Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978

Finland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 with the song "Anna rakkaudelle tilaisuus", written by Reijo Karvonen [fi] and Seija Simola, and performed by Simola herself. The Finnish participating broadcaster, Yleisradio (Yle), selected its entry through a national final.

Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978
Eurovision Song Contest 1978
Participating broadcaster	Yleisradio (Yle)
Country	Finland
Selection process	National final
Selection date	11 February 1978
Competing entry
Song	"Anna rakkaudelle tilaisuus"
Artist	Seija Simola
Songwriters	Reijo Karvonen [fi] Seija Simola
Placement
Final result	18th, 2 points
Participation chronology
◄1977 • 1978 • 1979►

Before Eurovision

Seven entries were selected for the competition from 137 received submissions. The members of the selection jury were Heikki Seppälä [fi], Ossi Runne, Jarmo Porola [fi], Risto Hiltunen [fi], Kari Kantalainen, Julius Heikkilä [fi], Ilpo Saastamoinen [fi], and Arthur Fuhrmann [fi].^[1]

National final

Yleisradio (Yle) held the Finnish national final on 11 February 1978 at its television studios in Tampere, hosted by Klaus Thomasson [fi]. This was the first time the national selection was held outside of Helsinki since Helsinki's television studios were under renovation. The final was held in conjuction with the Intervision national final. For the first time since 1966 the conductor in the national final was not Ossi Runne but Risto Hiltunen instead. The winner was chosen by regional juries. Each jury group consisted of 15 members, and each juror distributed their points between 1–5 points for each song.^[2][3]

In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval act featured Helena Vondráčková, the previous year's winner of Intervision Song Contest, performing "The Windmills of Your Mind" and "Honey Pie".^[4][5]

Final – 11 February 1978

Draw	Artist	Song	Songwriter(s)	Points	Place
1	Seija Simola	"Anna rakkaudelle tilaisuus"	Reijo Karvonen [fi], Seija Simola	271	1
2	Mirumaru [fi]	"ABC"	Antti Hyvärinen [fi], Pertti Reponen [fi]	193	5
3	Reijo Karvonen [fi]	"Lemmenlaulu"	Eero Lupari [fi]	193	5
4	Martti Metsäketo [fi]	"En viipyä voi"	Eino Virtanen [fi], Krista Kari	88	7
5	Lea Laven	"Aamulla rakkaani näin"	Raul Reiman [fi]	258	2
6	Anneli Saaristo	"Sinun kanssasi, sinua ilman"	Eero Tiikasalo, Erkki Mäkinen [fi]	221	4
7	Katri Helena	"Ystävä"	Timo Kalaoja [fi], Katri Helena Kalaoja	258	2

Scoreboard

Song	Turku	Oulu	Helsinki	Tampere	Lappeenranta	Total
"Anna rakkaudelle tilaisuus"	53	60	60	56	42	271
"ABC"	40	43	33	39	38	193
"Lemmenlaulu"	39	47	38	36	33	193
"En viipyä voi"	21	16	18	16	17	88
"Aamulla rakkaani näin"	49	53	55	58	43	258
"Sinun kanssasi, sinua ilman"	47	37	53	37	47	221
"Ystävä"	52	51	48	57	50	258

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Simola performed fourth in the running order following Italy and preceding Portugal. Simola was accompanied by Kalle Fält [fi], Irma Tapio [fi] and Pepe Willberg as backing vocalists. The Finnish entry was conducted by Ossi Runne. Finland received two points from Norway and placed joint 18th (with Turkey) of the 20 entries.^[6]

Voting

Points awarded to Finland[7] Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points  Norway 1 point

Points awarded by Finland[7] Score Country 12 points  Germany 10 points  Israel 8 points  Monaco 7 points  Spain 6 points  Belgium 5 points  Greece 4 points  Sweden 3 points  Ireland 2 points  France 1 point   Switzerland