Steven Clerima has stepped down as Head of Delegation for France. He confirmed the news this morning through his personal Twitter account.
Steven Clerima was part of the French delegation for Eurovision for four years, previously serving as Assistant Head of Delegation. He was made Head of Delegation in 2018 and was reponsible for Destination Eurovision, the first national final to be held in France since 2014, as well as France’s return to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2018. He is also the third Head of Delegation to step down this year, following Jan Bors from the Czech Republic and Nicola Caligiore from Italy.
Steven Clerima will be replaced in the Head of Delegation role by Alexandra Redde-Amiel, the Head of Entertainment for France Télévisions.
The news of Steven Clérima’s resignation comes after news that the method for selecting the French entry for Eurovision 2020 is still undecided. France Télévisions are currently assessing whether it will shift to one prime time show with three or four songs and acts or internally select both the song and act.
In the past two years France has used Destination Eurovision to select their singer and song for the competition. The show has had mixed results, following France’s revival in the competition between 2016 and 2017.
At this year’s contest in Tel Aviv, Israel, France was represented by Bilal Hassani. With his song “Roi”, he placed 16th in the Grand Final.
Source: Steven Clerima, Sébastien Barké
France in the Eurovision Song Contest
France was one of seven countries to participate in the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. Since then they have participated in every contest aside from 1974 and 1982. Their withdrawal in 1974 was caused by the death of President Georges Pompidou, while 1982’s withdrawal was a result of TF1 declining to enter the contest. France has won the contest on five occasions, the most recent being in 1977 when Marie Myriam performed “L’oiseau et l’enfant”. France’s best result of the 2000s came in 2001 when Natasha St-Pier finished 4th in Copenhagen, Denmark.
