Eurovision Song Contest 1961

Eurovision Song Contest 1961
Dates
Final	18 March 1961 (1961-03-18)
Host
Venue	Palais des Festivals et des Congrès Cannes, France
Presenter(s)	Jacqueline Joubert
Producer	Marcel Cravenne
Director	Maurice Barry
Musical director	Franck Pourcel
Host broadcaster	Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF)
Website	eurovision.tv/event/cannes-1961
Participants
Number of entries	16
Debuting countries	Finland  Spain  Yugoslavia
Non-returning countries	None
Participation map      Participating countries
Vote
Voting system	Ten-member juries distributed 10 points among their favourite songs
Winning song	Luxembourg "Nous les amoureux"
1960 ← Eurovision Song Contest → 1962

The Eurovision Song Contest 1961 was the 6th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 18 March 1961 in the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF), and originally known as the Grand Prix Eurovision 1961 de la Chanson Européenne (English: Eurovision Song Contest Grand Prix 1961^[1]), the contest was held in France following the country's victory at the 1960 contest with the song "Tom Pillibi" by Jacqueline Boyer. It was the second time that France had hosted the contest, becoming the first country to host the contest on two separate occasions, following the 1959 event which was also held in the Palais des Festivals in Cannes. Just as in 1959, the event was presented by Jacqueline Joubert, one of only three individuals to have hosted more than one Eurovision Song Contest. A new record of sixteen countries competed in this event, with the thirteen nations which competed in 1960 returning alongside Finland, Spain and Yugoslavia, all three making their first contest appearances.

The winner was Luxembourg with the song "Nous les amoureux", composed by Jacques Datin, written by Maurice Vidalin [fr] and performed by Jean-Claude Pascal, the first of an eventual five contest victories for the country. Although not interpreted as such at the time, the winning song has since been reevaluated and reinterpreted as a song about homosexual love, a topic which would have been considered taboo if publicly spoken in 1961. The United Kingdom placed second for the third consecutive contest, while Switzerland came third.