Stig Karlsen, who has been Head of Delegation for Norway since 2015, will be leaving his role on October 1.
It’s been announced by Norwegian broadcaster NRK that Karlsen will be taking a new opportunity handling communications and media for Norway’s first female astronaut, Jannicke Mikkelsen.
Karlsen, who will also leave his role as director of Norwegian national final Melodi Grand Prix, said in an interview published by NRK that “the time had come” to move on.
Speaking to NRK about his decision, Karlsen said:
10 years is a decent length of time for a project, and now this fantastic offer came up with a Norwegian astronaut, so now the time had come.
Stig Karlsen has led Norway’s Eurovision delegation for the last 10 years. In that time, he has guided Norway to seven consecutive appearances in the Grand Final, the most of any nation other than Ukraine outside of the Big 5.
The country’s best finish under Karlsen’s tenure came in 2023, when Alessandra came fifth for Norway with “Queen of Kings”. Other notable entries included KEiiNO, who came sixth in 2019 with “Spirit in the Sky” despite receiving the highest number of points from the televote.
In 2024, however, Norway finished in last place in the Grand Final with Gåte’s “Ulveham”. Additionally, the band claim that they almost withdrew from Eurovision 2024 due to having a strong disagreement with contest organisers the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) over events in the lead up to the final.
In his interview with NRK, though, Karlsen stresses that the controversy around the 2024 contest hasn’t affected his decision:
It is because of this job offer that I got. I believe that music and culture are a bridge-builder, and I also believe that the EBU will get the event back in order.
With Karlsen’s exit, the Norwegian Eurovision team will now be looking for a new Head of Delegation. Karlsen will continue in his role as the director of Melodi Grand Prix until the end of September, by which time it is expected he will have selected the lineup for MGP 2025.
Charlo Halvorsen, the Entertainment editor at NRK, says that they are now working to find the right candidate to replace him:
We are in the process of finding Stig’s successor as music manager for MGP. This is one of MusikNorway’s most important jobs, so we take the time to find the right person, with the right skills and heart for the country’s biggest music competition.
Karlsen has been known for having a strong voice and opinion on the Eurovision Song Contest in recent years.
He’s actively campaigned for Eurovision’s voting system to change to be weighted more towards the public than national juries, and changed MGP’s voting system in 2024 to give 60% of the points to the televote. Additionally, he called on the EBU to “stop blaming delegations and artists” for its own faults in the wake of the 2024 contest.
Song submissions for Melodi Grand Prix 2025 are now open. The winning song and artist will be the first Norwegian entry not managed by Karlsen in over a decade.
Image Source: EBU / Sarah Louise Bennett | Source: NRK
Norway debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960 and have won the contest three times – in 1985, 1995 and 2009. The country has the dubious record of finishing last the most times, twelve in total, and have received nul points four times. Norway last won the contest in 2009 when Alexander Rybak broke all records with his song “Fairytale”. He scored 387 points in the final, receiving 16 sets of 12 points and scoring points from every country.
