Croatia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with the song "", written by Andrej BabiÃÂ, and performed by Claudia Beni. The Croatian participating broadcaster, Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT), organised the national final Dora 2003 to select its entry for the contest.
Twenty-four entries competed in the national final which consisted of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. Six entries qualified from each semi-final on 7 and 8 March 2003 to compete in the final on 9 March 2003. In the final, "" performed by Claudia Beni was selected as the winner following a regional televote.
Croatia competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 24 May 2003. Performing during the show in position 8, Croatia placed fifteenth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 29 points.
Prior to the 2003 contest, Croatian Radiotelevision (; HRT) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Croatia ten times since its first entry in . Its best result in the contest was fourth, achieved on two occasions: in with the song "" performed by Maja Blagdan and in with the song "Marija Magdalena" performed by Doris DragoviÃÂ. In , it placed eleventh with the song "Everything I Want" by Vesna PisaroviÃÂ.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, HRT organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Since 1993, HRT organised the national final Dora in order to select its entry for the contest, a method that was continued for its 2003 participation.
Dora 2003 was the eleventh edition of the national selection Dora organised by HRT to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2003. The competition consisted of two semi-finals on 7 and 8 March 2003 and a final on 9 March 2003, all taking place at the Hotel Kvarner in Opatija and broadcast on HTV1 as well as online via the broadcaster's website hrt.hr.
Twenty-four songs competed in Dora 2003 which consisted of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. Twelve songs competed in each semi-final with the top six proceeding to complete the twelve-song lineup in the final. The results of all shows were determined solely by public televoting, and the votes were divided into five telephone regions in Croatia, each of them which created an overall ranking from which points from 1 (lowest) to 12 (highest) were assigned to the competing songs. Ties in all shows were decided in favour of the entry that received the higher number of high-scoring points.
On 15 December 2002, HRT opened a submission period where artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster with the deadline on 20 January 2003. 270 entries were received by the broadcaster during the submission period. A fifteen-member expert committee consisting of representatives of Damir Matkovià(HRT), Aleksandar Kostadinov (HRT), à ½eljko Mesar (HRT), Miroslav à  koro (HDU), Stjepan Mihaljinec (HDS), Sinià ¡a Doronjga (HGU), ÃÂorÃÂe Novkovià(Croatia Records), Fedor Boià(Tonika), Boris Horvat (Aquarius Records), Silvije Varga (Dancing Bear), Sinià ¡a Bizovià(Dallas Records), Branko Komljenovià(Menart), Tihomir Preradovià(Tutico), à ½eljko Barba (Orfej) and Goran Karan (Skalinada) reviewed the received submissions and selected twenty-four artists and songs for the competition. HRT announced the competing entries on 30 January 2003 and among the artists were Maja Blagdan who represented Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 and Emilija Kokiàwho won the Eurovision Song Contest 1989 for Yugoslavia as a member of Riva.
The two semi-finals took place on 7 and 8 March 2003. The first semi-final was hosted by Ljiljana Vinkoviàand Mirko Fodor, while the second semi-final was hosted by Karmela Vukov-Coliàand Davor Meà ¡troviÃÂ. The six qualifiers for the final from each semi-final were determined by a regional televote. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2001 Croatian Eurovision entrant Vanna performed as the interval act during the first semi-final, while 2000 Croatian Eurovision entrant Goran Karan performed as the interval act during the second semi-final.
The final took place on 9 March 2003, hosted by Duà ¡ko ÃÂurliàand Danijela TrboviÃÂ-Vlajki. The winner, "Vià ¡e nisam tvoja" performed by Claudia Beni, was determined by a regional televote. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Divas performed with Gabi Novak, Josipa Lisac, Meri Cetiniàand Radojka à  verko as the interval act during the show.
An English version of "Vià ¡e nisam tvoja" entitled "This Is for Real" was presented to the public on 16 March during a special programme broadcast on HTV1 and HR 2. The language of the song Claudia Beni would perform at the Eurovision Song Contest was determined exclusively by a public televote, and the Croatian version was selected with 10,926 votes while the English version received 5,678 votes. On 21 March, HRT announced that "Vià ¡e nisam tvoja" would be performed in a bilingual mix of both Croatian and English at the contest.
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the bottom ten countries in the 2002 contest competed in the final on 24 May 2003. On 29 November 2002, a special allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Croatia was set to perform in position 8, following the entry from and before the entry from . Croatia finished in sixth place with 29 points.
The show was broadcast in Croatia on HTV1 with commentary by .
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Croatia and awarded by Croatia in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to in the contest. HRT appointed Davor Meà ¡troviàas its spokesperson to announce the Croatian votes during the final.