The Eurovision Song Contest 1968 was the 13th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 6 April 1968 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, United Kingdom, and presented by Katie Boyle. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), who staged the event after winning the for the with the song "Puppet on a String" by Sandie Shaw. Despite being the UK's first win at the contest, it was actually the third time that the BBC had hosted the competition, having previously done so in and , both of which also took place in London and were presented by Katie Boyle. It was the first time the event was broadcast in colour.
Broadcasters from seventeen countries participated in the contest, the same countries that had participated the previous year.
The winner was with the song "La La La", written by Manuel de la Calva and Ramón Arcusa, and performed by Massiel. This was Spain's first victory - and their first ever top five placing - in the contest. The , , and rounded out the top five.
Spain's win over the United Kingdom by a single point, marked the closest finish in the contest up to that point.
Location
thumb|left|Royal Albert Hall, London - host venue of the 1968 contest.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) staged the 1968 contest in London, after winning the for the with the song "Puppet on a String" by Sandie Shaw. The venue selected was the Royal Albert Hall. This concert hall is known for hosting the world's leading artists from several performance genres, sports, award ceremonies, the annual summer Proms concerts and other events since its opening in 1871, and has become one of the United Kingdom's most treasured and distinctive buildings. At the time of the contest in 1968, the venue had a capacity of 7,000 seats.
Participants
Broadcasters from seventeen countries participated in the 1968 contest, the same countries that had participated in 1967. The Norwegian national selection, , ended with the song "" winning performed by both Kirsti Sparboe and Odd Børre. However the composer, Kari Diesen withdrew the song due to receiving multiple accusations of plagiarism of the song "Summer Holiday" by Cliff Richard.
| Wencke Myhre
| ""
| German
|
| Horst Jankowski
|-
! scope="row" |
| RTÉ
| Pat McGeegan
| "Chance of a Lifetime"
| English
| John Kennedy
| Noel Kelehan
|-
! scope="row" |
| RAI
| Sergio Endrigo
| ""
| Italian
| Sergio Endrigo
| Giancarlo Chiaramello
|-
! scope="row" |
| CLT
| and Sophie Garel
| ""
| French
|
| André Borly
|-
! scope="row" |
| TMC
|
| ""
| French
|
| Michel Colombier
|-
! scope="row" |
| NTS
| Ronnie Tober
| ""
| Dutch
|
| Dolf van der Linden
|-
! scope="row" |
| NRK
| Odd Børre
| "Stress"
| Norwegian
|
| Øivind Bergh
|-
! scope="row" |
| RTP
| Carlos Mendes
| ""
| Portuguese
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| TVE
| Massiel
| "La La La"
| Spanish
|
| Rafael Ibarbia
|-
! scope="row" |
| SR
| Claes-Göran Hederström
| ""
| Swedish
|
| Mats Olsson
|-
! scope="row" |
| SRG SSR
| Gianni Mascolo
| ""
| Italian
|
| Mario Robbiani
|-
! scope="row" |
| BBC
|
| "Congratulations"
| English
|
| Norrie Paramor
|-
! scope="row" |
| JRT
| Lući Kapurso and Hamo Hajdarhodžić
| "" <small>()</small>
| Serbo-Croatian
|
| Miljenko Prohaska
|}
Format
This was the first Eurovision Song Contest produced and broadcast in colour.
|-
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Country
! scope="col" | Artist
! scope="col" | Song
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Votes
! scope="col" | Place
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 1
|
|
| ""
| 5
| 11
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 2
|
|
| ""
| 1
| 16
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 3
|
|
| ""
| 8
| 7
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 4
|
|
| ""
| 2
| 13
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 5
|
| and Sophie Garel
| ""
| 5
| 11
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 6
|
|
| ""
| 2
| 13
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 7
|
| Line and Willy
| ""
| 8
| 7
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 8
|
|
| ""
| 15
| 5
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 9
|
|
| ""
| 1
| 16
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 10
|
|
| ""
| 20
| 3
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 11
|
|
| ""
| 7
| 10
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 12
|
|
| "Congratulations"
| 28
| 2
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 13
|
|
| "Stress"
| 2
| 13
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 14
|
|
| "Chance of a Lifetime"
| 18
| 4
|- style="font-weight:bold; background:gold;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 15
|
| Massiel
| "La La La"
| 29
| 1
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 16
|
|
| ""
| 11
| 6
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 17
|
|
| ""
| 8
| 7
|}
Spokespersons
Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for its respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1968 contest are listed below.
- Gay Byrne
- Ramón Rivera
- Michael Aspel
Detailed voting results<span class="anchor" id="Scoreboard"></span>
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Every participating broadcaster assembled a jury panel of ten people. Every jury member could give one vote to his or her favourite song, except that representing their own country. This means that any song could receive a maximum of 10 votes from a national jury, but none achieved this. The highest number of votes a song received from a jury was six, received by the songs of Spain, Ireland, Sweden, and France.
Due to a misunderstanding by the hostess, Katie Boyle, Switzerland was erroneously awarded 3 votes by Yugoslavia, instead of 2. The scrutineer asked for the Yugoslav votes to be announced a second time.
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|-
|+ Detailed voting results
|-
! colspan="2" |
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
|-
! rowspan="17"
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Portugal
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 5 || style="text-align:left; background:#AAAAAA;" | || || || || || || || || || || || || 2 || || 3 || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Netherlands
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 1 || || style="text-align:left; background:#AAAAAA;" | || || || || || || || || || 1 || || || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Belgium
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 8 || 1 || || style="text-align:left; background:#AAAAAA;" | || || || || || || 1 || 1 || 3 || 1 || || || 1 || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Austria
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 2 || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#AAAAAA;" | || || || || || || || || || || || || 2 ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Luxembourg
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 5 || || 1 || || 1 || style="text-align:left; background:#AAAAAA;" | || || 1 || || || 1 || || 1 || || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Switzerland
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 2 || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#AAAAAA;" | || || || || || || || || || || || 2
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Monaco
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 8 || || 2 || || || 1 || || style="text-align:left; background:#AAAAAA;" | || || 3 || || || 1 || || 1 || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Sweden
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 15 || 1 || 1 || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#AAAAAA;" | || 1 || || || 2 || 6 || 4 || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Finland
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 1 || || || || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#AAAAAA;" | || || || || 1 || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | France
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 20 || || 3 || 6 || 2 || 3 || 3 || || 1 || || style="text-align:left; background:#AAAAAA;" | || 2 || || || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Italy
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 7 || 1 || || || || || 2 || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#AAAAAA;" | || || || || 2 || || 2
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | United Kingdom
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 28 || 1 || 2 || 2 || || 1 || 4 || 5 || 3 || 2 || 4 || 1 || style="text-align:left; background:#AAAAAA;" | || || 1 || || 2 ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Norway
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 2 || || || || || 1 || || || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#AAAAAA;" | || || 1 || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Ireland
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 18 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 4 || 1 || || || 4 || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#AAAAAA;" | || || || 6
|- style="background:gold;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; font-weight:bold; background:gold;" | Spain
| style="text-align:right; font-weight:bold;" | 29 || 4 || || || 2 || 1 || || 4 || || 3 || 4 || 3 || || 1 || 1 || style="text-align:left; background:#AAAAAA;" | || 6 ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Germany
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 11 || || || || || 1 || 1 || || 2 || || || || 5 || || || 2 || style="text-align:left; background:#AAAAAA;" | ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Yugoslavia
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 8 || 1 || || 1 || 1 || 1 || || || || || || || || || 3 || 1 || || style="text-align:left; background:#AAAAAA;" |
|}
Broadcasts<span class="anchor" id="Broadcasters and commentators"></span>
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Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers. In addition to the participating countries, the contest was also reportedly broadcast in Tunisia, and in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union via Intervision, with an estimated global audience of between 150 and 200 million.
Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sticky-header"
|-
|+ Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
|-
! scope="col" | Country
! scope="col" | Broadcaster
! scope="col" | Channel(s)
! scope="col" | Commentator(s)
! scope="col" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| ORF
| FS1
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |
| rowspan="2" | RTB
| RTB
| Paule Herreman
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| RTB 1
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| BRT
| BRT
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| France Inter
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="2" |
| rowspan="2" | RTÉ
| RTÉ
| Brendan O'Reilly
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| RAI
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| CLT
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| NTS
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| NRK
| , NRK