Final 3 April 1971 Director Tom McGrath | Conductor Colman Pearce Executive supervisor Clifford Brown | |
 | ||
Venue Gaiety Theatre
Dublin, Ireland Presenter(s) Bernadette Ní Ghallchóir | ||
The Eurovision Song Contest 1971 was the sixteenth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Dublin, Ireland on 3 April 1971.
Contents
- Location
- Format
- Voting system
- Participating countries
- Conductors
- Returning artists
- 10 points
- International broadcasts and voting
- References
Monaco's win was their first and only victory. The song was performed by a French singer, living in France, sung in French, conducted by a French native and written by a French team. Séverine later claimed she never visited Monaco before or after her victory – a claim easily disproved by the preview video submitted by Télé-Monte-Carlo featuring the singer on location in the Principality.
Location
The contest was held at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin, the capital and most populous city of Ireland. This was the first time that the contest was held in Ireland.
Format
For the first time, each participating broadcaster was required to televise all the songs in "previews" prior to the live final. Belgium's preview video featured Nicole & Hugo performing the song "Goeiemorgen, morgen", but Nicole was struck with a sudden illness days before the contest final, with Jacques Raymond & Lily Castel stepping in at short notice to perform the entry in their place. Reports suggested that Castel had not even had enough time to buy a suitable dress for the show.
The BBC were worried about the possible audience reaction to the UK song due to the hostilities raging in Northern Ireland. They specifically selected a singer from Northern Ireland, Clodagh Rodgers, who was popular in both the UK and the Republic of Ireland, to ease any ill-feeling from the Dublin audience. However, Rodgers still received death threats from the IRA for representing the UK.
Groups of up to six people were allowed to perform for the first time, with the rule in previous contests of performing either solo or as a duet abolished.
This was only RTÉ's second outside broadcast in colour. The contest was broadcast in Iceland, the USA and Hong Kong several days later.
Voting system
A new voting system was introduced in this year's contest: each country sent two jury members, one aged over 25 and the other under 25 (with at least ten years' difference between their ages), with both awarding each country (except their own) a score of between one and five points.
While this meant that no country could score fewer than 34 points (and in the event all eighteen scored at least 52), it had one major problem: some jury members tended to award only one or two points. Whether this was done to increase their respective countries' chances of winning is not known for sure, but this shortcoming was nonetheless plain. However, the system remained in place for the 1972 and 1973 contests.
Participating countries
Malta made their début in this year's contest, while Austria, Finland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden all returned after a brief absence. This brought the total number of countries to eighteen.
Conductors
Each performance had a conductor who directed the orchestra.
Returning artists
Two artists returned to the competition this year: Katja Ebstein represented Germany for the second consecutive year, while Jacques Raymond had previously represented Belgium in 1963.
10 points
Below is a summary of all perfect 10 scores that were given during the voting.
International broadcasts and voting
The table below shows the order in which votes were cast during the 1971 contest, along with the spokespeople who were responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country. Each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language. Details of the commentators and the broadcasting station for which they represented are also included in the table below.