Lied van Liedjes 18

This was the eighteenth Lied van Liedjes to be held. And it was the first to be done on the 2002 season. This marked a new era for the contest, as Eliza Boterman stept down from any administrative position of the contest, Hans Weiss invited Annie McLoad, an iconic figure on the contest history, by grabbing the coordinator place after the chaos of the Anthony McDonald case, and being the director on the two most exotic wins of the contest.

Organization
A public vote was held to pick the Norwegian city to host the edition, Oslo was disqualified because it was host on another edition. Belarus saw their return after a two editions ban due to the voting scandal on the national final. Luxembourg returned stating that the finnancial problems were solved. After the announce that Israel was going to withdraw due to political reasons, Iraq submited a song making the third and last country to confirm a return. Latvia and Kazakhstan withdrew due to their poor results on the last edition. Ukraine withdrew because it was discovered the artist they picked was an ultra-nationalist and made serious racist remarks during the organization of the national final, before, during and after. New Zealand, Australia and Canada withdrew due miscommunication between Norway and the Commonwealth nations. Hungary and Slovakia finally debut on the contest, and Andorra debuts too, making many fans excited. Even with the Israeli withdrawal, no north african country made a comeback or a return.

Contest
Norway, Croatia, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands are the AQs for the grand final. Semi-finals were done according by geographical regions (North & Central Europe / Southern Europe / East Europe & Non-Europe).