The Netherlands was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1981 with the song "", composed by Cees de Wit, with lyrics by Bart van de Laar, and performed by Linda Williams. The Dutch participating broadcaster, (NOS), selected its entry through a national final.
Before Eurovision
1981 (NOS) held the national final at the Theater Zuidplein in Rotterdam, hosted by Fred Oster and Elles Berger. Five acts took part performing two songs each and voting was by 12 regional juries, who each had 10 points to divide between the songs. Previous Dutch entrant Ben Cramer () and future representative Maribelle () were among the acts taking part. "" was the only song to receive votes from every jury and emerged the winner by a 7-point margin.
+ Final – 11 March 1981 Artist Song Points Place 1Lucy Steymel"Een nieuw begin"85 2Lucy Steymel"Stap voor stap" 85 3Maribelle"Marionette"272 4Maribelle"Fantasie"233 5Ben Cramer"Retour"38 6Ben Cramer"Marianne"010 7The Familee"Sim sa la bim"29 8The Familee"Festival"94 9Linda Williams"Het is een wonder"341 10Linda Williams"Zo is het leven"67
At Eurovision On the night of the final Williams performed 11th in the running order, following and preceding . At the close of voting "Het is een wonder" had received 51 points from 12 countries, placing the Netherlands 9th of the 20 entries. The Dutch jury awarded its 12 points to contest winners the .
The Dutch conductor at the contest was Rogier van Otterloo.
Voting
+ Points awarded to the Netherlands Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
+ Points awarded by the Netherlands Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
References