Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 1974

Eurovision Song Contest 1974
Participating broadcaster	Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK)
Country	Norway
National selection
Selection process	Melodi Grand Prix 1974
Selection date(s)	16 February 1974
Selected artist(s)	Anne-Karine Strøm
Selected song	"The First Day of Love"
Selected songwriter(s)	Frode Thingnæs Philip A. Kruse
Finals performance
Final result	14th, 3 points
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1973 • 1974 • 1975►

Norway was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 with the song "The First Day of Love", composed by Frode Thingnæs, with lyrics by Philip A. Kruse, and performed by Anne-Karine Strøm. The Norwegian participating broadcaster, Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK), organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 1974 in order to select its entry for the contest. Strøm had already represented Norway at the 1973 contest as a member of the Bendik Singers, whose other three members provided backing vocals in the 1974 contest.

Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) held the Melodi Grand Prix 1974 at its studios in Oslo, hosted by Vidar Lønn-Arnesen. Five songs were presented in the final with each song sung twice by different singers, once with a small combo and once with a full orchestra. The winning song was chosen by voting from a 14-member public jury who each awarded between 1 and 5 points per song. "The First Day of Love" was performed in Norwegian as "Hvor er du" at the national final and was translated into English before going to Eurovision.^[1]

On the evening of the final Strøm performed 4th in the running order, following Spain and preceding Greece. The voting for 1974 reverted to the one-point-per-jury-member system and at the close of voting "The First Day of Love" had picked up only 3 points, placing Norway joint last (with Germany, Portugal, and Switzerland) of the 17 entries, the third time the country ended the evening at the foot of the scoreboard.^[2][3]

• Full national final on nrk.no