Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk (HR) on behalf of ARD, the contest, originally known as the Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne 1957 (English: Eurovision Grand Prize of European Song 1957[1]) was held on Sunday 3 March 1957 and was hosted at the Großer Sendesaal des hessischen Rundfunks in Frankfurt, West Germany by German actress Anaid Iplicjian.

The results of the voting were now conducted in public, with a scoreboard introduced to allow the process to be followed by viewers and listeners at home.

This was Brokken's second appearance as a participant, after previously representing the Netherlands in 1956; her victory marked the first of five Dutch wins in the contest as of 2023[update].

[6] Germany was subsequently selected to host the second edition, after Hans-Otto Grünefeldt, TV program director at HR, offered to organise it on behalf of ARD.

[9][10] Two of the participating artists, Switzerland's Lys Assia and the Netherlands' Corry Brokken, had previously competed at the 1956 contest.

[13] The stage built in the Großer Sendesaal featured a wooden staircase for the artists and conductors to make their entrance, and a lyre-shaped background for the singers, which should symbolize the history of popular songs since the Middle Ages.

[6][20] The background of the orchestra featured photographs from different European landmarks, such as the Brandenburg Gate, the Colosseum and the Arc de Triomphe.

This new aspect of the contest was inspired by the United Kingdom's Festival of British Popular Songs, which included voting by regional juries and the points received shown on a scoreboard, a telerecording of which was viewed by EBU organisers.

[6][20] Conversely, the United Kingdom's first entry lasted for one minute and 53 seconds in total, and remained the shortest song to compete in the contest until 2015.

[3][6] The winner was the Netherlands represented by the song "Net als toen", composed by Guus Jansen, written by Willy van Hemert and performed by Corry Brokken.

[33] 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.