This page aims to name sources that can be used for articles on historical editions of the Eurovision Song Contest as well as for the country per year-pages which include details on the national finals. Note that the focus here is on ESCs and national finals for which not so many internet resources exist, i.e. mostly editions before the 2000s.

General sources / sources for the international ESC editions edit

  • Books:
  • Official publications:
    • 1954-1957: EBU Bulletin (Helveticat),
    • 1958-1971: EBU review, published in two series: Cahier A: Technique (Helveticat), Cahier B: General and legal (Helveticat)
    • 1972-1990: Series A: EBU review: Technical (Helveticat), Series B: Programmes, administration, law (Helveticat)
    • On the internet: History of the contest on eurovision.tv ; since the site is redesigned regularly, it's also worth looking for old content on the internet archive's Wayback Machine
  • TV listings magazines
  • Articles and TV programmes in newspapers, here's a list of online newspaper archives
  • biographies of hosts, participants, composers, commentators => look for printed biographies, or go to the Wikipedia page of the person and look which references are used there
  • the videos of the original broadcasts (many of them can be viewed online), However, usually don't reference any Youtube-Link, use the Cite AV media template

General tips for sources on country-per-year pages / national finals edit

  • when searching, use the search term "Eurovision" and/or search terms which are commonly used in the country for the ESC or for the national final, e.g. "songfestival" in the Netherlands, "eurovisuut" in Finland, "sanremo" in Italy... or titles of national finals in a specific year, such as "Ein Lied für Stockholm" (Germany 1975). For earlier years, newspapers sometimes paraphrased the ESC as festival/contest/grand prix + "european song" / "chanson européenne"/"canzone europea" etc. so think also of doing a search with these terms or their translations in the national language
  • use also the name of the artists, the title of the songs, composers, hosts of NFs and possible commentators as search terms
  • many sources are not digitised so printed sources like newspapers and TV (listings) magazines from a certain year are often the best options you have: browse the catalog of your national library / state library / next university library in order to retrieve such periodicals
  • sometimes, year-by-year history books of national finals exist
  • take a look at the bibliography of these books
  • sometimes, the broadcaster of the country has a dedicated webpage with a history on their participations
  • take a look at the references already mentioned on the country-per-year-page on Wikipedia as well as on its counterpart in the national language. If the page doesn't exist, it maybe has existed in the past: take a look at the version history: information found there can be used as a starting point for research
  • the local OGAE might have a section on their homepage with a history of national finals. These pages cannot be quoted but used as a starting point for research.
  • (online) TV archives of the national broadcaster
  • try to find a video of the national final. However, don't reference any Youtube-Link, use the Cite AV media template

Specific sources for single countries edit

Austria edit

  • search terms: "eurovision", "song contest", "songcontest" (as one word, also without "eurovision")
  • Book: Lackner, Mario ; Rau, Oliver: Friede Freude Quotenbringer

Belgium edit

  • search terms: "eurovision", "eurovisie" + "songfestival", "eurovisiesongfestival", names of the preselections, e.g. "Canzonissima", "Eurosong"
  • Books:
    • Vermeulen, André: Van Canzonissima tot Eurosong : 65 jaar Belgische preselecties voor het Eurovisiesongfestival
    • Hendrickx, Jonathan ; van Biesen, Jasper: 65 jaar België op het Songfestival
  • digital newspapers: Aalst, Erfgoed Brugge
  • printed newspapers: Het laatste nieuws, Le soir (digital from 1989), La libre Belgique, De standaard, Gazet van Antwerpen, La dernière heure
  • TV magazines: Amis du film et de la tv, De tv-kijker, Micro magazine/Moustique, Radio television francaise ?, De radio en televisieweek
  • TV archives: Sonuma, sources from the Belgian National Archives
  • fanzines as a starting point: Euroviziertes (1986-), Euromusic

Denmark edit

  • search terms: "melodi grand prix"
  • Books: Mylius, Jørgen de: Det danske Melodi Grand Prix 1957-2000 (KB)
  • Digital newspapers: Flensborg Avis
  • Newspapers: Politiken, Berlingske Tidende

Finland edit

  • search terms: "euroviisut", "euroviisu*"
  • Books:
    • Kaivanto, Petri ; Leskelä, Ari: Suomen Euroviisut Kautta Aikojen. ISBN 9789524611220.
    • Pajala, Mari: Finlande: zero points? der Eurovision Song Contest in den finnischen Medien. ISBN 9783939060079.
    • Other possible publications by Mari Pajala
  • Magazine: Katso

France edit

  • search terms: "eurovision", for older editions also "grand prix" + "chanson", "concours" + "chanson",
  • tv archives: INA (details about broadcasts that took place, the original videos themselves can be consulted on-site in the INA centers in France or via inamediapro)
  • short year-by-year summaries from OGAE France can be used as a starting point for research, as well as their fanzine CocoricoVision
  • newspapers: Le Monde, Le Figaro, La Croix, L'Aurore, Humanité, France-Soir, Le Parisien libéré
  • TV magazines: Télérama, 7 jours Télé 60 (later called Télé Sept Jours), Télévision Programme Magazine (later called Télé-Magazine), La Semaine Télé, Guide de la radio de la télévision et du disque, Radio télévision cinéma, Toute la radio, Télévision, Annuaire du spectacle?
  • illustrated magazines: Paris-Match, Elle, Ici Paris, Marie-France, Le Point?, L'Express?

Germany edit

  • Search terms: "eurovision", "grand prix (d'Eurovision)", "grand prix"+"schlager"/"chanson", names of preselections, e.g. "Ein Lied für Den Haag"
  • Books:
    • Feddersen: Ein Lied kann eine Brücke sein ;
    • Haelssjon, Kaye Frann; Näther, Stephan; Regauer, Ernst: Grand Prix d'Eurovision und deutsche Schlagerwettbewerbe seit 1956 (vol. I);
    • Burandt, Holger: Der Weg zum Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson: Die deutschen Vorentscheidungen von 1956 - heute
  • newspapers: Süddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Die Welt, local newspapers from the city where the national final took place, such as Hamburger Abendblatt, Rheinischer Merkur, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, Münchner Merkur...
  • ARD-Pressedienst (official press releases of ARD), consider also press releases of the organising broadcaster in the specific year, e.g. BR, HR, NDR...
  • TV magazines: Hör zu! (later called Hörzu), Bild+Funk, Gong, TZ-Fernseh-Magazin (from 1971), Funkuhr, Funk- und Fernseh-Illustrierte, Funk und Familie, Evangelischer Film-Beobachter?, Fernseh-Informationen, Fernsehen : gestalten, senden, schauen, Fernseh-Rundschau, TV-Fernseh-Woche, Leg auf, TV Hören und Sehen
  • Sources quoted in fan pages: aufrechtgehn.de, ECGermany
  • illustrated magazines: Quick, Stern, Spiegel, Bravo, Star-Revue, Bunte
  • for chart positions: Der Automatenmarkt (until 1959), Musikmarkt (from 1959)
  • TV archives: Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv
  • from 1968: press clippings archive of Deutsche Kinemathek
  • fanzines can be used as starting points for research: from 1990: Euro-Report, from 1991: OGi-Revue, from 2000: Euro-Voice, t.o.m.

Greece edit

  • search terms: "eurovision", "Ellinikós Telikós", "Ελληνικός Τελικός"
  • Books:
    • Kourtis, Apostolos (ed.) / OGAE Greece: 26+1 Songs for Europe. The History of Greek Entries in the Eurovision Song Contest. 2006.
    • Μάκης. Δελαπόρτας. Eurovision : Οι ελληνικές συμμετοχές : Αφιέρωμα στις κυπριακές συμμετοχές = The Greek entries (1974-2006). ISBN 9789608916203.

Italy edit

  • search terms: "sanremo", "gran premio"+"canzone", "eurovision"
  • Books: Anselmi, Eddy: Il Festival di Sanremo: 70 anni di storie, canzoni, cantanti e serate. ISBN 978-88-511-7661-7.
  • Digital newspaper archives: La Stampa, Corriere della sera (via Wikipedia Library), from 1993: La Repubblica

Luxembourg edit

Netherlands edit

  • search terms: "eurovisie" + "songfestival" (in earlier years also "zangfestival")
  • Books: there are several Dutch books about the ESC but these usually cover the international editions, not the national finals
  • digital newspaper archives: Delpher (great archive, select "kranten" to search in newspapers only, use the advanced search for date ranges), De Krant van Toen
  • TV magazines: Radio bulletin, Omroepgids (via Delpher), Goede ontvangst (KB), Rhytme (KB), Televizier (1960-, KB), NOS Luisteren en kijken (1968-, KB), Video totaal (1981-, KB)
  • illustrated magazines: Beatrijs (KB, via Delpher)
  • TV archives: Beeld & Geluid (payment required, it seems)

Spain edit

Sweden edit

  • search terms: "melodifestivalen"
  • Books:
    • Thorsson and Verhage: Melodifestivalen genom tiderna. 2nd edition 2006. ISBN 91-89136-29-2.
    • Björnberg, Alf: En liten sång som alla andra: Melodifestivalen 1959 - 1983. ISBN 91-85974-05-6.
    • Fahl, Hanna: Melodifestivalen: från frack till folkfest. ISBN 978-91-7126-440-4. (richly illustrated)
    • for biographies: Olofsson, Hans & Aulin, Leif: Stora schlagerboken : den svenska sångerskorna, 1954 - 1969. ISBN 91-89136-26-8 (vol. I, A-L), ISBN 91-89136-27-6 (vol. II, M-Ö)
  • digital newspaper archives: Tidningar

Switzerland edit

  • Search terms: "eurovision", "grand prix" (+ "chanson"), "songcontest" (without space)
  • Books: there's no specific book, however the following books can be used for finding additional information in some cases:
    • Richard, Jean Marc ; Clapasson, Mary ; Tanner, Nicolas: La Saga Eurovision. (Worldcat)
    • Moser, Heinz: Twelve points: Grand Prix Eurovision - Analyse einer Fankultur. (Worldcat)
  • Digital newspapers archives: https://www.e-newspaperarchives.ch , Le Temps/Journal de Geneve, https://www.e-periodica.ch/ , https://scriptorium.bcu-lausanne.ch/ (includes the editions of the TV magazine "Radio (TV) Je vois tout"), Swiss Italian newspapers, from 1959: https://zentralgut.ch/ ; The Corriere del Ticino can only consulted on-site in the Swiss National Library
  • Official documents: the annual report ("Jahresbericht"/"Jahrbuch") of SRG (1957-59, 1960-68, 1969-)
  • TV magazines (several of these can be accessed via scriptorium or e-periodica.ch: Zoom (also called Film und Radio), Radio und Fernsehen (precursor: Schweizer Radio-Zeitung), Jugend Film Fernsehen (from 1961)
  • illustrated magazines: Schweizer Illustrierte (also called Schweizer Illustrierte Zeitung)
  • TV archive of SRF (of not much use at the moment but is announced to be enlargened; a more complete archive can be consulted on-site at the Swiss National Library)

Turkey edit

  • Book: Kuyucu, Michael: Türkiye'nin Eurovision serüveni. ISBN 9786058836723.

United Kingdom edit

Yugoslavia edit