Josephine Sjelhøj
It has been announced that Australia is going to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest for the second time next year in Sweden.
To mark the show’s 60th anniversary, the Eurovision-loving country was invited to be a special guest at this year’s contest in Austria, where they were already guaranteed a spot in the final. However, they will have to compete in the semi-finals in 2016. Australia’s performer, Guy Sebastian, came in fifth place with the song “Tonight Again” in May. Because of this year’s success, the EBU Reference Group voted in favour of Australia participating next year as well.
As of now, it has not been decided how Australia will find their next Eurovision performer. It’s different from country to country on how they find their contestants. In some countries, they have a broadcasted contest where the winner is decided by the public. In others, the performer is decided by the broadcasting company.
Although Australia has been allowed to participate in Eurovision in 2016, it doesn’t mean that they will have a permanent spot in the future. They are not allowed to host Eurovision in their country either, in case they win the contest in Sweden. If they win next year, Eurovision would be co-hosted by the Australian broadcaster SBS in a European country.
This year’s winner was Måns Zelmerlöw with “Heroes”. This means that next year’s Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Stockholm, Sweden. The semi-finals will take place on May 10 and 12, and the final will be held on May 14, 2016.
What do you think about Australia participating again? Are you excited? Leave a comment below or tweet us at @CelebMix.
