Lied van Liedjes 23

This was the twenty-third Lied van Liedjes to be held. Semi-Finals would occur on the Monday 24th, Tuesday 25th and Wednesday 26th June 2002. Golden Duels / Second Chance night would occur on Friday 28th June 2002 with the final happening on Saturday 29th June 2002.

=Organization= Helsinki was chosen as the host city as the capital of Finland internally by the tourism sector of the Finnish government. Hans Weiss would continue as executive producer, while Annie McLoad would return as director for the first time in two consecutive editions. Eila Kekkonen was chosen by the Finnish broadcaster as coordinator.

=Contest= Due to the contest being hosted in Finland, similar to Gibraltar, an autonomous region of Finland would take part:. Alongside this, the returned after saving up in their budget for 2 years, and due to the Nordic influences. finally made their return following two years of protest on the increased participation fee, which was lowered in the previous edition. rejoined the contest after it's non participation in the previous year with a new song which was selected through a national final. withdrew due to financial concerns.

Following on from the 21st edition, the 23rd edition would maintain 3 semi-finals and the Golden Duels. Five countries, the top 5 from the previous edition, would automatically qualify. This left 37 countries in the Semi Finals. The first Semi Final would be weighted with the extra nation having 13, while the second and third Semi Finals would have 12. 6 would qualify from each Semi Final, alongside 2 going to the Golden Duels. The three qualifying from the Golden Duels, with the 6 from each Semi Final and the 5 automatic qualifiers leaves 26 countries in the Grand Final.

The automatic qualifiers were:, , , ,

=Semi Finals=

Semi Final 3
=Finals=

Grand Final
=Other Countries= Didn't participate with no official statement: Didn't participate due to general financial issues:
 * - no official statement made. they last took part in the 16th edition
 * - no official statement made. they last took part in the 19th edition
 * - no official statement made. they last took part in the 19th edition
 * - no official statement made. they last took part in the 16th edition
 * - no official statement made. they last took part in the 20th edition
 * - no official statement made. they last took part in the 19th edition
 * -no official statement made. they last took part in the 19th edition
 * - no official statement made. they last took part in the 10th edition
 * - no official statement made. they have yet to debut. the 20th edition
 * - no official statement made. they have yet to debut.
 * - no official statement made. they last took part in the 19th edition
 * - no official statement made. they last took part in the 19th edition
 * - no official statement made. they last took part in the 20th edition
 * - no official statement made. they have yet to debut.
 * - no official statement made. they have yet to debut.
 * - no official statement made. they have yet to debut.
 * - announced they would not take part in the 23rd edition due to financial reasons. they last took part in the 18th edition
 * - announced they would not take part in the 23rd edition due to financial reasons. they last took part in the 18th edition
 * - under a contract to take part independently every other edition, with this edition being absent and participating as part of, although they didn't appear independently in the previous edition despite this. possible financial problems.
 * - announced they would not take part in the 23rd edition due to financial reasons. they last took part in the 18th edition
 * - announced they would not take part in the 23rd edition due to financial reasons. they last took part in the 18th edition