| Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 1998 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) | |||
| Country |  Switzerland | |||
| Selection process | Eurosong 98 | |||
| Selection date | 18 December 1997 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "Lass ihn" | |||
| Artist | Gunvor | |||
| Songwriters |
| |||
| Placement | ||||
| Final result | 25th, 0 points | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
| ||||
Switzerland was represented at theEurovision Song Contest 1998 with the song "Lass ihn", written byEgon Egemann and Gunvor Guggisberg, and performed by Gunvor herself. The Swiss participating broadcaster, theSwiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), selected its entry through a national final.
Prior to the 1998 contest, theSwiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) had participated in theEurovision Song Contest representing Switzerland forty-one times since its first entry at the inaugural contest in1956.[1] It won that first edition of the contest with the song "Refrain" performed byLys Assia. Its second victory was achieved in1988 with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi" performed by Canadian singerCéline Dion. In1997, Switzerland finished 22nd earning 5 points with the song "Dentro di me" performed byBarbara Berta [fr].
Despite regularly using national finals to select their Eurovision entrants (yearly since1981), SRG SSR selected their entrants through non-televised internal selections from1994 to1997 due to the low publicity and high expenses on their national finals.[2] However, SRG SSR continued to hold national finals on a regular basis, starting in this year.
Swiss German andRomansh broadcasterSchweizer Fernsehen der deutschen und rätoromanischen Schweiz (SF DRS) held the national final on 18 December 1997 at 20:00 (CET) at its television studios inZürich.[3] It hosted bySandra Studer, who representedSwitzerland in 1991. The national final was broadcast onSF 1,TSI 2, andTSR 2 (with commentary from Pierre Grandjean).[3][4]Katrina and the Waves, who won for theUnited Kingdom in 1997, andJohnny Logan, who won forIreland in 1980 and1987, made guest appearances and performed popular Eurovision songs with Studer.[3]
Six songs participated in the selection, with three songs being performed in French, two in Italian, and one in Italian. The voting consisted entirely of public voting, with votes being cast from five cities.[3] The winner was the song "Lass ihn", composed byEgon Egemann (who representedSwitzerland in 1990) and performed by Gunvor, who also composed the song.
| R/O | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Language | Points | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composer | Lyricist | ||||||
| 1 | Susan Orús | "L'enfant des étoiles" | Benoît Kaufmann | Rébecca Jonckheere | French | 19 | 3 |
| 2 | Filippo Trojani | "Amerò di più" | Filippo Trojani | Italian | 17 | 5 | |
| 3 | Anne Francoeur | "Le rêve d'Alice" | Régis Mounir | French | 5 | 6 | |
| 4 | Gunvor | "Lass ihn" |
| German | 34 | 1 | |
| 5 | Talk About Girls | "Qualcosa di te" |
| Italian | 26 | 2 | |
| 6 | Vanessa Jüdt | "Trouver ma place" | Benoît Kaufmann | Rébecca Jonckheere | French | 19 | 3 |
| Draw | Song | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "L'enfant des étoiles" | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 19 |
| 2 | "Amerò di più" | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 17 |
| 3 | "Le rêve d'Alice" | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 4 | "Lass ihn" | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 34 |
| 5 | "Qualcosa di te" | 6 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 26 |
| 6 | "Trouver ma place" | 4 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 19 |
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the eight countries which had obtained the lowest average number of points over the last five contests competed in the final on 9 May 1998. On 13 November 1997, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Switzerland was set to perform in position 5, following the entry fromSpain and before the entry fromSlovakia.[6][7] Switzerland finished in twenty-fifth (last) place, failing to score any points.[8] This was the fourth time Switzerland finished in last place and the third time the nation receivednul points after1964 and1967.[citation needed]
In Switzerland, the contest was aired on the three broadcasters that form SRG SSR: Heinz Margot and Roman Kilchsperger provided German commentary onSF 2,[9]Jean-Marc Richard provided French commentary onTSR 1,[10][11] while Jonathan Tedesco provided Italian commentary onTSI 1.[12] SRG SSR appointedRegula Elsener as its spokesperson to announce the Swiss votes during the show.[citation needed]
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Switzerland and awarded by Switzerland in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points toGermany in the contest.[13]
Switzerland did not receive any points at the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest.[13]
| Score | Country |
|---|---|
| 12 points |  Germany |
| 10 points |  Israel |
| 8 points |  Malta |
| 7 points |  Netherlands |
| 6 points |  Spain |
| 5 points |  Croatia |
| 4 points |  Belgium |
| 3 points |  United Kingdom |
| 2 points |  Ireland |
| 1 point |  Norway |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)