The Netherlands was represented by

Bernadette Bernadette is a French name, a female form of the name Bernard, which means "brave bear". Notable persons with the name include: People * Bernadette (singer) (born 1959), Dutch singer * Bernadette Allen (born 1956), American foreign service of ...

, with the song "Sing Me a Song", at the

1983 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1983 was the 28th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Munich, then West Germany, following the country's victory at the with the song "Ein bißchen Frieden" by Nicole. Despite their first v ...

, which took place in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

on 23 April. Bernadette was the winner of the Dutch national final for the contest, held on 23 February.

Before Eurovision

Nationaal Songfestival 1983

The final was held at the

Congresgebouw The World Forum (originally known as Nederlands Congresgebouw and formerly Nederlands Congres Centrum and World Forum Convention Center) is a concert venue and convention centre in The Hague, Netherlands, near the buildings of the International ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, hosted by Ivo Niehe. Five acts took part performing two songs each and voting was by 12 regional juries, who each had 30 points to divide between the songs. "Sing Me a Song" emerged the unexpected winner by a margin of just 1 point over the pre-final favourite "Een beetje van dit" by Vulcano, largely thanks to the South Holland jury awarding 19 of its 30 points to the song.

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Bernadette performed 11th in the running order, following

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

and preceding

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. At the close of voting "Sing Me a Song" had received 66 points, placing the Netherlands 7th of the 20 entries. The Dutch jury awarded its 12 points to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

.ESC History - Netherlands 1983
/ref> The Dutch conductor at the contest was

Piet Souer Pieter Cornelis "Piet" Souer (born 29 March 1948, Eindhoven) is a Dutch record producer, songwriter and arranger. His collaboration with acts (such as Luv', Mouth & MacNeal, Liesbeth List, Ramses Shaffy, American Gypsy, and Champagne) made him g ...

Voting

References

External links

Dutch Preselection 1983
{{Eurovision Song Contest 1983

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1983 Eurovision