Australia will return to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2017 for the third year running, it has been confirmed.
Eurovision bosses have announced that next year a record 43 countries will be competing for a spot in the live finals, which will be held in Ukraine this year, after Jamala’s victory with the politically-charged track ‘1944’ back in May.
Executive supervisor of Eurovision Jon Ola Sand said on Monday (31 October): “The Eurovision Song Contest still unites audiences like no other show, reaching over 200 million people in 2016. We’re looking forward to three fantastic shows in Kyiv next May.”
Australia’s Eurovision journey has been an interesting one, first entering back in 2015, to commemorate 60 years of the song contest, which has a huge following Down Under.
After Guy Sebastian’s ‘Tonight Again’ was warmly received by Eurovision fans, they were invited back to compete in 2016, where former ‘X Factor’ champion Dami Im took the stage by storm with her track ‘Sound Of Silence’.
While it looked at one point like she was going to walk away a Eurovision champion, she eventually finished in a respectable second place, with an impressive 511 points from the judges and voting public for her song, just 23 shy of Eurovision winner Jamala.
Next year’s Eurovision final will be aired live from Kyiv on 13 May.
And given the events of the past 12 months here in the UK, it’s probably best we anticipate a few “nul points” from our European neighbours, even before our song has even been decided...