It's the question on most Eurofans lips right now... will Australia be part of Eurovision 2024 in Malmö, Sweden and when will find out about it?
Every few days, another country is confirmed for participation next year, but we are still waiting to hear if Australia will compete again.
As most Eurovision fans are probably aware, Australia's five year contract to compete at Eurovision expired this year in Liverpool.
The deadline for broadcasters to apply to compete in Eurovision 2024 ends today, on September 15, 2023. Those confirmed broadcasters then have until October 13, 2023 to notify the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) that they won’t be competing, if they change their mind, to avoid a financial penalty.
Things are a bit different for Australia as the land Down Under is not part of the European Broadcasting Area. Australia is not a full member of the EBU but an Associate Member, and have been since the inception of the EBU in 1950.
Therefore the Australian broadcaster, SBS, would possibly be making separate arrangements with the EBU to allow Australia to continue to compete. With the EBU workshop is held in Berlin for Heads of Delegation this week, we would hope Australia's future is also under discussion.
Previously, the announcements of Australia's participation have taken place on these dates:
11 February 2015: Australia confirmed as a special guest for Eurovision 2015
17 November 2015: Australia confirmed for Eurovision 2016
1 November 2016: Australia confirmed for Eurovision 2017
23 August 2017: Australia confirmed for Eurovision 2018
13 February 2019: Australia secures spot at Eurovision with five year contract until 2023
Looking at these dates it tells us that Australian Eurovision fans may still have to wait a while with an announcement possibly being made between now and November or even up to February next year.
At the end no news is possibly good news. We think it is fair to say that we have earned our place at Eurovision, so hopefully we will find out soon - stay tuned!
So if we are to return, who would compete for Australia? Well in June we put together a top ten after a vote from Eurovision fans, check it out here.
Article written by Hayley Bessell and Kyriakos Tsinivits.
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