8th Grand Prix

8° Grand Prix Europe (fr. Huitième Grand Prix de l'Europe) was the eighth edition of the annual Grand Prix contest. The contest was held in Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, following the victory of Geraldiné in the 7th Grand Prix. Sixteen countries participated in the contest, with Andorra and Belgium withdrawing.

Following increasing interest within European nations to participate in the contest, the voting system has been expanded to include not five but ten favourite entries. Instead of 15 points, every national jury had 58 points to give, greatly increasing amount of points available. Italy, represented by Naiola with song "Mercurio". It was the second victory for Italy and the first time any country won again. It was the first time the winner received more than 100 points, thanks to change of a voting system. Switzerland finished second, represented by Laura Zavei, who also placed second for Switzerland in the 2nd Grand Prix. Norway placed third, scoring their best placing.

Location
Eighth contest took place in the Luxembourg City, the capital of Luxembourg. It was the second smallest nation and city to ever host the Grand Prix, after Monaco. The national broadcaster decided that it would be hosted in Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, country's major venue for drama, opera and ballet. The capacity of the theatre reached around 900 people, making it smaller than the previous edition. Most of the delegations were moved to the studio, leaving the main hall more open towards Luxembourgish and foreign audience. Despite that, local guests were outnumbered by the French and German visitors.

The show
The contest was hosted by Nina Petri, Italian TV presenter living in Luxembourg. She was the only presenter, the first time after the 2nd Grand Prix. She used French language mostly, with some of the phrases repeated either in English or Italian. On several occasions, mostly when introducing a country or congratulating, she also used Luxembourgish.

There was a change of voting system, deeming that 1-5 points procedure was punishing most participants, rather than awarding them and causing too much possibility of a tie. Because of that, every national jury was asked to rank their ten most favourite entries, awarding 1 up to 8 points, then 10 and 12 points to the highest ranked ones. That system was then upheld in future contests.

Incidents
A member of Italian jury, Sergio Callera, was disqualified after finding out he's been a close friend of a Spanish representative. Callera ranked Spain the highest but his votes were not ultimately tallied. If they were, Spain would have got 12 points instead o 8, placing it 11th overall instead of 13th. Additionally, Switzerland would have received 2 points less while Norway would have been awarded 3 points, causing them to switch places on the podium.

Participants
Sixteen countries participated in the contest, two less than in the previous edition. Andorra and Belgium both withdrew due to financial reasons. Initially, Flemish Belgian broadcaster, VRT, was supposed to skip the contest and gave its right to choose their representative to French-speaking RTBF. However, VRT swore it would be able to pay its fee and resigned only 3 days before the deadline, leaving no time for RTBF to perform any action in its place.

Returning artists
Laura Zavei returned for Switzerland, previously appearing in 2nd Grand Prix. She tied with France in a first place, losing only because of tie-breaking system.