Jury Voting Returns To The Eurovision Song Contest
Interesting decisions from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) from their meeting in Moscow to discuss the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) 2009. Apart from the almost formality of confirming Russia’s capital as the host city next May, the voting system to decide the winning song will now be made up of a mix of pre-selected juries and telephone voting of the general public.
This is similar to the recent Eurovision Dance Contest, where roughly 25% of the available points were awarded by four judges in the venue (they were given the weight of four countries, so instead of their top cote being worth 12 points in the final mix, but 48 points). What was interesting on the EDC 2008 result was that even if the Jury had not been there, and only the points from the telephone counted, then Poland would still have been the winner.
The EBU have not yet determined just how much weighting will be given to jury, but I’m wondering if it will be enough to sway the final results away from the winning telephone votes. This has been the case in some of the National Finals in previous years, and can leave a bad taste in the mouth.
But I think the biggest change that having the jury in the mix will be the perception of the voting. No matter what evidence there is, certain countries (and certain commentators) still believe that entire countries will do the will of their governments and vote for political reasons, rather than the fact they are voting for their home country, or the heart-throb male singer that’s been on their TV for months. So the jury will give confidence in the final result, but I don’t think that there should be enough weighting that the jury can ultimately over-rule the phone vote except in very close contests (such as 2003, where the top three were separated by only three points).
Here’s how you win Eurovision… You write the best song, you perform it well on the night, and you make sure that everyone in Europe has heard of you before the Grand Final. That way you get more ‘Douze Points‘ from around Europe than other songs, and you end up winning.
I don’t think adding national juries will change this, but I do think that the jury will enhance the result enhance the standing of the contest, and ultimately that’s a good thing.
So bring on the jury… now, how do I apply?
September 14, 2008; Eurovision;
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