Switzerland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 with the song "", composed by Géo Voumard, with lyrics by Émile Gardaz, and performed by Israeli singer Esther Ofarim. The Swiss participating broadcaster, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), selected its entry through a national final after selecting their previous entry via internal selection.

Before Eurovision Regional selections The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) held a national final to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1963. The national final was a collaboration between three broadcasters that comprised SRG SSR: the Swiss-German and Romansh broadcaster (SF DRS), the Swiss-French broadcaster (TSR), and the Swiss-Italian broadcaster (TSI). Unlike previous Swiss national finals, where all composite broadcasters internally selected their entries, said broadcasters could hold their own regional selection methods for the first time. (SF DRS) held a public preselection, while the remaining regional broadcasters internally selected their entries.

1963 The song submission period for the Swiss-German regional selections was open in August 1962, where anyone native to Switzerland or foreigners who resided there for at least 5 years were eligible. Applications could be sent to studios in Basel, Bern, or Zurich, where detailed information of the rules could be found. The deadline for song submissions was on 6 October.

Listeners of were invited to act as a jury and would register to vote by sending postcards to Radio Studio Basel marked "" with their favorite song written down. The event was broadcast on radio on 3 December at 20:30 CET (19:30 UTC) and was hosted by A. Werner. The nine candidate songs were sung by Anita Traversi— who previously represented , Mario Ronga, Virginia Markus, and Willy Schmid with accompanying the orchestra. The two songs with the most votes from the public would be chosen to advance in the nationwide final.

On 10 December, it was revealed that the two winning songs were "" by Anita Traversi and "" by Willy Schmid. Further details of the event, including the full results and remaining song titles remain unknown.

Six songs took part in the nationwide selection, with two songs being performed each in French, German, and Italian. Four artists took part to represent Switzerland, among whom was Anita Traversi— who represented and would later repeat this in .

Swiss French broadcaster (TSR) staged the national final on 9 February 1963 at 20:30 CET (19:30 UTC) in Geneva. It was presented by Heidi Abel, , and Claude Evelyne. The Radiosa Orchestra, which served as the show's orchestra, was accompanied by and Luc Hoffmann.

The voting consisted of three sets of nine-member regional juries from Zürich, Lugano, and Geneva. Each regional jury would give 3 points to their favorite song, 2 to their second favorite, and 1 to their third favorite. The winner was the song "", written by Émile Gardaz and composed by Géo Voumard, and performed by Esther Ofarim. The winning composers were not revealed until the end of the show. Known results are listed in the chart below. + Final – 9 February 1963 Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) Total Place Composer Lyricist 1 Anita Traversi "" German Renato Bui Velio Bergellini rowspan=2 colspan=2 2 Jo Roland "" French Gaby Osterwalder Louis Rey 3 Anita Traversi "" Italian 3 4 Esther Ofarim "" French Géo Voumard Emile Gardaz 59 1 5 Anita Traversi "" Italian Lucio Treuti 7 5 6 Willy Schmid "" German Emil Forster 6 6

At Eurovision

At the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 in London, the Swiss entry was the tenth song of the night following and preceding . The Swiss entry was conducted by Eric Robinson, who reprised his role as the musical director of that year's contest, after previously doing so in the 1960 contest, and previously conducted multiple British entries. The Swiss entry performed as the one hundredth song to perform in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Each participating broadcaster assembled a 20-member juries awarded 1-5 points to their five favourite songs, with 5 points going towards the jury's most favorite song. At the close of voting, Switzerland had received forty points in total; the country finished second among sixteen participants following an issue during the voting procedure.

+ Points awarded to Switzerland Score Country 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

+ Points awarded by Switzerland Score Country 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

References