1966: Austria's finest hour

Austria first participated in the second running of the Eurovision Song Contest back in 1957. After a three year absence recently from 2008-2010 inclusive, the nation returned to the competition in 2011.

Austria's record at a glance

• First participation - 1957 - Bob Martin - Wohin, Kleines Pony
• Best result - Winners (1966) - Udo Jürgens - Merci, Chérie
• Semi-Final record since 2004 - 1/4 attempts successful - 25% qualification record
• Highest score in the Final - 101 points (2003) - Alf Poier- Weil Der Mensch Zählt *

* Highest score in the Final represents the modern day voting system introduced in 1975.

You can read about all of the Austrian entrants, songs and how they fared in Europe's Favourite TV Show here in our history section.

You can see Ausrtia's 1966 winner in the video below.

Austria Facts & Figures

• Udo Jürgens was a persistent man, he had represented Austria in 1964 and 1965 finishing in 6th and 4th place respectively before he struck it lucky at the third time of asking in 1966
• Tony Wegas also represented Austria in consecutive years in 1992 where he finished in 10th place with Zusammen Gehn and in 1993 finishing 14th with Maria Magdalena
• Austria has finished in last place in Europe's Favourite TV Show on seven occasions, including scoring the dreaded nul points three times in 1962,1988 and 1991
• Since the modern day scoring system began in 1975, Austria has awarded the most points over the years to entries from the United Kingdom. Ironically, the United Kingdom has been Austria's biggest supporter over the same period
• The last time Austria finished in the top 5 of the Eurovision Song Contest was in 1989 when Thomas Forstner performed Nur Ein Lied

Last year in 2011, Nadine Beiler became the first Austrian entrant to qualify from the Semi-Finals of the Eurovision Song Contest, you can see her entry The Secret Is Love in the video below.