entry I Wanna featured several costume changes providing a memorable performance for televoters. Like Estonia's winner the year before, I Wanna was no a success in the European charts.
Denmark was one of the favourites to win in 2002 but after a nervous performance from singer Malene the country finished last with just seven points. The rules for the 2002 contest stated that only 22 countries would be able to participate, but the European Broadcasting Union later changed this into 24 countries being allowed into the competition. The 2002 contest was the first to feature a slogan for the event. The theme, Modern Fairytale, reflected how Estonians viewed their recent history. The postcards all featured known fairytales.
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