Since 2009, 50 percent of the Eurovision results have been in hands of national juries. Today the members of every nation’s jury members were announced. All juries include five music industry professionals from different professions, and one backup.
Many former Eurovision stars can also be spotted from the juries. Spain, for example, has four Eurovision singers in their jury – Pastora Soler from 2012, Ruth Lorenzo from 2014, Daniel Diges from 2010 and Rosa Lopez from 2002.
The youngest jury member comes from Sweden, 17-year-old Melodifestivalen 2015 singer Isa. The only other jury member under 20 is Israel’s backup member. The shortage of teenage jury members is a strange situation in a year that has seven teenagers competing. The average age for the jury is 40, and at the other end of the scale, there are 17 jury members over the age of 60, with the oldest being the Slovenian backup, 86-year-old conductor Dusan Hren.
https://youtu.be/sL1reQO8NZc
The juries have a fairly even gender split – 106 women and 132 men. Eurovision 1977 winner Marie Myriam is a jury member in France. Poland’s representatives from last year Donatan and Cleo join the Polish jury, and Armenia’s 2014 singer Aram MP3 will rate the songs in his national jury.
https://youtu.be/yq3prvZf7UQ
Other jury members with a Eurovision connection include Ryan Dolan (Ireland 2013), Hind (The Netherlands 2008), Gabriel Broggini (Sinplus, Switzerland 2012), Tinkara Kovac (Slovenia 2014), Nevena Božovic (Moje 3, Serbia 2013), Marko Kon (Serbia 2009), Nicola Della Valle (Miodio, San Marino 2008), Dina Garipova (Russia 2013), Inês Santos (Portugal 1998), Adelaide Ferreira (Portugal 1985), Alsou (Russia 2000), Ovi (Romania 2010, 2014), Michal Wisniewski (Ich Troje, Poland 2003 & 2006), Margaret Berger (Norway 2013), Geta Burlacu (Moldova 2008) and Ralfs Eilands (PeR, Latvia 2013). They will all serve as a jury member or a back-up member of their countries.
Also moving from the Eurovision stage to the jury room are Manuel Ortega (Austria 2002), Valters Fridenbergs (Latvia 2005), Birgitta Haukdal (Iceland 2003), Heidar Örn (Pollapönk, Iceland 2014), Marianna Efstratiou (Greece 1989, 1996), Nodi Tatishvili & Sophie Gelovani (Georgia 2013), Tanja (Estonia 2014), Lotte Nilsson (Denmark 1992), Søren Poppe (Rollo & King, Denmark 2001), Florence Huby (Witloof Bay, Belgium 2011) and Roberto Bellarosa (Belgium 2013).
The jury member list is released to encourage openness and to give the public an opportunity to scrutinise the list. The EBU’s rules for choosing jury members are as follows:
- Members of the jury must not have been part of the jury in the previous two years;
- Members of the jury must be aged of at least 16 on the day they vote;
- Members of the jury must not be employees of Participating Broadcasters;
- Members of the jury must pursue a profession in or related to the music industry;
- Members of the jury shall be citizens of the country they represent;
- No member of a jury shall be connected in any way with any of the participating songs entered and/or artists performing in the contest in such a way that they cannot vote in complete independence and impartiality.
And after the Georgian jury vote was declared invalid last year due to suspicious voting patterns, the EBU has sent a clear message that they are watching closely.
Visit Eurovision.TV to download the full jury list.
Are juries still necessary? Did you spot any other former Eurovision participants? Leave a comment!
Marie Myriam! my favorite entry from France EVER!!! 🙂 I hope she has an open criteria! 😛
DAMMIT!!
Did I miss the action in the commment section :-S
I wish I was here earlier.
Is it just me, or do others also feel some juries are prone to bribery? Witness the repeated 12 points for Azerbaijan in the past few years from San Marino…and the Georgian jury disqualification for alleged vote collusion. Not sure what can be done about it, but it certainly raises some important issues about juries in the ESC.
Juries don’t necessarily give credibility to the contest. They can be biased. I agree that there should be more than 5 people on a jury.
Do they have a bigger impact than televoters? They rank all songs so number 1 in the televoting can end up with 0 points overall. It has already happened before. Is there a possibility that number 1 in the jury vote end up with 0 points overall?
To follow up on my jury point, I think we need a jury like the UMK jury. Half the votes of the jury from a professional side, half from random members of the public just to balance it out.
Also I like Freyah’s idea where there should be more than 5 people on a jury. Like that makes total sense right? 5 people just seems too small, where’s the diversity in music taste in that? You’re more likely to get an accurate depiction of your country’s (professional) music taste and vote if you use more jurors. But I don’t like the idea of televoting getting a 75/25 weight or anything similar. Dont we all remember the days of the early-mid 00s? Im sure none of us want a repeat of that voting structure :D. Maybe a 60/40 would be… Read more »
Aw Marios gone, lol that sucks, what exactly happened since all his comments were deleted? But yeah I have to agree with a lot of the jurors being old it will definitely have a certain impact. At this point this just kills any small chance that Moldova, Denmark, San Marino, the UK and Finland mightve had. I think the songs that will be affected most negatively will be Belgium, Georgia, Belarus, and maybe Serbia and the Netherlands too (for SF1), and Lithuania, Malta, Israel, Iceland, Switzerland, and possibly Latvia too. Spain and Germany might be in trouble. Most of these… Read more »
I don’t think it’s at all strange that there is a “shortage” of teenagers on the juries, considering that being a music industry professional is a jury requirement. Of course I realize that the demographic of a site like wiwibloggs is going to skew very young, but each year I roll my eyes when certain authors and commenters are aghast at how ancient the performers and jurors are. Also how songs that aren’t overproduced up-tempo tracks are so often described as “dated” and “ballads”, whether they are or not. It isn’t the (supposedly advanced) age of the jurors that prevents… Read more »
I’ve never laughed so much reading the comments section, thanks guys.
It’s good that Sweden is briging some diversity into their jury, the fact that the average age of the jurors is 40 kinda worries me honestly.
I don’t think juries should be removed, they give credibility to the contest, but the public vote should always have more weight. A 60-40 ir 65-35 split would be ideal imo.
Also, go Tanja, I hope to see her representa Estonia again in the future.
@Oostenrijk: your negative comments about this blog are interesting. if it’s so annoying why are you always here commenting? it’s a little disrespectful to talk trash about a blog which seems to take a lot of effort to maintain. and i like their neon pink. if you want a beige, boring take on eurovision there are dozens of sites you can visit instead. greetings from vienna
I’m an avid fan of Eurovision and WiWi Bloggs, and check the site most days to keep up to date with whats-not at Eurovision – this truly is the best ESC website! However, I’m afraid I am getting pretty sick of Mario’s comments and the storm that is created with his sometimes rather nasty, but nonetheless, unnecessary opinions. Yes I don’t have to read the comments section each time, but until a moderator starts assessing these comments I refuse to be part of a community which allows someone to be so hateful. Eurovision is supposed to be about love, and… Read more »
completely agree there needs to be a new rule that at least one jury member in every national jury is in the 16-21 age group
Ugly comments? I am not the one being rude here… The problem is you do not like being told others opinion. You like spreading your opinion but criticise other for doing the same? Another example of hypocrisy much. And no I do not believe I am wasting time as its not only me with the issue with you clearly. It needs to be resolved in some way.
Oh and I also agree about what you said about having more jury members….
Mario, you are entitled to your own opinion I understand that, but it is not necessary to be rude and be hateful towards other people. Don’t try to generalise your opinion because not everyone has the exact same opinion as you. Not everyone hated Tanja or her song last year so don’t act hypocritical – spread love not hate.
Conchita always thanked her haters for their attention and their energy, although she wondered why somone would put so much energy in something he/she doesn’t like…..
Mario is the perfect member of this forum, he is everything that wiwibloggs is too: supergay, super neon pink, slightly annoying, sassy, only talks about what he likes and not what others may find interesting, and totally entitled to his own slightly bad taste and thus his opinion and therefore far from a professional view on music. Just perfect, so don’t hate on him just because he’s beautiful y’all!
Mario, please don’t attack the other readers. You can’t go around flinging insults at everyone and then throw a strop when you’re called out on the matter. Your asterisks aren’t fooling anyone, and if you continue to be abusive your comments will be deleted and blocked. Have a nice day 🙂
But it is not your own business… You are posting rude unnecessary comment on a public site almost daily? I do not dislike you, but the comments. Censored or not. Theres ways to get your opinion out other than being rude about others. I am not being rude to you just pointing out problems ok.
Looks like Germany is up for controversy yet again. Last year the panel sat in one room and voted all inline. This time Germany would have Eurovision 2016 in the big with a victorious Australia, so they are so gonna vote for them in Final and guess who is gonna win the Semifinal 2? Czech Republic, since the lead singer of Revolverhand owes Marta Jandová a favour for having her featured on their biggest hit so far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCcJuN47UcY
Why is Germany always have to play fishy? Their votes have been among the weirdest since a couple of years now.
@Eurouk – thanks for correcting! The years go so fast, 2013 feels like yesterday!
I agree Freyah have asked Mario to tone it down before also and got a similar response. This is supposed to have attitude the site but its too much. Coming here as commenters we don’t want to be thrown verbal abuse by other members. Surely wiwi team must see the issue that this is causing and can do something of it.
Thank God is not only me who is tired of the comments made by this Mario guy. He is damn annoying and sometimes borderline offensive that I think some of his comments should have him banned from here already. Example in this page: “Tanja ~ nasty b*tch! {a loser like her should had never won the Eesti Laul & go to Vision…EVER..!} everyone hated/disliked her last year…Even the Estonians themselfs..” AFAIK most people were surprised Tanja didn’t go to the final last year, and not EVERYONE hated or disliked her, like Mario says in his comment. Stop generalizing your opinion… Read more »
What I don’t like about juries since new rule 2013 is, that they have a bigger impact than televoters. Because they have the power to not only vote for a song but also to vote against them, by putting them at the very end of their ranking. Viewers at home have no chance of ranking songs, they only have 20 votes and it’s up to them how many they use and how they split it. The viewers’ choice is based on favourites, the juries choice also comprises anti-favourites and the power to completely reverse viewers’ choice. Number 1 in the… Read more »
It’s a good line up. I second Juryvision, though I think Ruth would have her hands full with a few other opposing jurors.
Mario, half your comments are you contemplating the possible bisexuality of male acts, I’d hardly call that cool, interesting or informative. If anything it’s weird because you’re practically fantasising about it for paragraphs on paragraphs.
And go ahead, insult me if you want. I’m not the one with the bad reputation in the comments on this site.
Now, you can go ahead and respond angrily all you want, but I’m done reading this, so i’ll move on like most people do rather than hang around in the comments forever.
Anyway… Sure the Juries can be terrible but they can be saving graces. Look at Milim from Harel Skaat, who came 12th in the televote and 4th with the juries in his semi, with the juries getting him into the final. I like that they’ve involved National Final Acts as well as past acts, it keeps the Eurovision family together. However they do need more than 5 to really balance it out. If we’re talking injustices by the juries, Montenegro came 4th in the Televote in 2013 and the juries put them last, ruining them. If things like that happen,… Read more »
Hey Mario, I get that free speech is a thing but can you tone it down a notch please? It’s great that you’re passionate about the Eurovision and this is a place for people with such passion, it’s just the way you express it is excessive. Comments about people, using terms like b*tch are just uncalled for. In every comment on every article, you preach peace and kindness and support, yet you slag these people off based on a song. Example: Sure “Amazing” split the crowd. Some loved it, some hated it, some dismissed it as a copy of Euphoria,… Read more »
Mario…your a fool!
@Mario – not only are you a hypocrite, but also a morron. Stop posting your foolish essays – it’s getting pathetic.
I agree they should lower the jury persentage down but it depends on the way they have chosen them I think. The should have one being a conductor another being an old singer then a young singer then a song witter and a music writter then choreographer even though its a song contest or even better if they could choose singers from different genres of music to make it fare to acts like pkn who could be liked by some. I believe one day an act will end up losing who people want to win because of the juries.
Liora – Israel’s 1995 representative.
Many people from National Finals are also involved this year.
Great article though
Dina Garipova and Margaret Berger were from 2013, not 2014 🙂
If they ever change the televote/jury split, I would favor maybe a 70/30 or 75/25 split instead of the 50/50 that keeps leading to a lot of “middle of the road” entries (bar the top 2-3, 5 at the max). And Finland did 90/10, which leaned too much for the televote.
Mario, you preach about your vision of love yet you insist on calling past acts bitches, brats etc. Quit it. It’s ugly, and extremely hypocritical.
The juries should have less power…..I can smell the suspicious voting coming already!!! At the very least they should revert to the pre-2012 system where they didn’t score by ranking and average rank! The current system allows one jury the member to rank a song very low and thus bring it out of the top 10 of that country even if other jury members and the public rated it highly. This is why last year we saw so many average, mediocre songs qualify (Malta, Belarus, Iceland). System NEEDS to change but I fear we will have to have a disastrous… Read more »
After reading this i only can think in this:
Israel you are so screwed right now! I hope that the Public vote helps you to get in the final T__________T
Robyn – I’m not so sure; Margaret Berger wouldn’t go down without a fight.
the fairly old jury is probably a good thing for the slower songs but bad for uptempo like israel..
In past in 80 ties we have 16 members juries , 8 woman and 8 man in 4 ages group .
Why EBU dont bring back that rules
It means that Isa becomes a fascist, because members of the jury are fascists, because they destroy democratic results.