| Year: | 1961 |
| Broadcaster: | French: [[Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française]]|i=no (RTF) |
| Country: | France |
| Preselection: | National final |
| Preselection Date: | 18 February 1961 |
| Entrant: | Jean-Paul Mauric |
| Song: | French: Printemps, avril carillonne|i=no |
| Final Result: | 4th, 13 points |
France was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1961 with the song "French: Printemps, avril carillonne|i=no", composed by Francis Baxter, with lyrics by Guy Favereau, and performed by Jean-Paul Mauric. The French participating broadcaster, French: [[Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française]]|i=no (RTF), selected its entry through a national final. In addition, RTF was also the host broadcaster and staged the event at the French: [[Palais des Festivals et des Congrès]]|i=no in Cannes, after winning the with the song "Tom Pillibi" by Jacqueline Boyer.
For 1961, French: [[Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française]]|i=no (RTF) opted to hold a national final, which took place on 18 February at 21:20 CET (20:20 UTC).[1] The final was hosted by Jacqueline Joubert and directed by . Six songs took part. The artists were accompanied by the orchestra of Camille Sauvage. The winner was chosen by votes from members of the public who were telephoned by RTF's regional studios.[2] Each of the 11 regional juries consisted of 50 viewers, with the exception of Paris where 100 viewers were telephoned.
| Draw | Artist | Song | Points | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christiane Lasquin | "Toi pour moi, moi pour toi" | 57 | 5 | |
| 2 | Isabelle Aubret | "Le gars de n'importe où" | 100 | 3 | |
| 3 | Arabelle | "Un petit brin de musette" | 31 | 6 | |
| 4 | "Printemps de Paris" | 90 | 4 | ||
| 5 | Jean-Paul Mauric | "Printemps (avril carillonne)" | 212 | 1 | |
| 6 | Bernard Stephane | "Les mouettes" | 109 | 2 |
| Song | Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toi pour moi, moi pour toi | 4 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 57 | |
| Le gars de n'importe où | 5 | 7 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 19 | 100 | |
| Un petit brin de musette | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 31 | |
| Printemps de Paris | 4 | 6 | 8 | 13 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 13 | 5 | 16 | 90 | |
| Printemps, avril carillonne | 25 | 21 | 12 | 17 | 23 | 17 | 19 | 16 | 17 | 15 | 30 | 212 | |
| Les mouettes | 10 | 10 | 13 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 21 | 109 |
On the night of the final Mauric performed 9th in the running order, following and preceding . At the close of the voting "French: Printemps, avril carillonne|i=no" had received 13 points, placing France 4th of the 16 competing entries.[4]
Every country had a jury of ten people. Every jury member could give one point to his or her favourite song.