The Dutch participating broadcaster, Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), selected its entry for the contest through Nationaal Songfestival 2003.

Performing during the show in position 14, the Netherlands placed thirteenth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 45 points.

The method was continued for its 2003 entry, with the national final being organised in collaboration with Televisie Radio Omroep Stichting (TROS).

[8] Nationaal Songfestival 2003 was the national final developed by NOS, in collaboration with TROS, to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2003.

Thirty-two entries competed in the competition consisting of five shows that commenced with the first of four semi-finals on 1 February 2003 and concluded with a final on 1 March 2003.

[11] The jury panel that voted in all shows consisted of:[12] The Dutch broadcaster together with Conamus directly invited over 1,000 composers to submit entries.

[13] 502 submissions were received by the broadcaster at the closing of the deadline, and the thirty-two selected competing entries were announced during a press conference on 16 January 2003.

[14] The selection of the entries for the competition occurred through the decision by a selection commission consisting of Willem van Beusekom, Jerney Kaagman, Ron Stoeltie, Daniël Dekker and Daan van Rijsbergen following a live audition of 60 shortlisted entries.

The winner, "One More Night" performed by Esther Hart, was selected by the 50/50 combination of a public televote and the votes of a seven-member expert jury.

[29] NOS appointed Marlayne (who represented the Netherlands in 1999) as its spokesperson to announce the Dutch votes during the show.