The Eurovision Song Contest is an international song contest among participants from European countries. The first Eurovision Song Contest was held in 1956 in Switzerland. Since then, the competition has been held annually and is one of the most popular and rated events in the world.
Instructions
Step 1
The idea of creating a single European music competition came from the members of the European Broadcasting Union in the early 50s. The creators of the competition pursued several goals: identification of new talented performers, popularization of pop music and the release of pop music on television screens.
In 1955, at a meeting in Monaco, the idea was approved. It was decided to hold the first competition next year, 1956. The music competition in San Remo, popular at that time, was taken as a basis.
The venue was the city of Lugano in the south of Switzerland. The venue of the competition was the premises of the Kursaal theater.
Step 2
The rules of the first Eurovision Song Contest were different from the current ones. Two representatives from each participating country took part in the voting. They scored each participant on a ten-point scale. The rules allowed voting for any country, even for the home country of the jury members. This system was never used again.
Two songs could participate from each country. The songs should not be longer than three and a half minutes. Groups and duets were not allowed to participate in the competition, only solo performances.
Step 3
The first competition was attended by representatives of seven countries: the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, France and the Federal Republic of Germany. Three more countries (Austria, Denmark and the United Kingdom) were also supposed to participate in the competition, but did not manage to register before the end of the official deadline. The winner was a participant from Switzerland Liz Assia with the song “Refrain”. The rest of the results of the competition were not announced.
Step 4
The order of participation was determined by lot. There were no restrictions on the number of people on stage. The participants themselves determined the language in which they performed their songs. The entire first competition lasted only one hour and forty minutes. There was no material reward for the winner.
Step 5
The next competition was held in 1957 in Germany. The rules were slightly changed: only one song per country could be presented, the jury consisted of ten people from each country, and it was forbidden to vote for their country.
Step 6
Since 1958, the Eurovision Song Contest has officially become an annual event. Every year the number of participating countries has increased. In 2004, for the first time, the competition was divided into semi-finals and a final. In 2014, 37 countries took part in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Step 7
Viewer voting was first tested in 1996 by five countries (Great Britain, Austria, France, Germany, Sweden). The very next year, all participating countries introduced a spectator voting system.
