Belgium was represented at the

Eurovision Song Contest 1982 The Eurovision Song Contest 1982 was the 27th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Harrogate, United Kingdom, following the country's victory at the with the song " Making Your Mind Up" by Bucks Fizz. Organised by the Europ ...

with the song "", composed by Fred Bekky, Rony Brack, and Bobott, with lyrics by Jo May and Bobott, and performed by Dutch singer

Stella Stella or STELLA may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media Films * ''Stella'' (1921 film), directed by Edwin J. Collins * ''Stella'' (1943 film), with Zully Moreno * ''Stella'' (1950 film), with Ann Sheridan and Victor Mature * ''Stella'' (1955 ...

. The Belgian participating broadcaster, Walloon (RTBF), selected its entry through a national final. This was Stella's third appearance at Eurovision: She had appeared as part of the group

Hearts of Soul The Hearts of Soul, also known as Dream Express and LBS, were a Dutch-Belgian Musical ensemble, musical group that originally consisted of the Indonesian-born Dutch sisters Bianca Maessen, Bianca (born 30 June 1950), Patricia Maessen, Patricia ...

for the and of

Dream Express A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5–20 minutes, althou ...

for . As a solo singer, she had also taken part in the .

Before Eurovision

National final

The selection of the Belgian entry took place during five episodes of the popular music programme . The show was broadcast weekly on Sundays, and the five episodes between 24 January 1982 and 21 February 1982 were dedicated to selecting the Belgian entry for the

. The competition consisted of three heats, a semi-final, and a final. (RTBF) held all the shows at its studios in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, hosted by Pierre Collard-Bovy, and the songs were all presented in pre-recorded videos.

Competing entries

A 12-member jury with people from the television and radio industry, journalists, and representatives from

SABAM SABAM is one of the Belgian associations of authors, composers and publishers. The bilingual acronym stands for "Société d'Auteurs Belge – Belgische Auteurs Maatschappij". Their headquarters is located at 41-43 rue des Deux Eglises in Bruss ...

selected 18 entries out of 156 submissions.

Heats

The heats took place on 24 January, 31 January, and 7 February 1982 and were broadcast for 30 minutes from 17:30 (

CET CET or cet may refer to: Places * Cet, Albania * Cet, standard astronomical abbreviation for the constellation Cetus * Colchester Town railway station (National Rail code CET), in Colchester, England Arts, entertainment, and media * Comcast En ...

). Six competing acts performed in each show and the top two as decided by televoting advanced to the semi-final. Televoting was only open for just over an hour and the results of each show were announced in a short show at 19:24 (CET) on the day of each heat.

Semi-final

The semi-final took place on 14 February 1982 and was broadcast for 30 minutes at 17:30 (CET). The six entries which had qualified from the heats competed and the top four entries as decided by televoting advanced to the final. Televoting was only open for just over an hour and the results of the semi-final were announced in a short show at 19:24 (CET) on the same day.

Final

The final was held on 21 February 1982 and was broadcast for 30 minutes at 17:35 (CET). The winning song was chosen by the same 12-member jury panel which had selected the 18 songs from the received submissions and the results of the final were announced in a short show at 20:10 (CET) on the same day.

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Stella performed 11th in the running order, following and preceding . At the close of the voting "" had received 96 points, placing Belgium 4th of the 18 entries. Although the song did not receive any 12 points votes (the highest were 10 from and Spain), it achieved the distinction of being only the eighth song in Eurovision history to that date (and only the third non-winner) to receive points from every other participating country (excluding the 1971-1973 contests where each country had to award a minimum of 2 points to every song). The Belgian jury awarded its 12 points to .

Voting

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1982

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1982

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster submits an origina ...