Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Grab the Moment" written by Joakim With Steen and Jonas McDonnell. The song was performed by Jowst, which is the artistic name of music producer Joakim With Steen, with unaccredited vocals from Aleksander Walmann. The Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 2017 in order to select the Norwegian entry for the 2017 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. Ten entries competed in a show that took place on 11 March 2017 and the winner was determined over two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, the combination of votes from ten international jury groups and a public televote selected the top four entries to advance to the competition's second round—the Gold Final. In the second round of voting, a public televote exclusively selected "Grab the Moment" performed by Jowst as the winner with 46,064 votes.
Norway was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 11 May 2017. Performing during the show in position 12, "Grab the Moment" was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 13 May. It was later revealed that Norway placed fifth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 187 points. In the final, Norway performed in position 17 and placed tenth out of the 26 participating countries with 158 points.
Background
Prior to the 2017 contest, Norway had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 55 times since their first entry in . Norway had won the contest on three occasions: in 1985 with the song "La det swinge" performed by Bobbysocks!, in 1995 with the song "Nocturne" performed by Secret Garden, and in 2009 with the song "Fairytale" performed by Alexander Rybak. Norway also had the two dubious distinctions of having finished last in the Eurovision final more than any other country and for having the most "nul points" (zero points) in the contest, the latter being a record the nation shared together with Austria. The country had finished last eleven times and had failed to score a point during four contests. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Norway has finished in the top ten six times, including their 2015 entry "A Monster Like Me" performed by Mørland and Debrah Scarlett.
The Norwegian national broadcaster, Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK), broadcasts the event within Norway and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. NRK confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest on 16 May 2016. The broadcaster has traditionally organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix, which has selected the Norwegian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in all but one of their participation. On 9 June 2016, NRK revealed details regarding their selection procedure and announced the organization of Melodi Grand Prix 2017 in order to select the 2017 Norwegian entry.
Before Eurovision
Melodi Grand Prix 2017
Melodi Grand Prix 2017 was the 55th edition of the Norwegian national final Melodi Grand Prix and selected Norway's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The show took place on 11 March 2017 at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, hosted by Kåre Magnus Bergh and Line Elvsåshagen. The show was televised on NRK1, NRK TV, broadcast via radio with commentary by Ole Christian Øen on NRK P1 as well as streamed online at NRK's official website nrk.no. The national final was watched by 1.155 million viewers in Norway with a market share of 73%.
Competing entries
A submission period was opened by NRK between 9 June 2016 and 11 September 2016. Songwriters of any nationality were allowed to submit entries, while performers of the selected songs would be chosen by NRK in consultation with the songwriters. In addition to the public call for submissions, NRK reserved the right to directly invite certain artists and composers to compete. At the close of the deadline, a record-breaking 1,035 submissions were received. Ten songs were selected for the competition and the competing acts and songs were revealed on 7 February 2017 during a press conference at NRK studios, presented by Kåre Magnus Bergh, Line Elvsåshagen and Jan Fredrik Karlsen and broadcast via NRK1 and online at mgp.no. Among the competing artists was former Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest entrant Åge Sten Nilsen (lead singer of Ammunition) who represented the country in 2005 as part of the band Wig Wam. 10-second clips of the competing entries were released during the press conference, while the songs in their entirety were premiered on 15 February.