Belgium was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 with the song "", written and performed by Jean Vallée. The Belgian participating broadcaster, Walloon (RTBF), selected its entry through a national final.
Before Eurovision
Walloon broadcaster (RTBF) had the turn to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 representing Belgium. Eight songs participated in the selection and the winner was chosen by a 12-member expert jury. The jury was chaired by Henri Billen and consisted of three members from SABAM, three journalists, three people in the radio industry, and three people in the television industry.
was broadcast on 8 February 1978 at 20:00 CET until 20:30 CET on RTBF 1. The jury were then given two hours to vote, and the winner was announced in a short programme at 22:35 CET. The voting was done in three rounds, in the first round three songs qualified to the second round. In the second round two songs qualified to the third and final round, where each jury member had one vote to give to either song.
Jean Vallée was the winner of the national final with seven votes in the final round. He had previously represented in Amsterdam, where he had finished fifth. Another previous Belgian entrant Jacques Hustin () also took part.
+ Final – First Round – 8 February 1978 Artist Song Songwriter(s) Result 1 Henri Seroka "L'Odyssée" 2 Frank Michael "À qui parler d'amour" 3 Jean Vallée "L'amour ça fait chanter la vie" Jean Vallée Advanced 4 Jacques Hustin "L'an 2000 c'est demain" Advanced 5 "Le vieux marin" Advanced 6 Délizia "Qui viendra réinventer l'amour" Salvatore Adamo 7 Marc Farell "Confidence pour confidence" 8 Franck Olivier "La fête"
+Final – Second Round – 8 February 1978 Artist Song ResultJean Vallée"L'amour ça fait chanter la vie" AdvancedJacques Hustin"L'an 2000 c'est demain" AdvancedPaul Louka"Le vieux marin"3
+Final – Third Round – 8 February 1978 Artist Song Votes ResultJean Vallée"L'amour ça fait chanter la vie" 7 1Jacques Hustin"L'an 2000 c'est demain" 5 2
At Eurovision On the evening of the final Vallée performed 10th in the running order, following and preceding the . At the close of the voting "" had received 125 points with votes from all other participating countries apart from and , and including five first-place 12 points votes from , , , , and the . This ranked Belgium second of the 20 competing countries, the highest position achieved by a Belgian entry in Eurovision to that date, which has since only been bettered by Sandra Kim's and matched by Urban Trad in . The Belgian jury awarded its 12 points to contest winners .
Voting
+ Points awarded to Belgium Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
+ Points awarded by Belgium Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
References