The winner was Israel with the song "Diva", composed by Svika Pick, written by Yoav Ginai and performed by Dana International.

The 1998 contest took place in Birmingham, the United Kingdom, following the country's victory at the 1997 edition with the song "Love Shine a Light", performed by Katrina and the Waves.

[2][3][4][5] Many cities across the United Kingdom expressed interest in hosting the contest, the first to be held in the country in sixteen years, with venues in Aberdeen, Belfast, Bournemouth, Brighton, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Harrogate, Inverness, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield being considered.

[13] Additionally, three artists who had previously competed as lead artists at Eurovision returned as backing performers for their respective countries at this year's event: José María Guzmán, who had represented Spain in the 1986 event as a member of the group Cadillac, was a backing singer for Mikel Herzog;[14] Egon Egemann, who had previously represented Switzerland in the 1990 contest, performed on stage as violinist for Gunvor;[15] and Paul Harrington, winner of the 1994 contest for Ireland with Charlie McGettigan, providing backing vocals for Dawn Martin.

[6][8] In cases where the average was identical between two or more countries the total number of points scored in the most recent contest determined the final order.

[28][29] On behalf of the contest organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the event was overseen by Christine Marchal-Ortiz as scrutineer.

[6] Although the arena could hold up to 13,000 people, the assembled audience during the contest was limited to around 4,500, with tickets for the dress rehearsal and live show awarded by ballot.

[6][28][29] Much of the press centre facilities constructed for the contest were subsequently retained and augmented for use during the 24th G8 summit held in Birmingham the following week.

[19][20] The French entry had been planned to be performed completely with the backing track, but during rehearsals a decision was reached to incorporate additional live string accompaniment from the orchestra directed by Martin Koch.

[11][22][41] Issues also arose during the rehearsals for the Turkish entry, when their conductor Ümit Eroğlu was found to be leading the orchestra at too slow a tempo, resulting in the performance running over the three minute limit and thus breaking the rules of the contest.

[43][44] The winning performers received a glass bowl designed by Susan Nickson bearing the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 logo.

The document set out the overall aim of the contest and provided detail on the organisation of the event, the qualification process, the criteria for the competing songs and performers, the voting system to be used to determine the results of the contest, as well as the rights and responsibilities conferred by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) onto the participating broadcasters.

[8] For the first time a watermark was included on screen during each entry with the name of the country being performed, an innovation which has become a standard feature in each contest.

[9] This edition of the contest would conversely be the last in which countries would be obliged to perform in their own language and the last to feature an orchestra accompanying the competing entries; from the following year's contest participating countries were able to send entries in any language and the organising broadcaster was no longer obliged to provide an orchestra.

[8] The points from countries which were unable to use televoting were determined by an assembled jury of sixteen individuals, which was required to be split evenly between members of the public and music professionals, comprised additionally of an equal number of men and women, and below and above 30 years of age.

The votes of each member were collected following the country's performance and then tallied by the non-voting jury chairperson to determine the points to be awarded.

Each postcard was accompanied by extracts of Britpop or classical music, with a pattern featured in the final moments of the footage forming into the flag of the country which was about to perform.

[11][45] The various themes for each postcard, and the musical accompaniment which featured, are listed below by order of performance:[11][45] The contest took place on 9 May 1998 at 20:00 (BST) and lasted 3 hours.

[45] The interval performance was entitled "Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity", based on music from the movement of the same name from the orchestral suite The Planets by English composer Gustav Holst.

[46] A medley of vocal and instrumental pieces inspired by English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Indian and Zulu cultures, the segment included over 200 performers and featured music from the BBC Concert Orchestra and performances by soprano Lesley Garrett, violinist Vanessa-Mae, the Sutherland Pipe Band, Andrew Findon on tin whistle, Carys Hughes on harp, the bhangra dance group Nachda Sansaar, the Canoldir Male Voice Choir, the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, trumpeters from the Band of the Blues and Royals and an excerpt of Patti Boulaye's Sun Dance.

[45][55][56] The winner was Israel represented by the song "Diva", composed by Svika Pick, written by Yoav Ginai [he] and performed by Dana International.

[61] This led to scenes towards the end of the broadcast of hosts Terry Wogan and Ulrika Jonsson, and last year's winning vocalist Katrina Leskanich, looking perturbed and confused as to the delay and location of Dana International.

[8] Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers.

[128] The winner in 1998 was Germany's representative Guildo Horn, as determined by the founders of the House of Eurovision site Edwin van Thillo and Rob Paardekam.

Taking issue with the singer's transgender status, groups mounted street protests against her selection, and she also received death threats ahead of the contest.