The
Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the second
Eurovision Song Contest for young
singers aged 8 to 15. It was held on 20 November 2004, in
Håkons Hall,
Lillehammer,
Norway and lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes. It was presented by
Stian Barsnes Simonsen and
Nadia Hasnaoui, broadcast in 20 countries and viewed by 100 million people. 18 countries participated, France and Switzerland participated for the first time. Originally 20 countries had applied to take part but
Germany and
Israel later pulled out. There were also reports that
Ireland had planned to enter the programme. The contest was won by 9-year-old
María Isabel with her song
Antes muerta que sencilla (Better Dead Than Plain).
Dino Jelusic, who won the
2003 contest, presented the award to María. Since then, María Isabel has entered the charts in not only
Spain but
France,
Italy,
Scandinavia,
Latin America and released
a second album.
Greece, who came ninth received more sets of twelve points than the
United Kingdom, who came second.
France, who came sixth, were voted by all the other countries that took part, which is more than the number of countries that voted for
Romania, who came fourth and
Croatia, who came third.