Marcel Bezençon (; 1 May 1907 – 17 February 1981) was a Swiss

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

media executive A media proprietor, media mogul or media tycoon refers to a entrepreneur who controls, through personal ownership or via a dominant position in any media-related company or enterprise, media consumed by many individuals. Those with significant co ...

and the director of the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...

between 1954 and 1970. In 1955, he conceived the idea of the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

, based on the famous

Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival () and commonly known as just (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. It is the longest-running annual ...

. Bezençon graduated with a degree in art history from the

University of Lausanne The University of Lausanne (UNIL; french: links=no, Université de Lausanne) in Lausanne, Switzerland was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second oldest in Switzer ...

in 1932, and then started work as a freelance art and theater critic before becoming editor of the newspaper Feuille d'Avis. In 1939, he joined Radio suisse romande (RSR), where he served as its director until 1950 when he became Director-General of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), which he served until 1972. Bezençon also sat as a member of the board of directors of the Swiss Telegraphic Agency (SDA ATS) between 1963 and 1972. In 2002, the

Marcel Bezençon Awards The Marcel Bezençon Awards were first handed out during the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finl ...

were founded by

Christer Björkman Christer Samuel Björkman (; born 25 August 1957) is a Swedish singer and television producer. He represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992 with the song "I morgon är en annan dag". From 2002 to 2021, he served as a producer of Me ...

(

Melodifestivalen Melodifestivalen (; literally "the Melody Festival") is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song ...

winner and Swedish ESC participant in 1992) and

Richard Herrey Per ''Richard'' Herrey, born 1964 in Strömstad, is a Swedish artist, politician in the Moderate Party, media personality and restaurant manager. Biography Richard Herrey won Melodifestivalen in 1984 together with his brothers Per och Louis as ...

(

and Swedish ESC winner in 1984 as part of the Herreys).

References

1907 births 1981 deaths Eurovision Song Contest people People from Orbe {{Eurovision-stub