All About Eurovision, by Sofija N.

JWMS Newspaper Club
2 days ago
3 min read

The Eurovision Song Contest: With about 163 million viewers last year, it is the largest music contest in the world. Yet so many Americans have not heard of it. This will hopefully teach you more about the contest or be the first time you’ve heard of it. Let’s start with a brief history.

A Brief History

The first Eurovision contest was held on the 24th of May, 1956. The participating countries were Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Luxembourg. Austria and Denmark wanted to participate but unfortunately missed the deadline to submit an entry. The United Kingdom was busy and could not participate. It slowly came to be the contest we know today. Eurovision began when television was introduced in Europe. The Eurovision Network was created in 1954 by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to broadcast television across Europe. The most successful of these shows was the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC).

Choosing Songs

Every year, a participating country needs to choose an entry. Entries can be chosen in multiple ways. One way is for a country to have their own competition and the public decides who will represent them. Another way is for the candidates to perform the song to the country’s broadcaster, and the broadcaster decides who will represent the country. The last way is a mixture of the two. Artists must be chosen by mid-March.

How Voting Works

After every performance, songs are given two sets of points. One from the jury, which are people in the music business, former participants, etc, and the other from viewers of the show. Countries can get 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, or 12 points from each. To make it fair, viewers cannot vote for their own country. In the semi-finals, only viewers from the participating countries can vote in that semi-final. For example, Irish viewers would have to wait for semi-final 2 because Ireland is in semi-final 2.

The Semi-Finals

There are two semi-finals in which most of the countries participate. When I say most of the countries, I mean that the Big Five and the winner of last year’s contest automatically qualify for the Grand Final. The Big Five are Italy, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Why are these countries the Big Five? Simple, it’s because they are the largest financial providers to the contest. The other country that automatically qualifies is last year’s winner (in this case Switzerland). The other remaining contestants perform again and the songs are voted on. Semi-final 1 took place on Tuesday, May 13, 2025, at 5:00 PM EST and semi-final 2 will take place on Thursday, May 15, 2025 at 5:00 PM EST.

The Grand Final

The last live show of the contest, it takes place on Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 5:00 PM EST. The top 10 countries from semi-finals 1 and 2, along with the Big Five and the winning country from last year compete again to see who will take home the trophy. Voting works like it does for the semi-finals. The winning country gets 2 things along with the trophy.

The winning song is performed again.
The winning country gets to host next year’s competition (unless they decide they are not going next year, or something prevents them from hosting, in which case the honor of hosting the competition will go to another country, like how the United Kingdom hosted instead of Ukraine for 2023).

How to Vote

People in participating countries and the rest of the world can vote on their phone, via text, going to www.esc.vote or using the Eurovision app. Remember, you cannot vote for your own country.

Eurovision 2025

This year, 37 countries are participating in Eurovision. The host country is Switzerland, and the contest will take place in Basel. Personally, my favorite song is Norway’s 🇳🇴.

Why are non-European countries in the contest?

Israel and Australia are in the contest, but they are not in Europe. They are in the contest because their broadcasters are members of the EBU (European Broadcasting Union).

The Turquoise Carpet

The Turquoise Carpet is the opening ceremony of Eurovision, taking place in the host country. It’s basically a big parade where the artists meet the viewers, participate in interviews, and walk around the city.