Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1981

Eurovision Song Contest 1981
Country	Netherlands
National selection
Selection process	Nationaal Songfestival 1981
Selection date(s)	11 March 1981
Selected entrant	Linda Williams
Selected song	"Het is een wonder"
Finals performance
Final result	9th, 51 points

The Netherlands was represented by Linda Williams, with the song '"Het is een wonder", at the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Dublin on 4 April. "Het is een wonder" was the winner of the Dutch national final for the contest, held on 11 March. Previous Dutch entrant Ben Cramer (1973) and future representative Maribelle (1984) were among the acts taking part.

Final

The national final was held at the Theater Zuidplein in Rotterdam, hosted by Fred Oster and Elles Berger. Five acts took part performing two songs each and voting was by 12 regional juries, who each had 10 points to divide between the songs. "Het is een wonder" was the only song to receive votes from every jury and emerged the winner by a 7-point matgin.^[1]

11 March 1981

Draw	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Lucy Steymel	"Een nieuw begin"	8	5=
2	Lucy Steymel	"Stap voor stap"	8	5=
3	Maribelle	"Marionette"	27	2
4	Maribelle	"Fantasie"	23	3
5	Ben Cramer	"Retour"	3	8
6	Ben Cramer	"Marianne"	0	10
7	The Familee	"Sim sa la bim"	2	9
8	The Familee	"Festival"	9	4
9	Linda Williams	"Het is een wonder"	34	1
10	Linda Williams	"Zo is het leven"	6	7

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Williams performed 11th in the running order, following Spain and preceding Ireland. At the close of voting "Het is een wonder" had received 51 points from 12 countries (the highest being 7s from Denmark, Portugal and Spain), placing the Netherlands 9th of the 20 entries. The Dutch jury awarded its 12 points to contest winners the United Kingdom.^[2]

See also

• Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Eurovision Song Contest 1981

External links

• Dutch Preselection 1981

References

1. ^ ESC National Finals database 1981
2. ^ ESC History - Netherlands 1981