Eurovision 2012 - 22/24/26 May 2012

According to Wikipedia, 20 countries have confirmed participation in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest:

Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine.

Morocco may return next year for the first time since their only ever appearance in 1980. If they do enter, and win, they will have had 32 years gap between first entry and first win (one of the longest in ESC history), yet they will have won with only their second attempt! If they enter, whatever their result, they will have had 32 years gap between entries, the longest in ESC history.

Obviously it's early days yet, the list is bound to grow during the next few months. Does anyone know the deadline for entering?

Strange that the UK isn't in that list, considering we're a major funder.

Neither is France or Italy though, so I wouldn't panic just yet!

Interesting note at the bottom of that Wiki article concerning Portugal - the broadcaster RTP is facing the possibility of privatisation apparently and someone has concluded that this could mean the ESC would transfer to another broadcaster in Portugal or not be shown at all. Considering that Portugal have (I think) the longest participation history of all without any wins, the latter could I suppose be an option! Anyone know how popular the contest is in Portugal? They seem to have a particular knack of entering terrible songs... Wasn't their last song the 'protest' one that went down like a lead balloon?

The BBC probably won't confirm participation till they start thinking about it when the deadline for participation approaches at the end of the year. The contest is very popular in Portugal when they're in the final which has been a few times in the last few years. I don't see how privatisation will affect RTP's EBU membership when you consider the sheer amount of private channels in the EBU already. I think it's sheer speculation by the fans.

Well it is early days yet. Take a look at Wikipedia: United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest and scroll down to just below the table of contestants over the years. You will find a paragraph stating "The Saturdays, Pixi Lott, Charlotte Church, Katherine Jenkins and JLS, who have already shown interest in representing the UK at eurovision."

So it looks like the BBC are going to choose an artist and song internally again next year, rather than letting the viewers decide. Watch the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 page during the next few weeks, I bet by the end of September the UK will be on there.

That uses the Daily Star as a reference so none of it is true.

For 2012, countries can't pick internally completely (link), so the BBC and co will have to either do a selection show for the artist or the song.

Bring back Fame Academy and let the winner represent us!

I'm not sure getting a complete unknown is the best way of doing it.

The UK has selected in various ways in the past, by getting the viewers/a jury to select either the act or the song or both. What did work fairly well but hasn't been tried in a while is picking an artist and then getting the viewers to select a song, maybe it's worth trying that again?

However personally I think we should go for something different to what's gone before... think Lordy for example - just blow everyone away with something totally surprising. The problem the UK has had is that the criteria has been to find a typical 'Eurovision song' rather than just a good song and performance. The ironic 'knowing' attitude to the ESC is letting us down in that respect

I did feel Blue actually avoided it last year, in the sense that it did just seem a rather standard chart hit, and it did seem a lot better for the fact. I definitely think that the public are notoriously rubbish at this sort of thing. They will choose something preposterous (think John Sargent or Wagner) and then also complain that it doesn't do well.

At the risk of providing another list, just look at the UK's recent record in choosing entrants by phonevote:
Gemini, 2003, Last
James Fox, 2004, 16th
Javine, 2005, 18th
Daz Sampson, 2006, 19th
Scooch, 2007, 23rd
Andy Abraham, 2008, last

I personally thought the talent-type format used in 2009 was the best we've attempted in terms of finding a good song and a good singer - rewarded with a 5th place. Unfortuntalely of course, the same format didn't work a year later - proving that it is actually the song that matters (SO many people in the UK think it's all political, all biased and all anti-UK. People across Europe vote for the songs they've heard on the radio, seen on their prime-time TV. Enter a decent song, promote it across Europe and you'll do well.)

While a 'behind-closed-doors' selection procedure proved succesful last year (if with slightly lower ranking), IMO it's better than letting the country choose what they think will be good at Eurvovision.