Lied van Liedjes 21

This was the twenty-first Lied van Liedjes to be held. Semi-Finals would occur on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th April 2002 on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Golden Duels / Second Chance night would occur on Friday, 26th April 2002 with the final happening on Saturday, 27th April 2002.

=Organization= Sarajevo was chosen to host in Bosnia and Herzegovina as it was considered the safest city in the previously and recently war torn nation. Željka Husnjak, a Croatian-Bosnian film producer was brought on board to coordinate the contest. She had a Croatian passport but had lived in Bosnia for the previous 6 years doing television work. Hans Weiss remained on as Executive Producer. Annie McLoad didn't attend the contest due to safety concerns, so her assistant, Poppy Doherty became full director.

=Contest= Despite this being the first contest ever with no debuting nation, the contest was expected to have 55 nations: Andorra, Armenia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Moldova, Monaco returning, and zero withdrawing - which was too high above capacity. To solve this, another temporary entrant fee price hike was introduced for a single edition similar to the 19th edition. This would lead to just 3 countries returning: Armenia, Estonia and Greece. Withdrawing were Algeria, Iraq, Morocco, Turkey (who recently only rejoined). They did this because of the hike of price, and not because of Israel who was also absent. Faroe Islands and Greenland who only just debuted in the 20th edition would withdraw due to low funds. Northern Ireland would withdraw in this edition due to the contract. Georgia and North Macedonia withdrew out of protest who argued smaller nations were prejudiced. This left 42 nations participating, a more manageable number.

Following on from the previous edition, the 21st 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.

=Semi Finals=

Semi Final 3
=Final=

Grand Final
=Other Countries= Due to conflicts with Israel, the following countries withdrew: The following countries didn't return due to conflicts with Israel: The following countries withdrew due to financial reasons: The following countries did not participate:
 * - the Azeri broadcaster withdrew due to conflicts with Israel and fear of being marginalised due to Turkey's non-participation. They also protested the new participant fee increase.
 * - the Iraqi broadcaster withdrew due to conflicts with Israel. They provided no more information.
 * - the Turkish broadcaster withdrew due to conflicts with Israel. They provided no more information.
 * - the Algerian broadcaster withdrew due to conflicts with Israel. They provided no more information.
 * - the Egyptian broadcaster withdrew due to conflicts with Israel. They provided no more information.
 * - the Lebanese broadcaster made no official statement. They did not appear on the final list of participants.
 * - the Libyan broadcaster made no official statement. They did not appear on the final list of participants.
 * - the Moroccan broadcaster made no official statement. They did not appear on the final list of participants.
 * - the Syrian broadcaster made no official statement. They did not appear on the final list of participants.
 * - the Tunisian broadcaster made no official statement. They did not appear on the final list of participants.
 * - the Luxembourgish broadcaster withdrew stating that the broadcaster were unable to pay the newly increased participation fee.
 * - the Maltese broadcaster withdrew stating that the broadcaster were unable to pay the newly increased participation fee.
 * - the Northern Irish stated they withdrew due to the increased participation fee. A new deal was made for just one edition, with options to be renewed, where Northern Ireland would again participate under the banner of the 'Ireland'
 * - the Sanmarinese broadcaster withdrew stating that the broadcaster were unable to pay the newly increased participation fee.
 * - the Welsh broadcaster withdrew stating that the broadcaster were unable to pay the newly increased participation fee, however, a Welsh artist performed under England.
 * - the Gibraltar broadcaster made no official statement. They did not appear on the final list of participants. It is believed they conflicted with Spain
 * - the Malaysian broadcaster, who is participating in the Commonwealth spin-off tournament, appealed to the contest to allow their participation despite being in East Asia. Rumours mentioned a possible Singapore and Malaysia duo debut in the contest but they did not appear on the final list of participants.