As Eurovision comes to the UK and Liverpool for 2023 there will be many fans and artists travelling from across Europe. There will also be an entry and possibly fans from Australia at the song contest, despite Australia not being geographically in Europe.
Australia has been allowed to join in with the Eurovision Song Contest since 2015 when to celebrate its 50th birthday, Eurovision allowed Australia to compete. Previously in 2014, Australia had been invited to perform at the interval of the semi-finals.
Eurovision bosses were so impressed with Australia in 2015 that they allowed the country to join Eurovision permanently. Australia have to qualify for the competition by competing in the semi-finals. You can keep up to date with the latest TV and showbiz news by signing up to the newsletter here.
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Other countries are competing in Eurovision which is not geographically in Europe, including Israel and Azerbaijan. The contest is organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which is made up of various broadcasters from countries across Europe and beyond. The BBC is a member of the EBU, as is RTE in Ireland, Rai in Italy and SVT in Sweden.
There are 73 member stations from more than 56 countries in the European Broadcasting Union meaning they are entitled to send acts to Eurovision if they wish. There is also a rule in place which means if Australia wins it must nominate a European co-host, who will stage the competition on their behalf, meaning fans do not have to travel all the way to Australia.
The band Voyager was selected as Australia's Eurovision 2023 entry and they will be performing their song "Promise". Bucks Fizz singer Cheryl Baker has shared her advice to this year’s UK Eurovision entry Mae Muller.
In an interview ahead of the Eurovision 2023 event, she warned Mae: “Don’t read anything - there are always going to be the haters. There are always going to be people that relish in bringing you down. You can have hundreds of thousands of people patting you on the back and saying how amazing you are, but you’ll always remember that one nasty comment.”
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