The Netherlands was represented by
Conny Vandenbos, with the song "'t Is genoeg", at the
1965 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 20 March in
Naples,
Italy. Five acts participated in the Dutch preselection, which consisted of five qualifying rounds, followed by the final on 13 February. All the shows were held at the Theater Concordia in
Bussum, hosted by the 1959 Eurovision winner
Teddy Scholten. Vandenbos had previously taken part in the Dutch preselection of
1962. Future Dutch representative
Ronnie Tober (
1968) was one of the other participants.
Before Eurovision
Nationaal Songfestival 1965
Heats
Five qualifying heats took place on consecutive evenings between 8 and 12 February. Each involved one of the selected acts performing three songs, with the jury winner from each act going forward to the final. The 31-member jury contained a mixture of journalists, employees of organising TV station
NTS and randomly chosen audience members.[1] The same format was used again in the Dutch preselections of
1966 and
1996.
The national final was held on 13 February. The winning song was again chosen by a mixed 31-member jury, each awarding 1 point to their favourite song. "'t Is genoeg" was the winner by a 5-point margin.[2]
On the night of the final Vandenbos performed first in the running order, preceding the
United Kingdom. Voting was by each national jury awarding 5-3-1 to its top three songs, and at the close of the voting "'t Is genoeg" had received 5 points (all from
Norway), placing the Netherlands 11th of the 18 entries. The Dutch jury awarded its 5 points to contest winners
Luxembourg.[3]