TheSwiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) held an internal selection to select its entry for theEurovision Song Contest 1997. Since1994, the broadcaster selected its entries for Eurovision internally due to the low publicity and high expenses on their national finals.[1]
The internal selection took place on 19 February inZurich,[2][3] where nine songs were presented after presumably being shortlisted, with three songs in French and German, two in Italian, and one inRomansh.[4] It is unknown how many total songs were submitted.
On the following day, it was first reported that the selected song was "Dentro di me," written and performed byBarbara Berta [de].[2] Both songs in Italian are known and their results are listed in the chart below.
Internal selection (known songs) — 19 February 1997[3]
At the Eurovision Song Contest 1997, held at thePoint Theatre inDublin, the Swiss entry was the seventh entry of the night followingSlovenia and preceding theNetherlands. The Swiss conductor at the contest was Pietro Damiani. At the close of voting, Switzerland had only received 5 points in total; finishing in twenty-second place out of twenty-five countries.[5]
This year, a new "televoting" system was introduced, in which five countries had their viewers vote their favorite songs from their country rather than those countries using jurors. The countries that utilized the new televote system wereAustria,Germany,Sweden, theUnited Kingdom, and Switzerland.[6] The remaining participating broadcasters still assembled a jury panel with at least eleven members. All countries awarded 1-8, 10, and 12 points to their top ten songs.
Switzerland
