11th Grand Prix

11° Grand Prix Europe (fr. Onzième Grand Prix de l'Europe) was the eleventh edition of the annual Grand Prix contest. The contest was held in Oslo Concert Hall, Oslo, following the victory of Norway in the 10th Grand Prix. Twenty-two nations participated in the contest, with Israel debuting and France returning after a year absence. Morocco and Tunisia withdrew due to a limited recognition of the Israeli state.

For the first time the language rule was lifted - any participant could perform their song in any language, leading to half of the countries sending an English language song. The rule was highly criticized by the French, Luxembourgish and Italian delegations, however most of the broadcasters agreed to it. No language restriction was used also in two following contests and the rule was brought back again in 14th Grand Prix.

The contest was won by United Kingdom, represented by Kelly Prudence with the song "If I Could". Monaco came in second, represented by its former winner, Romí, who also gathered a record number of 8 maximum notes. France finished third and the host country finished fourth, with both being the first nations who earned above 100 points and did not end first or second.

Location
Following the Norwegian broadcaster's recommendation, the contest took place in Oslo Concert Hall, a recently constructed venue that could host up to 1600 people. It was the northernmost location of the contest that time, beating Birmingham, which hosted 7th Grand Prix.

The show
The show lasted a record time of 139 minutes, bringing back interval acts, which involved all former Norwegian participants. Wahlgreen, the winner of previous edition, opened the show with his winning song. The event was hosted by Ande Borkhaln, Jakkob Heimstroup, two established Scandinavian presenters.

Following the Norwegian victory, the contest show a rise of jazz, swing and pop music, contrary to ballads that dominated the scene in the previous contests. Bands and duets became more notorious, as well as a more common usage of percussion, drums, guitar and, particularly, saxophone. The Norwegian Royal orchestra was responsible for providing the instrumentals for every artists and their performance is still considered to be one of the most appraised orchestra's appearance in the contest history.

Participants
Twenty-two countries participated in the contest, with Israel making their debut. This caused Morocco and Tunisia to withdraw, as their common external policy did not recognize the statehood of Israel and prohibited the country to be medially shown or promoted in any way. Several other countries insisted Israel should not take part, however, as a full member of the Mediterranean Union, it had the same right as other members. France returned after being absent in the previous edition.

Returning artists
Romí, the first winner of the Grand Prix, who represented Monaco, returned for that country. Noim, part of an Austrian duet in the 6th Grand Prix, returned as a solo act.