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Eurovision Unplugged: The Eurovision Song Contest – The Geography, The History, The Votes and The Songs

One-Day Conference (11.00 – 3.30), Wednesday 14^th March 2018

Room 11, School of Education, Maynooth University (North Campus)

Featuring Contributions from:

• Zena Donnelly: Ireland’s representative at Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 (only contestant to write their own composition)– only person to finish in the Top 10 of a Eurovision contest with an entry in the Irish language)
• Michael Kealy (RTÉ): Irish Head of Delegation for the Eurovision Song Contest
• Padraig Muldoon: Deputy Editor of wiwibloggs – the most-read independent Eurovision website)
• Johnny Fallon (Carr Communications): Eurovision aficionado
• Caoilfhionn D’Arcy (Maynooth University): Geography/Music graduate and Eurovision enthusiast
• Adrian Kavanagh (Maynooth University): Lecturer at Maynooth University Department of Geography, Eurovision fanatic…er analyst
• And…Members of the Audience

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Adrian Kavanagh, 23rd January 2018

As reported on the official Eurovision Song Contest website, the allocation draw for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest semi finals will take place on Monday (29th January 2018) in Lisbon City Hall (at 13.00 Common European Time). After this draw, Ireland will know whether the Irish act will be taking part in Semi Final 1 (on 8th May 2017) or Semi Final 2 (on 10th May 2017) and will also know the 17/18 other countries that will be competing against the Irish act for one of the ten qualifying slots from this semi final. The three Big 5/Host countries that will have the right to vote in the different semi finals will also be known after this. This post will assess the possibilities facing Ireland ahead of this draw and pinpoint what would be an drawn/nightmare draw for the Irish act.  (more…)

Adrian Kavanagh, 12th May 2017 

Following on the previous posts reviewing Semi Final 1 and Semi Final 2, this post will offer a brief review of the 26 acts competing Grand Final of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. As in the case of the semi-finals, this contest will take place over two nights, with the professional juries voting on the contest taking place on the night of Friday 12th May (tonight!), while the public will vote on the televised show, which takes place on the night of Saturday 13th May. (more…)

Adrian Kavanagh, 10th May 2017

The post will offer a brief review of the 18 acts competing in the second of the two semi-finals for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. This contest is taking place over two nights. 50% of the votes will be decided tonight, with the professional juries voting on tonight’s show (Wednesday 10th May), while the public will vote on the televised show, which takes place tonight, Thursday 11th May.  (This post is still under construction – further details, including a discussion of Lithuania, Estonia and Israel, will follow tomorrow morning.)

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Adrian Kavanagh, 9th May 2017

The post will offer a brief review of the 18 acts competing in the first of the two semi-finals for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. This contest is taking place over two nights. 50% of the votes have already been decided, with the professional juries having voted on the show taking place last night (Monday 8th May), while the public will vote on the televised show, which takes place tonight, Tuesday 9th May. (more…)

Adrian Kavanagh, 15th May 2016

Ireland finished in 15th place in the second Eurovision Semi Final with 46 points – the last country to qualify, Serbia, finished with 105 points. Australia won this semi-final with 330 points, followed by Ukraine on 287 points in second place and Belgium on 274 points in third place.

How did Ireland fare with the (other) countries who were voting in this semi-final? Based on the details provided from the official Eurovision website, we can see that Ireland were ranked accordingly by the other 20 countries who were voting in our semi-final: (more…)