Eurovision fans around the world are getting ready for one of the biggest events in the musical calendar: the Eurovision Song Contest grand final on Saturday night (May 14th).
An audience of around 180 million people is expected to watch the final live on TV.
This year, the UK will be represented by TikTok star Sam Ryder with his song Space Man. But the UK’s record in the competition has been pretty poor in recent years, including an embarrassing nul points at last year’s Eurovision.
Fans across Europe will be voting for their favourite acts, with Ukraine’s entry - Stefania by Kalush Orchestra - considered the strong frontrunner to win. But how does the Eurovision voting system work and when will the winner be announced?
How does the Eurovision voting system work?
In Eurovision, points are allocated to entries depending both on how many votes they received from the voting public and expert juries in each participating country.
Entries are initially ranked by jury vote and then allocated points from the public vote.
Both semi-finals and the grand final are decided in this way. Entries are awarded a set of points ranging from one to eight, and from 10 to 12.
The so-called ‘Big Five’ countries - the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain - do not compete in the semi-finals and are automatically guaranteed a place in the final.
People in these countries can only vote in one of the two semi-finals, which is assigned to them beforehand.
Before the introduction of the public vote in 1997, Eurovision winners were chosen by the jury vote alone.
However, the public vote has been criticised as some people feel points are allocated on the basis of politics rather than the merits of each individual entry.
How do you vote in Eurovision?
You can vote for your favourite Eurovision entry via phone, text message, the Eurovision app or the BBC Eurovision website. Voting will open after all entries have performed and will remain open for about 15 minutes.
Viewers cannot vote for their own country’s entry, however. This means that if you’re in the UK, you won’t be able to vote for Sam Ryder and his song Space Man.
When will the Eurovision winner be announced?
Live coverage of the Eurovision grand final will start at 8pm on BBC One on Saturday and will continue until around midnight, with Graham Norton providing commentary.
This year’s winner will be announced once all the results are in from each participating country, before a victory performance by the champions.
