Good evening, Europe! (And good morning, Australia!)
As you probably know, this year’s Eurovision Song Contest has been sadly canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This leaves 41 songs forever in limbo, and we can only speculate how they might have done when presented in front of the professional juries and televote.
But how could we get as accurate an idea of how Eurovision 2020 might have gone down? Well, here’s a project that could get us as close as we could possibly get! Eurovision: A Second Opinion 2020 is designed to be as accurate a simulation of how the 41 professional juries and televotes would have voted in this year’s semi-finals and grand final.
How would it work?
Each country would vote for the other songs competing in whichever semi-final they were planned to participate and vote in (or, in the case of the automatic qualifiers, just the ones they were planned to vote in). One result would be determined by juries made up of five professionals from the world of music and entertainment. The other would be determined by a sample vote of ordinary people from each country, to get a unique perspective from outside just the Eurovision bubble. When the qualifiers from each semi are determined, the same process would apply for the grand final.
Who are on the juries?
The juries would be formed of people who follow the same (or at least similar) rules as those laid out by the Eurovision organizers: five people per country with some level of involvement in the entertainment business, be it in front of or behind the scenes, Eurovision or otherwise. They’d each pick their ten favorite songs and rank them from 1st to 10th, and those votes would be weighed together to determine the jury ranking. They’ll then be assigned the typical Eurovision points (12, 10, 8-1). The jurors can’t be personally connected to any of the competing performers or team members from other countries, and they have to be sixteen years or older.
The people on these juries can be from all walks of entertainment, be it Eurovision, Junior Eurovision, or otherwise. We welcome people from all areas: singing, production, songwriting, management, sound engineering; opera, classical, rap, pop, country, musical theatre, folk, etc. We just want as much variety as possible for each jury.
They just have to be from the 41 participating countries specifically, and there can only be five total for each jury (give or take shared ballots).
If you have ever served on your country’s jury at Eurovision in the past, please reach out to us! We also welcome people not just from the Eurovision Song Contest, but from the whole Eurovision family of events (Junior, Young Musicians, Young Dancers, and Choir), national selections, and related events (Liet International, Slavianski Bazaar, Pan-Celtic Song Festival, Sanrmeo, New Wave, Can I Gymru, etc.). Your help gives us a more diverse and interesting result!
Who are the televoters?
Obviously, it’s difficult to stage a full-on televote like at Eurovision, but we have the next best thing! We would like ordinary citizens (preferably 2-5 per each country) to share their favorite entries in the same way for each semi, and those combined results would serve as a pseudo-televote. However, we would prefer for each fan group to be more than just hardcore Eurovision fans. They make up only a small subset of the televoting groups, and our tastes differ oftentimes drastically from the actual voting results. Eurovision fans are of course welcome, but if they can get a few friends who maybe aren’t as invested to offer their two cents, they’d be an even bigger help.
Where is this happening?
The results will be unveiled simultaneously on this website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The semi-final results will be unveiled around May 16st and the final will be around June 1st. Originally we wanted it to coincide with when the grand final would’ve been held in Rotterdam, but we need to give people more time. We also will co-ordinate with RADIO INTERNATIONAL so the results will be broadcast on radio.
Is here anything else like this?
A few things, actually! Eurovoix, another Eurovision fan site, is doing a very similar show called Eurojury. That was a bit of an inspiration for ESO, and they’re worth checking out as well. And interested participants shouldn’t feel afraid to vote in both of our panels if they feel so inclined. No competition, of course – just a mutual celebration of this wonderful contest!
We hope this all pans out and that we get a lot of people on board to help. Now more than ever, we need to keep the Eurovision spirit alive, and if the contest itself can’t go on this year, we’re hoping this could be the next-best thing. It’ll be a lot of fun and very elaborate, and we can’t wait to hear from all of you!
All the best,
Joe Newman-Getzler
Email: joenewmangetzler@gmail.com
Instagram: @nerdwithadog
