Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest (French: Concours Eurovision de la chanson), often shortened to ESC or Eurovision, is the longest-running annual TV song competition, held, primarily, among the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1956. The competition was based upon the existing Sanremo Music Festival held in Italy.

Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. The contest has been broadcast every year for sixty years, since its inauguration in 1956, and is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. It is also one of the most watched non-sporting events in the world, with audience figures having been quoted in recent years as anything between 100 million and 600 million internationally. Eurovision has also been broadcast outside Europe to several countries that do not compete, such as the USA and China. An exception was made in 2015, when Australia was allowed to compete as a guest entrant as part of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the event. In November 2015, the EBU announced that Australia would return in 2016. Since 2000, the contest has also been broadcast over the Internet, via the Eurovision website.

Song Contest

Song Contest may refer to:

Junior Eurovision Song Contest

The Junior Eurovision Song Contest (French: Concours Eurovision de la Chanson Junior), often shortened to JESC, Junior Eurovision or Junior EuroSong, is a song competition which has been organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) annually since 2003 and is open exclusively to broadcasters that are members of the EBU. It is held in a different European city each year, however the same city can host the contest more than once.

The competition has many similarities to the Eurovision Song Contest from which its name is taken. Each participating broadcaster sends an act, the members of which are aged 10 to 15 on the day of the contest, and an original song lasting between 2 minutes 45 seconds and 3 minutes to compete against the other entries. Each entry represents the country served by the participating broadcaster. Viewers from the participating countries are invited to vote for their favourite performances by televote and a national jury from each participating country also vote. The overall winner of the contest is the entry that has received the most points after the scores from every country have been collected and totalled. The current winner is Destiny Chukunyere of Malta, who won the 2015 contest in Bulgaria with "Not My Soul". The highest scoring winner is Destiny Chukunyere of Malta who won the 2015 contest with a record 185 points.

Netherlands

The Netherlands (ⁱ/ˈnɛðərləndz/; Dutch: Nederland [ˈneːdərˌlɑnt]) is the main "constituent country" (Dutch: land) of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a small, densely populated country located in Western Europe with three island territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing maritime borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom and Germany. The largest and most important cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam. Amsterdam is the country's capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of government and parliament. The port of Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe – as large as the next three largest combined – and was the world's largest port between 1962 and 2004. The name Holland is also frequently used to informally refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands.

"Netherlands" literally means "lower countries", influenced by its low land and flat geography, with only about 50% of its land exceeding one metre above sea level. Most of the areas below sea level are man-made. Since the late 16th century, large areas (polders) have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, amounting to nearly 17% of the country's current land mass.

Eurovision Song Contest 2016

The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 will be the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It will take place in the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden, following Sweden's victory at the 2015 Contest in Vienna with the song "Heroes", performed by Måns Zelmerlöw. This will be the third time the contest has taken place in Stockholm, after 1975 and 2000, the latter also being held at the Globe. The contest will consist of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May and the final on 14 May 2016. The three live shows will be hosted by Zelmerlöw and Petra Mede.

Forty-three countries will participate, equalling the record number of participants set in 2008 and 2011. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia and Ukraine will return after absences from recent contests, while Australia will also return after débuting as a special guest in 2015. However, Portugal will withdraw.

Location

The contest will take place in the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, following Sweden's victory at the 2015 Contest in Vienna with the song "Heroes", performed by Måns Zelmerlöw. The Ericsson Globe has a capacity of approximately 16,000 attendees, and this will be the second time the contest has been staged at the venue, after 2000.