Yugoslavia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1961 with the song "", composed by Jože Privšek, with lyrics by Miroslav Antić, and performed by Ljiljana Petrović. The Yugoslavian participating broadcaster, (JRT), selected its entry through the first edition of . This was the first-ever entry from Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest, and the first-ever entry performed in Serbo-Croatian in the contest.
Before Eurovision
1961 (JRT) held the first edition of on 16 February at the Ljubljana Slovene National Theatre Drama in Ljubljana to select its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961. The show was staged by RTV Ljubljana and hosted by Milanka Bavcon. There were nine songs in the final, from three JRT subnational affiliates: RTV Ljubljana, RTV Zagreb, and RTV Belgrade. The winner was chosen by the votes of an eight-member jury of experts, one juror for each of the six Yugoslavian republics and the two autonomous provinces. The winning entry was "", composed by Jože Privšek, with lyrics by Miroslav Antić, and performed by Serbian singer Ljiljana Petrović.
+ Final – 16 February 1961 Broadcaster Artist Song Points Place 1 RTV Ljubljana Ljiljana Petrović "" 19 1 2 RTV Ljubljana & "Kako sva si različna" 6 5 3 RTV Ljubljana Jelka Cvetezar "Črni klavir" 3 9 4 RTV Zagreb Ivo Robić "Pjesma o životu" 11 3 5 RTV Zagreb Gabi Novak "Drage misli" 17 2 6 RTV Belgrade Lola Novaković "Plave daljine" 9 4 7 RTV Belgrade "Sreća" 4 8 8 RTV Belgrade Đorđe Marjanović "Reč il´ dve" 5 7 9 RTV Zagreb Duo Hani "Obećaj mi to" 6 5
At Eurovision The contest was broadcast on , (with commentary by Saša Novak) and . It was also broadcast on radio stations and Radio Ljubljana 2.
Ljiljana Petrović performed "" 5th on the evening of the contest following Finland and preceding Netherlands. At the close of the voting the song had received 9 points, placing 8th equal in a field of 16 competing countries.
Voting The Yugoslav jury was made up of 3 members each from the Belgrade, Ljubljana and Zagreb studios.
+ Points awarded to Yugoslavia Score Country 3 points 2 points 1 point
+ Points awarded by Yugoslavia Score Country 5 points 2 points 1 point
References