Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961
Belgium was represented by Bob Benny, with the song '"September, gouden roos", at the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 18 March in Cannes, France. The song was chosen in the national final on 29 January. Benny had previously represented Belgium in the 1959 contest. Future Belgian entrant Jacques Raymond finished runner-up in the final.
Final
The venue and host of the national final are currently unknown. Six songs took part with the winner being chosen by an "expert" jury. It is not known by what system the songs were scored.Draw | Artist | Song | Points | Place |
1 | Tony Sandler | "Moeder" | 8 | 6 |
2 | Jacques Raymond | "Als je weent, als je lacht" | 40 | 2 |
3 | Jo Leemans | "Af en toe" | 33 | 3 |
4 | Bob Benny | "September, gouden roos" | 60 | 1 |
5 | Luc van Hoeselt | "Bonjour" | 21 | 4 |
6 | Enny Denita | "Maandenkrans der liefde" | 14 | 5 |
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Bob Benny performed 11th in the running order, following Switzerland and preceding Norway.At the close of the voting "September, Gouden Roos" had received only 1 point, placing Belgium joint last of the 16 competing entries. The Belgian jury split its 10 points between Norway, Italy and the United Kingdom.