The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the 23rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Paris, France, following the country's victory at the 1977 contest with the song "L'Oiseau et l'Enfant" by Marie Myriam. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Télévision Française 1 (TF1), the contest was held at the Palais des Congrès on 22 April 1978 and was directed by Bernard Lion. The contest was presented by French television presenters Denise Fabre and Léon Zitrone. This was the first time that more than one presenter had hosted the contest as well as the first to have a male presenter since 1956.
Twenty countries participated, the highest number of competing countries in the history of the competition at the time. Denmark and Turkey both returned to the contest. Denmark had not participated since 1966, 12 years before.
The winner of the contest was Israel with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta. The winning entry was a love song sung in the Hebrew equivalent of Ubbi dubbi (the title is an expansion of the Hebrew word ani, meaning "I"). This was Israel's first Eurovision win, and it was also the first winning song to be performed in one of the Semitic languages. Furthermore, it was also the only winning song to be conducted by a woman, Nurit Hirsh. Norway finished last for the fifth time, gaining the first nul points after the new voting system was implemented in 1975.
Results[]
Country in gold is the winning entry and the country in silver is the host country.
| Rank | Country | EBU member station | Artist | Song | Conductor | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Israel | IBA | Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta | "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" (א-ב-ני-בי) | Nurit Hirsh | 157 |
| 02 | Belgium | RTBF | Jean Vallée | "L'amour ça fait chanter la vie" | Jean Musy | 125 |
| 03 | France | TF1 | Joël Prévost | "Il y aura toujours des violons" | Alain Goraguer | 119 |
| 04 | Monaco | TMC | Caline and Olivier Toussaint | "Les Jardins de Monaco" | Yvon Rioland | 107 |
| 05 | Ireland | RTÉ | Colm C. T. Wilkinson | "Born to Sing" | Noel Kelehan | 86 |
| 06 | Germany | ARD/SWF | Ireen Sheer | "Feuer" | Jean Frankfurter | 84 |
| 07 | Luxembourg | CLT | Baccara | "Parlez-vous français ?" | Rolf Soja | 73 |
| 08 | Greece | ERT | Tania Tsanaklidou | "Charlie Chaplin" (Τσάρλυ Τσάπλιν) | Nurit Hirsh | 66 |
| 09 | Spain | TVE | José Vélez | "Bailemos un vals" | Ramón Arcusa | 65 |
| Switzerland | SRG SSR | Carole Vinci | "Vivre" | Daniel Janin | 65 | |
| 11 | United Kingdom | BBC | Co-Co | "The Bad Old Days" | Alyn Ainsworth | 61 |
| 12 | Italy | RAI | Ricchi e Poveri | "Questo amore" | Nicola Samale | 53 |
| 13 | Netherlands | NOS | Harmony | "'t Is OK" | Harry van Hoof | 37 |
| 14 | Sweden | SR | Björn Skifs | "Det blir alltid värre framåt natten" | Bengt Palmers | 26 |
| 15 | Austria | ORF | Springtime | "Mrs. Caroline Robinson" | Richard Oesterreicher | 14 |
| 16 | Denmark | DR | Mabel | "Boom Boom" | Helmer Olesen | 13 |
| 17 | Portugal | RTP | Gemini | "Dai li dou" | Thilo Krasmann | 5 |
| 18 | Finland | YLE | Seija Simola | "Anna rakkaudelle tilaisuus" | Ossi Runne | 2 |
| Turkey | TRT | Nilüfer and Nazar | "Sevince" | Onno Tunç | 2 | |
| 20 | Norway | NRK | Jahn Teigen | "Mil etter mil" | Carsten Klouman | 0 |
Broadcasts[]
The contest was reportedly broadcast in 17 other countries, including Algeria, Iceland, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia and Yugoslavia, in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and the Soviet Union via Intervision, and in Hong Kong, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.
Participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) | Spokesperson |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | FS2 | Ernst Grissemann | Unknown |
| Belgium (French) | RTBF1 | Claude Delacroix | Unknown |
| Belgium (Dutch) | TV1 | Luc Appermont | |
| Denmark | DR TV | Jørgen de Mylius | Unknown |
| Finland | TV1, Rinnakkaisohjelma | Unknown | Unknown |
| France | TF1 | Léon Zitrone | Unknown |
| Germany | Deutsches Fernsehen | Werner Veigel | Sigi Harreis |
| Greece | ERT, A Programma | Mako Georgiadou | Unknown |
| Ireland | RTÉ | Larry Gogan | Unknown |
| RTÉ Radio | Liam Devally | ||
| Israel | Israeli Television | No commentator | Unknown |
| Italy | Rete Due, Rai Radio 2 | Tullio Grazzini | Unknown |
| Luxembourg | RTL Télé-Luxembourg | Jacques Navadic and André Torrent | Unknown |
| Monaco | Télé Monte-Carlo | Unknown | Unknown |
| Netherlands | Nederland 2 | Willem Duys | Unknown |
| Norway | NRK Fjernsynet | Bjørn Scheele | Unknown |
| NRK | Erik Heyerdahl | ||
| Portugal | I Programa | Eládio Clímaco | Unknown |
| RDP Programa 1 | Unknown | ||
| Spain | TVE 1 | Miguel de los Santos | Unknown |
| Radio Nacional | Unknown | ||
| Sweden | TV1 | Ulf Elfving | Sven Lindahl |
| SR P3 | Kent Finell | ||
| Switzerland (German) | TV DRS | Bernard Thurnheer | Unknown |
| Switzerland (French) | TSR | Serge Moisson | |
| RSR 1 | Robert Burnier | ||
| Switzerland (Italian) | TSI | Giovanni Bertini | |
| Turkey | TRT Televizyon | Unknown | Unknown |
| United Kingdom | BBC1 | Terry Wogan | Colin Berry |
| BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 | Ray Moore |
Non-participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Cyprus | RIK | Unknown |
| Hong Kong (Cantonese) | TVB Jade | Unknown |
| Hong Kong (English) | TVB Pearl | Unknown |
| Hungary | MTV2 | Unknown |
| Iceland | Sjónvarpið | Ragna Ragnars |
| Jordan | JTV2 | Unknown |
| Netherlands Antilles | TeleCuraçao | Unknown |
| Poland | TP1 | Unknown |
| Yugoslavia | TV Beograd 1, TV Koper-Capodistria, TV Ljubljana 1, TV Zagreb 1 | Unknown |
Broadcast notes[]
- Arab World - Many Arab states (including Algeria, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, and the UAE) ended the broadcast early due to Israel winning the contest.
- Hong Kong - The show was broadcast on a delayed basis on 23 April.
- Hungary - The show was broadcast on a delayed basis on 23 May at 21:40 CET.
- Iceland -The show was broadcast on a delayed basis on 30 April at 21:20 WET.
- Italy - The show was broadcast on a deferred basis on Rete Due at 22:10 CET.
- Netherlands Antilles - The show was broadcast on a delayed basis on 6 May at 22:30 ADT.
- Poland - The show was broadcast on a deferred basis in a shortened format at 0:50 CET.
- Switzerland - The show was broadcast through a second audio programme on TSI (through German commentary).
- Yugoslavia - The show was broadcast on a deferred basis on TV Koper-Capodistria at 20:45 CET, and on TV Ljubljana 1 the next day at 15:30 CET.