Eurovision Song Contest 1978

Eurovision Song Contest 1978
Eurovision Song Contest 1978
Dates
Final	22 April 1978
Host
Venue	Palais des Congrès; Paris, France
Presenter(s)	Denise Fabre; Léon Zitrone;
Musical director	François Rauber
Directed by	Bernard Lion
Executive supervisor	Frank Naef
Host broadcaster	Télévision Française 1 (TF1)
Website	eurovision.tv/event/paris-1978
Participants
Number of entries	20
Debuting countries	None
Returning countries	Denmark; Turkey;
Non-returning countries	None
	Participation map Competing countries Countries that participated in the past but not in 1978;
Vote
Voting system	Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs
Winning song	Israel; "A-Ba-Ni-Bi"
	1977 ← Eurovision Song Contest → 1979

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 [fr].^[1] 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.

^ Chaillet, Cathérine; TF1 Service de presse (4 April 1978). Concours Eurovision de la chanson (in French). Paris: TF1. pp. 1–4. OCLC 965372158.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

[:0-1] Chaillet, Cathérine; TF1 Service de presse (4 April 1978). Concours Eurovision de la chanson (in French). Paris: TF1. pp. 1–4. OCLC 965372158.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

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