Do threoir iomlán ar fhormáid Chomórtas Amhrán Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final will take place on 22 May, with two semi-finals held earlier on 18 May and 20 May. If you are new to the event or have watched in the past but are not quite sure how this format works - don’t worry, we’ve compiled a detailed explanation, An Chipir by eurovisiongreece.

Choosing a Performer

To begin, each participating nation must first choose a performer and a song. The performance can feature up to six members, while the song must be totally original and no more than three minutes long. The performer may be handpicked by professionals or selected through a national TV vote with all entries confirmed by the March deadline.

At this point, bookmakers start publishing Eurovision song contest odds and chat forums and social media groups start debating the merits of each entry and speculating who might win. For 2021, Malta were installed as the early favourites ahead of France, Switzerland, and Italy.

How are the Finalists Picked?

Tradition dictates that the five biggest nations (and highest financial contributors): France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, automatically qualify for the final along with the host country. The remaining countries are drawn into two semi-final groups with the best 10 from each group heading to the Grand Final, making a total of 26 finalists out of 39 entries.

The official album featuring all 39 Eurovision Song Contest 2021 songs is out now! ?

? Comment with a flag emoji to tell us who your favourites are!

? https://t.co/zhTQZlqy65 pic.twitter.com/FaZmnbMGuN- Comórtas Amhrán Eurovision (@Eurovision) Aibreán 26, 2021

Some Rules & Regulations

For their final performance, every act must sing live; however, live instruments are not permitted, so musicians must perform to a backing track. This puts all the emphasis on the vocal performance on the night. The original rules stated that performers had to sing in one of their national languages but this was scrapped in 1998. After the songs have been performed, the voting begins.

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How the Voting Works

The following points can be awarded: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 12 with two sets of marks given to each country. The first set of points are awarded by a jury of professionals in each country, and the second are awarded by TV viewers via phone calls, text messages, or on the official Eurovision app. To make things fair, no one can vote for their own country; however, many neighbouring countries or those with close links have been known to vote for each other.

The semi-final voting follows the same format but the countries can only vote on the semi-final they are involved in. The six pre-qualified countries are also split into two groups so that three vote on one semi-final and three on the other. These semi-final draws are usually held in January.

Crowning the winner

After all the Grand Finalists have performed, the jury votes are read out live on air. The viewer votes are then counted and revealed from the lowest to the highest. When all the votes have been tallied, the winner is announced and awarded the glass microphone trophy before being asked to perform again.

With that cleared up, you can now impress your friends with your Eurovision knowledge when the show gets underway at the end of May.

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