<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> <Ul> <Li> ◀ </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> ▶ </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> ◀ </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> ▶ </Li> </Ul> <P> The third season of American Idol premiered on Monday, January 19, 2004 and continued until May 26, 2004 . The third season was won by Fantasia Barrino, who defeated Diana DeGarmo by an approximate margin of 2% (1.3 million votes); the vote total (65 million votes) was the highest recorded vote total in the show's history until the May 23, 2007, finale of the sixth season . This season also featured Jennifer Hudson, who would subsequently win the 2006 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress . </P> <P> Season 3 is the first season where both the winner and the runner - up had been in the bottom 2 or 3 prior to the finale, being followed by the eighth and twelfth seasons . It is the first season to have a finale with two female contestants, followed by the twelfth season; while the second, seventh and eighth seasons had a finale with two male contestants . It is also the first season where a Wild Card contestant, Leah LaBelle, is eliminated in the first episode of the finals . It is the first season to have a gender imbalance among the finalists, followed by season 8, each having eight finalists of the dominant gender . Season 3 has eight female finalists, whereas the eighth season had eight male finalists . </P>

Who won american idol when jennifer hudson competed