Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978
| Eurovision Song Contest 1978 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Belgium | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Eurosong | |||
| Selection date(s) | 8 February 1978 | |||
| Selected entrant | Jean Vallée | |||
| Selected song | "L'amour ça fait chanter la vie" | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 2nd, 125 points | |||
| Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Belgium was represented by Jean Vallée, with the song '"L'amour ça fait chanter la vie", at the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 22 April in Paris.
Before Eurovision
Eurosong
French-language broadcaster RTBF was in charge of the selection of the Belgian entry for the 1978 Contest. Information on the venue of, and host for, the final is not currently available. Eight songs participated in the selection and the winner was chosen by an expert jury, although again it is not known whether full results were given or only the winner announced.[1] Unusually, all but one of the participants were male.
Vallée was the winner of the national final for the contest. he had previously represented Belgium in the 1970 contest in Amsterdam, where he had finished fifth. Another previous Belgian entrant Jacques Hustin (1974) also took part.
| Final – 8 February 1978 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist | Song |
| 1 | Henri Seroka | "L'Odyssée" |
| 2 | Frank Michael | "À qui parler d'amour" |
| 3 | Jean Vallée | "L'amour ça fait chanter la vie" |
| 4 | Jacques Hustin | "L'an 2000 c'est demain" |
| 5 | Paul Louka | "Le vieux marin" |
| 6 | Delizia | "Qui viendra réinventer l'amour" |
| 7 | Marc Farell | "Confidence pour confidence" |
| 8 | Franck Olivier | "La fête" |
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Vallée performed 10th in the running order, following Switzerland and preceding the Netherlands. At the close of the voting "L'amour ça fait chanter la vie" had received 125 points with votes from all other participating countries apart from Denmark and Turkey, and including five first-place 12 points votes from France, Greece, Ireland, Monaco and the United Kingdom. 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 1986 victory and matched by Urban Trad in 2003. The Belgian jury awarded its 12 points to contest winners Israel.[2]
Points awarded by Belgium[3]
| 12 points |  Israel
|
| 10 points |  Ireland
|
| 8 points |  France
|
| 7 points |  Switzerland
|
| 6 points |  Monaco
|
| 5 points |  Germany
|
| 4 points |  United Kingdom
|
| 3 points |  Luxembourg
|
| 2 points |  Spain
|
| 1 point |  Italy
|
Points awarded to Belgium
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
