Some 5,000 hopefuls applied to take part. Hundreds were auditioned. And just 21 made it through to the final of France 3's search for the artist who will represent France at the 51st Eurovision Song Contest in Athens. Tonight, Virginie Pouchin won the casting competition Et si c'était vous? and will represent the country in May with the song Vous c'est nous.

The song, written by successful Rwandan-born artist Corneille Nyungura, is an athem for tolerance, and was inspired by the recent troubles in French suburbs and racial tensions in the country. Corneille has his own website at www.corneille.mu.

After initial group performances, an expert jury headed by Charles Aznavour and including Natasha St-Pier (France 2001) and Lara Fabian (Luxembourg 1988) decided on the lucky ten that would be performing French songs before the jury that evening, and sent 11 contestants home. The top ten were:

1. Virginie Schaeffer
2. Alexandre Vautrin
3. Virginie Pouchin
4. Aude Henneville
5. Tyssia
6. Pierre Suppa
7. Candice Parise
8. Fabien
9. Julien Lamassone
10. Leila Barechdy

Disco medley and guest performances
Before the televote that reduced ten to just three remaining finalists, the audience were treated to a disco medley in English by the whole group, including YMCA, Rasputin, Ring My Bell and Lady Marmalade. After Corneille sang one of his own songs, the top trio were announced before an excited studio audience. Virginie Pouchin, Fabien and Julien had made it to the final battle. Only Julien was a member of the interregional selections held by France 3 – the other two selected by France 2.

Jury member and former Eurovision Song Contest representative Natasha performed next, to enthusastic applause and cheers from the crowd. There followed a draw to decide which one of three popular songs each finalist would perform before the ultimate vote. The draw was:

Virginie – Pour que tu m'aimes encore
Fabien – Savoir aimer
Julien – L'envie

After the final three performances by the contestants, Lara Fabian then got her turn to sing as the final votes were counted. Finally, the winner was announced to much enthusiasm from the crowd. Only the top placing was announced, although the voting figures were briefly shown on screen with Virginie topping the poll on 42.5%, and showing Fabien in second place and Julien in third. Virginie will perform directly in the international final as one of the Big Four countries, along with Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.