The final was held in Lübeck, hosted by Jens Riewa. Nine songs took part and the winner was chosen by televoting, converted into percentages. "Zeit" received over three times more votes than the second-placed song. Other participants included the previous year's German winner Leon – who had notoriously been eliminated in the audio-only pre-qualifying round of the 1996 Eurovision – and Michelle, who would represent Germany in 2001.[1]
Draw
Artist
Song
Informal translation
Votes
Place
1
Verliebte Jungs
"Ich bin solo"
I am solo
1.8%
9
2
Michaela
"Es lebe die Liebe"
Long live love
9.3%
5
3
Jeana
"Kein "bitte verzeih' mir""
No "Please forgive me"
5.8%
6
4
All About Angels
"Engel"
Angel
4.3%
7
5
Michelle
"Im Auge des Orkans"
In the eye of the hurricane
11.8%
3
6
Leon
"Schein (meine kleine Taschemlampe)"
Shine (my little torch)
13.0%
2
7
Bianca Shomburg
"Zeit"
Time
40.2%
1
8
Viveca
"Komm zurück"
Come back
2.5%
8
9
Anke Lautenbach
"Zwischen Himmel und Erde"
Between heaven and earth
11.4%
4
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Shomburg performed 11th in the running order, following Spain and preceding Poland. At the close of voting "Zeit" had received 22 points, placing Germany joint 18th (with Bosnia-Herzegovina) of the 25 entries. Germany was one of five countries chosen to trial televoting in the 1997 contest, and the 12 points were awarded to Turkey.[2]