The Eurovision Song Contest 1971 was the 16th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 3 April 1971 at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, and presented by Bernadette Ní Ghallchóir. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RTÉ), who staged the event after winning the for with the song "All Kinds of Everything" by Dana.
Broadcasters from eighteen countries participated in the contest, equalling the record of the and editions. returned after their two-year absence, while , , , and all returned after having boycotted the competition the previous year. On the other hand, competed for the first time.
The winner was with the song "", performed by Séverine, written by Yves Dessca, and composed by Jean-Pierre Bourtayre. This was Monaco's first and only victory in the contest.
, , the and rounded out the top five. Finishing in last place, had the worst result of a debut entry in twelve years.
This was the only time in the contest's history, where the second and third-placed entrants were also awarded.
Location
thumb|left|The [[Gaiety Theatre, Dublin|Gaiety Theatre, Dublin – host venue of the 1971 contest]]
The 1971 contest was held in Dublin, Ireland, following the country's victory at the with the song "All Kinds of Everything" performed by Dana. It was the first time that the contest was hosted in Ireland. The selected venue was the Gaiety Theatre; opened in 1871, the staging of the contest coincided with the venue's centenary anniversary.
Within hours of Ireland's win at the 1970 contest, the director-general of the Irish public broadcaster Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ), Thomas P. Hardiman, confirmed that the broadcaster intended to stage the contest; however the staging of the contest in Ireland was not confirmed until a meeting of a European Broadcasting Union (EBU) committee in Helsinki in April 1970. The Gaiety was confirmed as the venue in July 1970, with other Dublin venues reported in relation to hosting the event including the Main Hall of the Royal Dublin Society, the Great Hall of University College Dublin, and the Abbey Theatre. An audience of around 700 was expected to be present in the contest venue, with around 400 seats removed to accommodate the orchestra and technical equipment.
Participants
Eighteen countries were represented in the 1971 contestthe twelve nations which had been represented in were joined by , , and , who all returned after a year's absence; , participating again after a two year break; and , in its debut appearance.
Two artists which had previously competed in the contest returned to represent their countries again for a second time: Katja Ebstein who had represented , and Jacques Raymond who had represented . Raymond and his singing partner Lily Castel had been late replacements for the original duo selected to perform the Belgian entry, Nicole and Hugo, after Nicole had contracted jaundice before the contest.
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sticky-header" style="clear:left"
|-
|+ Eurovision Song Contest 1971 participants
|-
! scope="col" | Country
! scope="col" | Broadcaster
! scope="col" | Artist
! scope="col" | Song
! scope="col" | Language
! scope="col" | Songwriter(s)
! scope="col" | Conductor
|-
! scope="row" |
| ORF
| Marianne Mendt
| ""
| German
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| BRT
| Jacques Raymond and Lily Castel
| ""
| Dutch
|
| Francis Bay
|-
! scope="row" |
| YLE
| Markku Aro and
| ""
| Finnish
| Rauno Lehtinen
| Ossi Runne
|-
! scope="row" |
| ORTF
| Serge Lama
| ""
| French
|
| Franck Pourcel
|-
! scope="row" |
| HR
| Katja Ebstein
| ""
| German
|
| Dieter Zimmermann
|-
! scope="row" |
| RTÉ
| Angela Farrell
| "One Day Love"
| English
|
| Noel Kelehan
|-
! scope="row" |
| RAI
| Massimo Ranieri
| ""
| Italian
|
| Enrico Polito
|-
! scope="row" |
| CLT
| Monique Melsen
| ""
| French
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| MBA
| Joe Grech
| ""
| Maltese
|
| Anthony Chircop
|-
! scope="row" |
| TMC
| Séverine
| ""
| French
|
| Jean-Claude Petit
|-
! scope="row" |
| NOS
| Saskia and Serge
| ""
| Dutch
|
| Dolf van der Linden
|-
! scope="row" |
| NRK
| Hanne Krogh
| ""
| Norwegian
| Arne Bendiksen
| Arne Bendiksen
|-
! scope="row" |
| RTP
| Tonicha
| ""
| Portuguese
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| TVE
| Karina
| ""
| Spanish
|
| Waldo de los Ríos
|-
! scope="row" |
| SR
| The Family Four
| ""
| Swedish
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| SRG SSR
| Peter, Sue and Marc
| ""
| French
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| BBC
| Clodagh Rodgers
| "Jack in the Box"
| English
|
| Johnny Arthey
|-
! scope="row" |
| JRT
| Krunoslav Slabinac
| "" <small>()</small>
| Serbo-Croatian
|
| Miljenko Prohaska
|}
Production and format
The Eurovision Song Contest 1971 was produced by the Irish public broadcaster Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ). A separate musical director could be nominated by each participating delegation to lead the orchestra during its country's performance, with the host musical director also available to conduct for those countries which did not nominate their own conductor. On behalf of the EBU, the event was overseen by Clifford Brown as scrutineer. The contest was presented by the Irish television presenter Bernadette Ní Ghallchóir.
Each participating broadcaster submitted one song, which was required to be no longer than three minutes in duration and performed in the language, or one of the languages, of the country which it represented. The maximum number of performers allowed on stage during each country's performance was raised at this contest to six, an upper limit which exists to the present day; previously entries were required to be performed by one or two principal vocalists with up to three supporting vocalists. This change effectively allowed groups to compete in the contest for the first time. a new voting system was introduced, designed to produce a clear-cut winner and ensure no country would receive zero points. Each participating broadcaster appointed two individualsone aged between 16 and 25, the other between 26 and 60, and with at least 10 years between their ageswho awarded each song a score between one and five votes, except for the song from their own country.
An additional rule change introduced for this contest aimed to improve the visibility of the participating entries among the general public before the contest final and give equal exposure to all entries: each participating broadcaster was required to produce a series of preview programmes to highlight the competing entries, and to provide the EBU with a promotional video of their entry which would be sent to all broadcasters for use in their own preview programmes. The contest was one of the first programmes produced by RTÉ in colour, with the contest leading to the broadcaster acquiring colour broadcasting equipment a year earlier than originally planned at a reported cost of over . The costs of producing the event and the acquisition of new colour equipment required RTÉ to make significant funding cuts across all areas of the organisation; these cuts and the costs of a massive uplift in colour equipment when only around 1% of Irish television viewers had colour television sets in 1971 led to protests by several RTÉ employeesamong them Eoghan Harrison the day of the contest, who were reported to have leafletted the public pushing for a boycott of the event and jeered and booed delegates as they arrived at the theatre. The contest was also the target of picketers from Official Sinn Féin, who opposed Ireland's planned entry into the European Economic Community; Conradh na Gaeilge, who opposed RTÉ's coverage and production of a pop contest; the Irish Women's Liberation Movement; and the National Athletic and Cycling Association.
Contest overview<span class="anchor" id="Results"></span><span class="anchor" id="Participants and results"></span>
<!-- Anchors in the header are the old section names -->
{| class="sortable wikitable plainrowheaders sticky-header"
|-
|+ Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1971
|-
! 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
|
|
| ""
| 66
| 16
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 2
|
|
| ""
| 52
| 18
|- style="font-weight:bold; background:gold;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 3
|
| Séverine
| ""
| 128
| 1
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 4
|
| Peter, Sue and Marc
| ""
| 78
| 12
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 5
|
|
| ""
| 100
| 3
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 6
|
| Karina
| ""
| 116
| 2
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 7
|
|
| ""
| 82
| 10
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 8
|
|
| ""
| 70
| 13
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 9
|
|
| "Jack in the Box"
| 98
| 4
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 10
|
| and Lily Castel
| ""
| 68
| 14
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 11
|
|
| ""
| 91
| 5
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 12
|
|
| ""
| 85
| 6
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 13
|
|
| "One Day Love"
| 79
| 11
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 14
|
| Saskia and Serge
| ""
| 85
| 6
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 15
|
| Tonicha
| ""
| 83
| 9
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 16
|
|
| ""
| 68
| 14
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 17
|
| and Koivisto Sisters
| ""
| 84
| 8
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 18
|
|
| ""
| 65
| 17
|}
Detailed voting results<span class="anchor" id="Scoreboard"></span>
<!-- Anchor in the header is the old section name -->
thumb|upright|The Netherlands' [[Saskia and Serge finished 6th with their entry "Tijd".]]
A new voting system was introduced in this year's contest: each participating broadcaster appointed 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.
While this meant that no entry could score fewer than 34 votes (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 votes. 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 and .
{| 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"
! scope="col"
|-
! rowspan="18"
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Austria
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 66 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 3 || 5 || 2 || 7 || 2 || 3 || 2 || 3 || 3 || 6 || 4 || 6 || 3 || 5 || 4 || 3 || 5
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Malta
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 52 || 4 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 2 || 2 || 3 || 5 || 3 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 4 || 2 || 4 || 5 || 2 || 2 || 3 || 2
|- style="background:gold;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; font-weight:bold; background:gold;" | Monaco
| style="text-align:right; font-weight:bold;" | 128 || 4 || 5 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 10 || 10 || 2 || 8 || 4 || 8 || 10 || 4 || 10 || 9 || 9 || 8 || 10 || 7 || 10
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Switzerland
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 78 || 5 || 5 || 4 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 6 || 2 || 6 || 2 || 6 || 3 || 7 || 4 || 5 || 5 || 6 || 4 || 4 || 4
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Germany
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 100 || 6 || 5 || 7 || 6 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 8 || 8 || 2 || 6 || 7 || 6 || 6 || 5 || 5 || 7 || 7 || 5 || 4
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Spain
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 116 || 4 || 8 || 10 || 5 || 7 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 10 || 4 || 7 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 9 || 6 || 7 || 7 || 9 || 8
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | France
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 82 || 3 || 2 || 8 || 8 || 5 || 5 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 2 || 5 || 3 || 4 || 4 || 6 || 9 || 5 || 5 || 3 || 5
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Luxembourg
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 70 || 2 || 7 || 6 || 3 || 2 || 4 || 5 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 6 || 3 || 3 || 2 || 5 || 3 || 6 || 4 || 5 || 4
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | United Kingdom
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 98 || 4 || 8 || 8 || 6 || 5 || 2 || 8 || 4 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 8 || 3 || 5 || 7 || 5 || 7 || 6 || 6 || 6
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Belgium
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 68 || 3 || 2 || 5 || 4 || 2 || 2 || 5 || 2 || 6 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 3 || 5 || 4 || 6 || 6 || 3 || 6 || 4
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Italy
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 91 || 4 || 6 || 9 || 8 || 6 || 6 || 9 || 2 || 6 || 2 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 7 || 6 || 2 || 3 || 8 || 2 || 5
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Sweden
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 85 || 7 || 4 || 4 || 9 || 4 || 2 || 5 || 2 || 5 || 6 || 6 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 3 || 9 || 3 || 6 || 4 || 6
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Ireland
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 79 || 7 || 6 || 6 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 7 || 2 || 6 || 3 || 6 || 2 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 5 || 4 || 5 || 4 || 4
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Netherlands
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 85 || 6 || 2 || 6 || 5 || 4 || 5 || 7 || 2 || 5 || 2 || 2 || 6 || 5 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 9 || 5 || 6 || 8
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Portugal
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 83 || 4 || 3 || 6 || 2 || 5 || 10 || 8 || 5 || 6 || 4 || 4 || 2 || 3 || 5 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 6 || 5 || 5
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Yugoslavia
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 68 || 6 || 2 || 4 || 2 || 7 || 6 || 6 || 2 || 3 || 2 || 5 || 2 || 5 || 4 || 4 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 3 || 5
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Finland
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 84 || 4 || 4 || 4 || 4 || 4 || 3 || 4 || 2 || 10 || 10 || 2 || 4 || 6 || 3 || 8 || 6 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"| || 6
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Norway
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 65 || 3 || 3 || 6 || 4 || 2 || 2 || 5 || 2 || 7 || 6 || 2 || 2 || 7 || 2 || 5 || 4 || 3 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;"|
|}
10 votes
Below is a summary of all perfect 10 scores that were given during the voting.
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" | N.
! scope="col" | Contestant
! scope="col" | Nation(s) giving 10 votes
|-
! scope="row" | 6
|
| , , , , ,
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" | 2
|
| ,
|-
|
| ,
|-
! scope="row" | 1
|
|
|}
Broadcasts<span class="anchor" id="Broadcasters and commentators"></span>
<!-- Anchor in the header is the old section name -->
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 Greece, Iceland, Morocco, and Tunisia; in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania via Intervision; and in Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Ethiopia, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Kenya, Mauritania, Mauritius, Sierra Leone, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, and the United States. Germany, Ireland, Portugal and Turkey have been reported to broadcast on radio.
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="4" |
| rowspan="2" | BRT
| BRT
| Anton Peters
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| rowspan="2" | RTB
| RTB
| Paule Herreman
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| RTB 1
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| ,
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| ORTF
|
| Georges de Caunes
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" |
| ARD
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="2" |
| rowspan="2" | RTÉ
| RTÉ
| Noel Andrews
| style="text-align:center" rowspan="2" |
|-
| RTÉ Radio
| Kevin Roche
|-
! scope="row" |
| RAI
| ,
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| CLT
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| MBA
| MTS, National Network
| Victor Aquilina
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| NOS
|
| Pim Jacobs
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| NRK
| , NRK