Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1957

Nationaal Songfestival 1957

Final:	3 February 1957
Presenter:	Karin Kraaykamp
Venue	AVRO Studios, Hilversum
Number of contestants	4 (8 songs)
Voting	The winner was decided by the audience, who could vote for their favourite by sending a postcard.

Like in the previous year, a national final titled Nationaal Songfestival was held with eight songs competing. Again, the show was hosted by Karin Kraaykamp. Four singers took part in the selection, each of them presenting two songs. The winner was again chosen by postcard voting, however, this time, only the top four entries were announced. Corry Brokken, who was already one of the two Dutch representatives in the 1956 Eurovision Song Contest, was the clear winner of the national final, as her entries finished first and second. Marcel Thielemans finished third and fourth, but far behind her. The winning song was "Net als toen" and would be the third Dutch entry in the Eurovision Song Contest.

It can be seen that the interest in the contest had increased a lot: in 1956, a total of 6,694 postcards were counted, less than only the winning one received in 1957, which got 6,927; the top four received a total of postcards of 14,858 postcards.[1][2]

“Net als toen” was released on an EP by Corry Brokken with the title “Grand Prix 1957 Eurovision”.[3] The entry itself did not reach the Dutch single charts and was also not an international hit although it would win the Eurovision Song Contest. Brokken has also recorded a German version (“Damals war alles so schön”) and a French version (“Tout comma avant”) of the song. None of the other songs in the national final made any commercial impact.

Every country had a jury of ten people. Every jury member could give one point to his or her favourite song.