Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997

Eurovision Song Contest 1997
Country	Netherlands
National selection
Selection process	Artist: Internal selection Song: Nationaal Songfestival 1997
Selection date(s)	Artist: 26 October 1996 Song: 23 February 1997
Selected entrant	Mrs. Einstein
Selected song	"Niemand heeft nog tijd"
Selected songwriter(s)	Ed Hooijmans
Finals performance
Final result	22nd, 5 points
Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1996 • 1997 • 1998►

The Netherlands participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 with the song "Niemand heeft nog tijd" written by Ed Hooijmans. The song was performed by the group Mrs. Einstein, which was internally selected by the Dutch broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) to represent the Netherlands at the 1997 contest in Dublin, Ireland. Mrs. Einstein's appointment as the Dutch representative was announced on 26 October 1996, while the national final Nationaal Songfestival 1997 was organised in order to select the song. Six songs competed in the national final on 23 February 1997 where "Niemand heeft nog tijd" was selected as the winning song following the combination of votes from twelve regional juries and a public vote.

The Netherlands competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 3 May 1997. Performing during the show in position 8, the Netherlands placed twenty-second out of the 25 participating countries, scoring 5 points.

Background

Main article: Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 1997 contest, the Netherlands had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-eight times since their début as one of seven countries to take part in the inaugural contest in 1956. ^[1] Since then, the country has won the contest four times: in 1957 with the song "Net als toen" performed by Corry Brokken; ^[2] in 1959 with the song "'n Beetje" performed by Teddy Scholten; ^[3] in 1969 as one of four countries to tie for first place with "De troubadour" performed by Lenny Kuhr; ^[4] and finally in 1975 with "Ding-a-dong" performed by the group Teach-In. ^[5] The Dutch least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on four occasions, most recently in the 1968 contest. ^[6] The Netherlands has also received nul points on two occasions; in 1962 and 1963. ^[7]

The Dutch national broadcaster, Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), broadcasts the event within the Netherlands and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. The Netherlands has used various methods to select the Dutch entry in the past, such as the Nationaal Songfestival , a live televised national final to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. However, internal selections have also been held on occasion. In 1996, NOS has organised Nationaal Songfestival in order to select both the artist and song for the contest. For 1997, the broadcaster opted to select the Dutch artist through an internal selection, while Nationaal Songfestival was continued to select the song.

Before Eurovision

Artist selection

Following Maxine and Franklin Brown's seventh place in 1996 with the song "De eerste keer", the Dutch broadcaster internally selected the artist for the Eurovision Song Contest. On 26 October 1996, NOS announced that they had selected the group Mrs. Einstein to represent the Netherlands at the 1997 contest. It was revealed on the same day that their Eurovision song would be selected through the national final Nationaal Songfestival 1997. ^[8]

Nationaal Songfestival 1997

A submission period was opened by the Dutch broadcaster following the artist announcement where composers were able to submit their songs until 6 December 1996. 350 songs were received by the broadcaster at the closing of the deadline and six competing songs were selected. ^[9] The final took place on 23 February 1997 at the Marcanti Plaza in Amsterdam, hosted by Bart Peeters and Joop van Zijl and was broadcast on TV2. ^{[10] [11]} All six competing songs were performed by Mrs. Einstein and the winning song, "Niemand heeft nog tijd", was selected by the 50/50 combination of a public televote and the votes of twelve regional juries. The viewers and the juries each had a total of 336 points to award. Each jury group distributed their points as follows: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 10 points. The viewer vote was based on the percentage of votes each song achieved. For example, if a song gained 10% of the vote, then that entry would be awarded 10% of 336 points rounded to the nearest integer: 37 points. ^[12] In addition to the performances of the competing songs, Herman van Molle, Jacques d'Ancona, Lisa Riley, Petra Hoost and past Dutch Eurovision entrants Corry Brokken (1956/1957/1958), Heddy Lester (1977), Gerard Joling (1988) and Maxine and Franklin Brown (1996) were also present during the show. ^{[13] [14]}

Final – 23 February 1997

Draw	Song	Songwriter(s)	Jury	Televote	Total	Place
1	"Ik doe alsof"	Erwin de Graaf	29	24	53	6
2	"Dat liefde zo moet zijn"	Hans van Hemert, Claudia Robbens	76	77	153	3
3	"Samen sterk"	Alan Michael, Tjeerd van Zanen	30	27	57	5
4	"Niemand heeft nog tijd"	Ed Hooijmans	77	82	159	1
5	"Toen de aarde stilstond"	Guus Willemse	75	82	157	2
6	"Laat het los"	Jerry van der Wolf	49	44	93	4

Detailed Regional Jury Votes

Draw	Song	Friesland	Groningen	Drenthe	Overijssel	Gelderland	Utrecht	Flevoland	North Holland	South Holland	Zeeland	North Brabant	Limburg	Total score
1	"Ik doe alsof"	1	3	2	1	1	1	2	3	5	2	7	1	53
2	"Dat liefde zo moet zijn"	10	1	5	5	10	2	7	10	3	3	10	10	153
3	"Samen sterk"	2	5	1	2	2	3	3	5	1	1	2	3	57
4	"Niemand heeft nog tijd"	7	7	10	7	7	10	5	1	10	7	1	5	159
5	"Toen de aarde stilstond"	3	10	7	10	3	5	10	7	7	5	5	7	157
6	"Laat het los"	5	2	3	3	5	7	1	2	2	10	3	2	93

At Eurovision

Mrs. Einstein performing at the Eurovision Song Contest

According to Eurovision rules, the twenty-four countries which had obtained the highest average number of points over the last four contests competed in the final on 3 May 1997. ^[15] On 28 November 1996, a special allocation draw was held which determined the running order and the Netherlands was set to perform in position 8, following the entry from Switzerland and before the entry from Italy. ^[16] The Dutch conductor at the contest was Dick Bakker, and the Netherlands finished in twenty-second place with 5 points. ^[17]

Heading into the final of the contest, RTÉ reported that bookmakers ranked the entry 23rd out of the 25 entries. ^[18] The show was broadcast in the Netherlands on TV2 with commentary by Willem van Beusekom as well as via radio on Radio 2. ^{[19] [20] [21]} The Dutch spokesperson, who announced the Dutch votes during the show, was 1957 Dutch Eurovision winner as well as 1956 and 1958 entrant Corry Brokken.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to the Netherlands and awarded by the Netherlands in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to the United Kingdom in the contest. ^[22]

Points awarded to the Netherlands [23] Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points   Malta 3 points 2 points 1 point   Turkey

Points awarded by the Netherlands [23] Score Country 12 points   United Kingdom 10 points   Cyprus 8 points   Russia 7 points   Italy 6 points   Spain 5 points   France 4 points   Ireland 3 points   Austria 2 points   Turkey 1 point   Poland

References

1. "Eurovision Song Contest 1956". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union . Retrieved 28 November 2014.
2. "Eurovision Song Contest 1957". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union . Retrieved 28 November 2014.
3. "Eurovision Song Contest 1959". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union . Retrieved 28 November 2014.
4. "Eurovision Song Contest 1969". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union . Retrieved 28 November 2014.
5. "Eurovision Song Contest 1975". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union . Retrieved 28 November 2014.
6. "Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Semi-Final (2)". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union . Retrieved 28 November 2014.
7. "History by Country - The Netherlands". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union . Retrieved 28 November 2014.
8. "Songfestival". 26 October 1996.
9. "50 jaar songfestival: NSF 1997". songfestivalweblog.nl (in Dutch). 23 November 2004. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
10. "DUTCH NATIONAL FINAL 1997".
11. "Zondagavond keuze van liedje voor Eurovisie". Krantenbank Zeeland (in Dutch). 22 February 1997. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
12. ESC National Finals database 1997
13. "The Netherlands 1997". The Eurovision Database. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
14. "Nationaal Songfestival 1997". Eurovision Artists (in Dutch). Retrieved 29 September 2022.
15. "Rules of the Eurovision Song Contest (Part 1)". Radió Telefís Éireann. Archived from the original on 2 February 1999. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
16. "Rules of the Eurovision Song Contest (Part 1)". Radió Telefís Éireann. Archived from the original on 2 February 1999. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
17. "Final of Dublin 1997". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
18. "What are the Odds?". Radio Telefís Éireann. Archived from the original on 24 February 1999. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
19. "Netherlands – Dublin 1997". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
20. "Radio & Televisie Zaterdag". Leidsch Dagblad (in Dutch). 3 May 1997. p. 8. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
21. "Nederlandse televisiecommentatoren bij het Eurovisie Songfestival" (in Dutch). Eurovision Artists. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
22. ESC History - Netherlands 1997
23. "Results of the Final of Dublin 1997". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.

External links

• Netherlands preselection 1997