United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997
The United Kingdom's entry into the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 was "Love Shine a Light" by Katrina & the Waves. The entry was chosen during the UK selection show, The Great British Song Contest, hosted by Dale Winton on 9 March, with the results announced six days later. The UK went on to win the song contest which was being held in Dublin, Ireland, with an unprecedented 227 points. The UK sang at position 24. The lead singer was Katrina Leskanich. The 1997 contest is still the most recent win for the United Kingdom.
Before Eurovision
The Great British Song Contest 1997
Competing entries
was by far, the best known of the 4 finalists. Their "Walking on Sunshine" was a big hit in the UK and most of Europe.Paul Varney was better known as half the boy duo Yell! and later enjoyed a solo career as an artist signed to PWL Records.
Joanne May was only 18 years old for her performance. Her composer, Don Black was the most famous name among the composers this year and had previously submitted songs into the UK final, "Come September" for Lulu in 1969 and "Happy Everything" for Maggie Moone being his most memorable.
B-Yond had appeared on the children's TV show Blue Peter on Thursday 7 February but none of the other 7 entries did so. The "teen idol" pop group consisted of Jaden Cornelious, Nataylia Roni, Steve Whyte and Elaine Morris. Their follow-up single was a re-working of "Born Free" which was a charity single to raise money for the Quality of Life Animal Sanctuary in Devon.
Laura Pallas was on Motorcity Records on the Nightmare label, which produced a lot of Hi-Nrg artists during the late 1980s
Sam Blue had already been at the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 as a backing singer for Emma with "Give A Little Love Back To The World" and had previously been at the UK final of 1996 in the duo Esseness singing "I Never Knew" and has worked with Dennis Waterman on "It's Alright", the theme tune for the BBC1 show "New Tricks". Sam has his own band in America called California Screaming.
Semi-final
On 7 February, a semifinal was held on BBC Radio 2 at 09:30am, presented by Ken Bruce. This featured eight songs. Radio 2 listeners voted at 10:00am and voting closed at 11:15am and the top 4 went forward to the televised final. In addition to the four listed above, the following were included, although the 4 acts not shaded in orange were eliminated:Final
The Great British Song Contest final was held on Mother's Day, Sunday 9 March 1997 and televised on BBC 1 at 15:30pm. Gina G was special guest at the show. The final was hosted by Dale Winton. There was no simultaneous broadcast with Radio 2. The results were announced on The National Lottery Live on 15 March.Each of the 4 finalists were featured each week on The National Lottery Live:
| Song | Date |
| "Love Shine a Light" | 16 February 1997 |
| "Yodel in the Canyon of Love" | 23 February 1997 |
| "You Stayed Away Too Long" | 1 March 1997 |
| "The Life You Don't Yet Know" | 8 March 1997 |