It took place in London, United Kingdom, following the country's victory at the 1976 contest with the song "Save Your Kisses for Me" by Brotherhood of Man.

[2] Eighteen countries participated in the contest; Sweden returned after its absence from the previous edition, while Yugoslavia decided not to enter.

The winner was France with the song "L'Oiseau et l'Enfant", performed by Marie Myriam, written by Joe Gracy, and composed by Jean-Paul Cara.

The contest was originally planned to be held on 2 April 1977, but because of a strike of the BBC cameramen and its technicians, it got postponed for a month.

[1] Due to strikes by the BBC camera staff, and lack of time to organise the contest, there were no postcards for the viewers in between the songs.

However, various shots of the contest's audience were shown, with the various countries' commentators informing the viewers of the upcoming songs.

Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers.

[16] In addition to the participating countries, the contest was also reportedly broadcast in Algeria, Denmark, Iceland, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey and Yugoslavia, in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union via Intervision, and in Hong Kong.