Barbara Dex

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Barbara Dex.
Photo credit: Kristof Persoons

Barbara Dex is a Belgian singer who represented her country in the 1993 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Iemand Als Jij. Dex had qualified via the Belgian national heat, Eurosong 93, held at the Casino Knokke on March 6th. At the Eurovision in Millstreet, she won seventh spot, after Greece's entry Ellada, hora tou fotos and before Malta's song This time. Dex came 25th and last.

While the song itself is not particularly memorable, the performance has entered Contest folklore due to the self-made beige dress worn by the singer. This is often considered to be among the worst Contest costumes in history, with the "Barbara Dex Award" being given out by one website every year for the worst-dressed entrant.

Barbara returned to the Belgian final in 2004, teaming up with Alides for the song One life which was placed third. A further Eurovision attempt came in 2006 with the country line-dancing flavoured Crazy (Barbara Dex song) which earned her the fifth place.

[edit] Previous Barbara Dex Award winners

Note that the Barbara Dex Award is a somewhat dubious honor.

Year	Winner	Country	Position
1997	Debbie Scerri	Malta	9
1998	Guildo Horn	Germany	9
1999	Lydia Rodríguez Fernández	Spain	23- last
2000	Nathalie Sorce	Belgium	24- last
2001	Andrzej Piaseczny	Poland	18
2002	Michalis Rakintzis	Greece	17
2003	t.A.T.u.	Russia	3
2004	Sanda Ladoşi	Romania	18
2005	Martin Vučić	FYR Macedonia	17
2006	Nonstop	Portugal	19-SF
2007	Verka Serduchka	Ukraine	2
2008	Gisela Lladó Cánovas	Andorra	16-SF