Why are we competing?
Yes Australia isn't in continental Europe however... the Eurovision Song Contest isn't entirely about geography. It's a competition set up by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) which includes nations of North Africa and the Middle East who are eligible to compete. Israel and Azerbaijan compete who are on the crossroads of Europe, Morocco has competed in the past and Lebanon almost competed in the past.
Australia is an Associate Member of the EBU and thanks to a long consistent association and devotion to the contest (we've been televising it for over 30 years) we were granted a wildcard in 2015. It was such a success we have been invited back ever since... just keep quiet and they should let us stay...
When and where is it?
The competition is being hosted in Kyiv, Ukraine as that nation won the event last year (and we're still not over it).
There will be two semi-finals during the week and then the final on the weekend. Australia competes in semi-final 1. Important dates and times below (All Australian Eastern Standard Time and all coverage on SBS):
Wednesday 10 May
5:00am – Live Semi Final 1 (Australia performs and we can vote).
8:30pm – Eurovision Top 40 Songs (Special one off show counting down the best Eurovision songs of all time)
Friday 12 May
5:00am – Live Semi Final 2 (We can’t vote – but can still enjoy!).
7:30pm – Repeat of Semi Final 1 (With Australia in it, in case you can’t get up early enough on Wednesday)
Saturday 13 May
7:30pm – Repeat of Semi Final 2
Sunday 14 May
5:00am – Live Grand Final (We can vote even if Australia doesn’t qualify)
7:30pm – Repeat of Grand Final (If you can’t wake up early enough we encourage you to hide under a doona all day with no technology to avoid hearing the winner).
What songs are performing and who is representing Australia?
In case you’ve been under a rock 17-year-old Isaiah Firebrace is performing for Australia with Don’t Come Easy. Isaiah is an X-Factor winner from 2016 and comes from the little town of Moama in New South Wales.
You can see all the songs competing on this very excellent playlist from Eurovision.
Will we win?
Australia is 8th in the betting at around 50-1 but in Worldwide Fan Poll we ranked 14th. So it’s looking doubtful… However we should just be happy if we qualify and put in a good performance. Just enjoy being there!
Who are our commentators, spokeperson and jury?
Yes unfortunately Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang have hung up their hats and we have a new commentary team. This year it will Myf Warhurst (a former jury member) and comedian Joel Creasey. They look to have good chemistry and we look forward to seeing and hearing them in Kyiv. We're right behind them!
For the third year running our spokesperson (the person who reads out our votes) will the legend herself, Lee Lin Chin.
Our jury is....
Dr Steven Capaldo (44, music education lecturer) Lucy Durack (35, performer/actor) @lucydurack Jordan Raskopoulos (35, singer/comedian/writer) @jordanrasko Jackie Loeb (45, singer/comedian/actor) @jackieloeb Peter Hayward (33, music director) @phayward2000
Find out more about them here: http://www.sbs.com.au/guide/article/2017/05/01/sbs-announce-australias-2017-eurovision-jury-members