Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1965

Belgium was represented by Lize Marke, with the song "Als het weer lente is", at the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 20 March in Naples. Marke was chosen internally to be the Belgian representative, and the song was chosen in the national final on 13 February. Marke had previously finished second in the Belgian preselection in 1963.

Eurovision Song Contest 1965
Country Belgium
National selection
Selection processBelgische finale Eurovisie Songfestival
Selection date(s)13 February 1965
Selected entrantLize Marke
Selected song"Als het weer lente is"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Jef van den Berg
  • Jaak Dreesen
Finals performance
Final result15th, 0 points
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1964 • 1965 • 1966►

There was a minor controversy after the selection when it came to light that "Als het weer lente is" had previously been performed on TV (by the following year's Belgian representative Tonia), but after some deliberation broadcaster BRT decided not to disqualify the song, as none of the rules of the European Broadcasting Union in effect at the time regarding song selection had been broken.

Before Eurovision

Artist selection

In December 1964, BRT announced that they had internally selected Lize Marke to represent Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1965.[1]

Belgische finale Eurovisie Songfestival

Belgische finale Eurovisie Songfestival was the national final format developed by BRT in order to select Belgium's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1965. The competition was held on 13 February 1965 in Amerikaans Theater in Brussels, hosted by Nand Baert and broadcast on BRT.[2]

Competing entries

Following announcement of Marke as Belgian representative, song submission period was opened where composers were able to submit their songs until 10 January 1965. More than 200 songs were received by the broadcaster at the closing of the deadline, from which, 6 songs were selected for the national final.[3]

Final

Final was held on 13 February 1965 at 20:50 CET at the Amerikaans Theater in Brussels and was hosted by Nand Baert. Six songs competed in the contest with the winner being decided upon by 40-member jury, 20 members of which were "professionals", while the another 20 were representatives of Flemish public.[4][5]

Draw Song Points Place
1 "Als het weer lente is" 317 1
2 "Regenlied" 277 3
3 "Een wereld zonder jou" 285 2
4 "Jij alleen" 249 6
5 "Jij bent onmisbaar" 266 5
6 "Zoals" 270 4

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Marke performed 8th in the running order, following Norway and preceding Monaco. Voting was by each national jury awarding 5, 3 and 1 points to its three favourite songs. At the close of the voting "Als het weer lente is" was one of four songs (along with the entries from Finland, Germany and Spain) which had failed to register a single point. This was the third time that Belgium had found itself at the foot of the Eurovision scoreboard, and the second (and to date last) time the country had finished with the infamous nul-points.

The Belgian jury vote was unique under this system, as only two songs had received any votes at all from the 10 jury members. Under the rules then in effect, this meant that they awarded 6 points (rather than the apparent maximum 5) to the United Kingdom and 3 points to Italy.[6]

Voting

Belgium did not receive any points at the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest.[7]

Points awarded by Belgium[7]
Score Country
6 points  United Kingdom
3 points  Italy

References
  1. https://songfestival.be/geschiedenis/31295/
  2. https://songfestival.be/geschiedenis/31295/
  3. https://songfestival.be/geschiedenis/31295/
  4. https://songfestival.be/geschiedenis/31295/
  5. ESC National Finals database 1965
  6. ESC History - Belgium 1965
  7. "Results of the Final of Naples 1965". Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 6 April 2021. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
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