The team at wiwibloggs includes more than 40 correspondents in countries including Australia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States. You can get to know us below.

William and Conchita at London’s Royal Vauxhall Tavern

William Lee Adams, our founder and editor-in-chief, is an American journalist in London. He’s a former correspondent for TIME Magazine, and has written about Eurovision for more than a decade for publications including Billboard, Newsweek, the Financial Times and The New York Times. He frequently helps judge primetime selection shows across Europe, and recently had a cameo as himself in the Netflix movie Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga in 2019. He played Romania’s 2009 entry “The Balkan Girls” at his wedding in 2011.

E-mail: [email protected]
Instagram: @williamleeadams
Twitter@willyleeadams

Deban with Lys Assia, the winner of the very first Eurovision Song Contest

Deban Aderemi is a London-based correspondent who tells it like it is. He balances intelligence with charisma and some serious attitude, as you can see in his music reviews and interviews with Eurovision contestants. His authoritative and often irreverent style always gives a fresh spin on what’s hot and trending with ESC.

E-mail: [email protected]
Instagram:@deban_deban
Twitter: @debanaderemi

Jonathan with Finland’s Saara Aalto in 2018

Jonathan Vautrey is one of our editors and correspondents from the UK, and also Team Wiwi’s resident Tiktoker. He grew up watching Eurovision every year from 2005. After accidentally stumbling across the semi-finals in 2012 and the national finals in 2015, Jonathan has been a full-on Eurovision fanatic ever since. He currently lists Jamala’s “1944” and Hurricane’s “Loco Loco” as his favourite songs from the contest. On the rare occasion he’s not thinking about Eurovision, then Jonathan will be looking to skies and forecasting the weather at the UK Met Office.

Instagram:@jonathanvautrey
Twitter: @JonathanVautrey
TikTok: @jonathanvautrey

Oliver Adams is a UK-based correspondent and editor hailing from Merseyside. He was nine years old when he first watched Eurovision in 2006 and immediately became obsessed with the contest. With a background in music composition and critique, Oliver has a bachelor’s degree in music and poured his love of Eurovision into his studies. He is particularly fond of French pop – some of his favourite entries include “J’ai cherché” and “Mercy”. Beyond Eurovision, Oliver enjoys video games, cooking, and drinking green tea.

E-mail: [email protected]
Instagram:@reviloadams
Twitter: @adamsOliver_

Robyn with the Montenegrin “Space” man Slavko Kalezić, backstage at the Wiwijam in Lisbon, 2018

Robyn Gallagher, our New Zealand correspondent and executive editor, writes about music, pop culture and other delights. Despite coming from a country that all but ignores Eurovision, the contest has been part of her life ever since 2003. Robyn has twice made made the long flight to Eurovision — to Stockholm in 2016 and Lisbon in 2018. Her favourite memory was seeing Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz deliver a psychedelic rock extravaganza at the Globe, as well as the fun, community and love at the Wiwijam events.

Twitter: @robynesc

Padraig with Albania’s Elhaida Dani at Eurovision 2015

Padraig Muldoon, deputy editor and Ireland correspondent, watched his first Eurovision at the grand old age of 12 way back in 2003. However, it wasn’t until Alexander Rybak’s win in 2009 that he became a true Eurovision nut. Padraig would like to think that he’s quite good at predicting the winners, with his favourites usually proving victorious (alas Twin Twin let him down in 2014). But this could all just be luck, as his friends and family often doubt he has any musical taste at all! He vehemently denies such allegations.

E-mail: [email protected]
Twitter: @JustPadraig

Cinan at the Wiwi Jam 2018 in Lisbon

Cinan, one of our graphic designers, hails from Bulgaria, but recently started living and working in Stuttgart, Germany. His goal is to become “something” in this life. He loves to have a good time and make memories with friends. “Eurovision is a world that I want to be in forever, and Lady Gaga is an artist I stan forever.”

Instagram: @cinansdl
Twitter: @cinansdl

 

Oranie Abbes is our video editor, HR Director and reporter from France. Raised in a family of Eurovision watchers she never missed a single year since her birth. In daily life, Oranie is a University Researcher and teacher. Her PhD thesis is dedicated to the promotion and building of a multicultural European identity at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Email: [email protected]
Instagram:
@oranie.tv

Luis Fuster is one of our correspondents from Spain. He began following Eurovision, like many other Spanish fans, in 2002, when Rosa got the ticket to Tallinn after winning Operación Triunfo. Outside the bubble, he works as a journalist in a press agency in his city, València. He likes everything minimally alternative at Eurovision, something that brings him many disappointments during the national final season. His all-time favourites include “Love Injected”, “For Real” and “Calm After the Storm”.

Instagram: @luisgfuster
Twitter: @luisgfuster

Renske with Padraig and William in Dublin, on the famous “Ryan O’Shaughnessy bench”

Renske ten Veen, one of our Dutch correspondents, grew up around a lot of Eurovision music as her country of birth has a rich Eurovision tradition. She loves herself some of the old chansons as “Nous Les Amoureux”, but can’t withstand a good joke act as well. Discovering the pink page by accident, it was instant love and she knew she wanted to write about Eurovision. The Eurovision community has since then introduced her to a bunch of loving people, including her significant other to whom she was introduced via wiwibloggs!

Twitter: @rensketalitha

Lucy Surtee is a British Euronerd who has a thing for indie euro-bangers. She has watched Eurovision since 1998, and stumbled across Wiwibloggs in 2012 when searching ‘Eurovision blogs’ on Google, and finding her kinda people. Lucy’s favourite Eurovision entry ever is “Goodbye To Yesterday” and is a huge Eesti Laul fan. The best/worst advice she ever received was to be more prudent before issuing sentences…thanks BNT xoxo.

Instagram: @Lucyeapercy
Twitter: @JeMappellePercy

Tom Hendryk is a UK correspondent with Polish heritage. A professional actor on stage and screen, Tom has loved Eurovision since 1997 when Katrina and the Waves brought it home for the United Kingdom. Tom is also a Polish folk dance instructor and choreographer. The only thing that can come close to his love of Eurovision is his football club Leicester City.

Instagram: @tomhendryk
Twitter: @tomhendryk

Katie with Spain’s Miki at London Eurovision Party 2019

Katie Wilson is one of our UK-based correspondents. Her first memory of Eurovision is watching Lordi take the crown in 2006 and became hooked on the show after watching Mandinga perform “Zaleilah” in 2012. She attended her first Eurovision in 2014 and cried twice during the grand final: once when Conchita won and once when Emma Marrone shook her hand. Beyond Eurovision, Katie loves everything vintage and is a vegan.

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @katie.lou.wilson
Twitter: @KatieLouWilson

Diego with Hungary's Joci Pápai at Eurovision 2019 in Tel AvivDiego Pinzon Pabon is our Colombian correspondent from Bogotá. His love for Eurovision started when Paula Seling and Ovi were playing with fire in Oslo. Since then, he’s attended Eurovision editions in Lisbon and Tel Aviv, as well as several national selections in Tirana, Paris, and Bucharest. He loves Junior Eurovision too, and has provided coverage for wiwibloggs during several contests.

Instagram: @diegopinpa
Twitter: @diegopinpa

Simon with Sweden’s Loreen at Eurovision 2023

Simon Falk is our Danish correspondent, so he is one of the few on the team who has witnessed his country win twice in his lifetime. His love for Eurovision started back in 1984, and the 80’s sound is very close to Simon’s heart – the schlagier, the better! He still thinks “Vi Maler Byen Rød” should have won Eurovision in 1989, while “Hold Me Now” and “Molitva” are his favourite ballad winners of all time. Simon jumped into the world of Eurovision press in 2019 and joined wiwibloggs in 2023, because why have so many opinions if you can’t express them somewhere.

Instagram: @simonfalkdk
Twitter: @simonfalkdk

Rezo Mamsikashvili, our Georgia correspondent, first watched Eurovision in 2007. “I love Eurovision very much, and it’s an important part of my life to watch the show every year,” he says. “Eurovision is a European project which gives us the possibility to meet new cultures, and discover new music. It’s love and friendship — that’s everything for me. My biggest dream is to attend the Eurovision Grand final.” As he says, his career started from wiwibloggs in 2014 and followed lots of success in his career.

Instagram: @rezomamsikashvili
Twitter: @rmamsikashvili

Ruxandra Tudor is our Romania-based correspondent. She’s currently studying a Cultural and Literary Studies PhD in Bucharest. Her passion for Eurovision started at a young age as her family has been watching the show since she was a kid. Since then, Ruxandra has been mesmerised by the diversity of musical genres of the contest. Beside Eurovision, Ruxandra is a huge fan of old movies, vintage clothes and music of the ’60s-’80s. Her all time favourite band is The Beatles.

Instagram: @ruxyart

Dayana Andreevna is our Russian-Kazakh correspondent living in Finland. She fell in love with Eurovision after Eric Saade’s performance in Düsseldorf. After that, she became a huge fan of Sweden and Melodifestivalen, even wishing to move there. Well, now… she’s close enough. Her favourite entries on Eurovision are “Calm After the Storm” and “Goodbye to Yesterday” – chilly and catchy.

Instagram: @da3.14

Youyou at Una Voce per San Marino 2022

Youyou is our Berlin-based correspondent from Chongqing, China. He’s currently studying Media technology in Berlin. He first watched Eurovision in China on a sleepless midnight in 2015 and has been hooked on it ever since. After moving to Germany, he has since attended Eurovision in Tel Aviv and Rotterdam. Youyou’s favourite Eurovision song is Ireland’s 1994 winning entry “Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids”.

Instagram: @youyouberlin
YouTube: YouyouTube

Rick Arth, one of our correspondents from Germany, has a passion for Eurovision because it combines all the things he loves: stage-managing, music, different cultures and languages, meeting new people, geography … and let’s be honest, sometimes also politics. His all-time-favourite lyrics can be found in “Grab The Moment” (Norway 2017) and “This Is My Life” (Iceland 2008) – they remind him of very important situations in his life.

Instagram: @ricks_art
Facebook: Rick Trakir

Jordi Pedra Méndez, one of our Spanish correspondents, has been following Eurovision since Rosa’s 00’s disco craze “Europe’s Living a Celebration”, and it has always been a part of his life since. Among his all-time favourites hits, “Calm After the Storm”, “Euphoria” and “J’aime la vie” are on the top of his list undoubtedly! From Barcelona to Copenhagen, he is currently studying a MSc. programme on climate change, while merging his passion for Eurovision. During his spare time, Jordi is all about music and dancing – wohoo!

Instagram:@jordipedra_
Twitter: @Jordi_44

Kristin Kristjansdóttir, based in Iceland, fell in love with ESC in 1989, when Thomas Forstner sang his way to her heart. She obsesses with list making and is a devoted fan of Johnny Logan…he is the king! She misses Turkey, as there is no country that quenches her thirst for a decent rock number, and believes Pastora Solér was robbed in 2012. If anyone dares to bad mouth Zeljko Joksimovic, they will face some good ole fashion viking wrath. She is currently moulding her daughter into the cray-cray world of Eurovision. Its going quite well!

Twitter: @KrissaHK

Steinunn with Alex Panayi (Cyprus 1995 and 2000) at Eurovision 2016

Steinunn Björk Bragadóttir, an Iceland-based correspondent, has followed every ESC contest since the year she was born (1986), well at least according to her mother, and has been hooked ever since. Her first memory is from the contest in 1990 when she was singing and dancing to Norway’s “Brandenburger Tor”, and her first ESC crush was Cyprus’ Alex Panayi back in 1995. She is a devoted fan of Balkan ballads and believes Zeljko Joksimovic is the true god of Eurovision. She first attended Eurovision in 2015 and can’t imagine the month of May without a Eurovision related trip.

Twitter: @stoniem

Sebastian at Eurovision 2017 with Australian representative, Isaiah

Sebastian Diaz is one of our Australian correspondents, whose Spanish and Italian roots had him travelling the world and following the contest from an early age. While his earliest memory of the contest is a 2005’s Helena Paparizou playing her dancer as a lyra, Sebastian’s greatest Eurovision passions are solo diva bangers in the form of a multi-faceted split-screen Iveta Mukuchyan, or an on-fuego Eleni Foureira. He continues to wait for the next inevitable, delectable diva to grace the stage.

Instagram: @escsebas

Antranig with Cyprus’ Eleni Foureira in 2018

Antranig Shokayan is our Armenia correspondent from Sydney, Australia. He has been following Eurovision since Armenia’s debut in 2006 and went to his first Eurovision in 2018, where his favourite memory is multilingual diva Saara Aalto being able to pronounce his name correctly. His favourite entries of all time are Poli Genova’s “If Love Was a Crime” and Eleni Foureira’s “Fuego”. Antranig combines his writing for wiwibloggs with his own writing and is a self-published author.

Instagram: @ant_shok
Twitter: @ant_shok

Suzanne Adams, our Atlanta vlogger, is a happy hapa girl with a passion for life, travel, fitness, cats, theatre, ice cream and Eurovision. Her introduction to Eurovision came from our William, who liked to shock her with snippets. One day, he wowed her with Sergey Lazarev in “You Are The Only One”. A mere glimpse of that face, those biceps…and, a new Eurovision fan was birthed! Suzanne’s favourite Eurovision song is Michael Schulte’s “You Let Me Walk Alone”. There was was something very special about attending her first Eurovision, with her brother, and listening to this song daily after having lost their father.

Instagram: @suzadams1
Twitter: @Suz_Adams

Pablo Nava is a Venezuela-born writer and ESC fanatic. He first came into contact with Eurovision in 2009, watched it for the first time in 2012 and has been hooked ever since. The contest embodies his random tastes in music and adds an enormous show to it, how could he resist? He doesn’t know how or when, but he will attend an Eurovision final live one day, it’s on his bucket list.

Instagram: @that_nava

Lukas Žižys, our correspondent from Lithuania, found out about Eurovision back in 2009. The huge stage and interesting performances got him into the Eurovision fan club and since then he has never skipped a show. Eurovizijos Atranka may be one of the most unique and interesting pre-selections out there, but he doesn’t skip that show too and hopes that one day Lithuania could at least reach the top five in the Eurovision grand-final. To this day his favourite entry is Hadise from Turkey with “Düm Tek Tek” and of course Loreen with “Euphoria”.

Instagram: @lukaszizys

Edgars Bāliņš is our Latvian correspondent and has been in love with Eurovision ever since Latvia took part for the first time in 2000. His favourite ESC songs are “Yodel It” (Romania 2017) and “Keine Grenzen” (Poland 2003). His full-time job is at the biggest media company in Latvia (delfi.lv), but part-time he has a rap band “Singapuras Satins” with his friends and is also one of the top stand-up comedians in Latvia. He doesn’t dream to represent Latvia in Eurovision – his dream is to commentate it on TV.

E-mail: [email protected]
Twitter: @MrBalins

Erdi with Russia’s Polina Gagarina at Eurovision 2015

Erdi Tejeci, our Kosovo/Albania correspondent, was born and raised in Kosovo but currently lives in Turkey, studying International Relations at Trakya University. He joined Team Wiwi in 2016, but has been following Eurovision since Sertab Erener won in 2003 for Turkey. He himself has attempted to be a part of Festivali i Kenges twice, in 2013 and in 2015. He attended Eurovision 2015 in Vienna as part of the international delegation, by being the first Kosovar to be accredited by the EBU and met Team Wiwi for the first time. In 2016, he also auditioned for The Voice of Albania, when Albania’s 2018 representative, Jonida Maliqi, was one of the coaches.

Instagram:@erditejeci
Twitter: @TejeciErdi

Mikhail Vasilyev is our correspondent in the Czech Republic. Before moving to Europe he lived in Siberia, Russia, where he had no chance to watch Eurovision as it started at 2 am. Out of curiosity he watched some performances in 2012 on YouTube and downloaded some songs. It wasn’t until 2014 that he was drawn into the whole contest, when he finally watched the show live. He found it so fascinating that he joined Team Wiwi in 2015 and travelled to Vienna. He hopes Prague will soon host Eurovision so he could feel the excitement of being from the host country.

Instagram: @iamvasom

Scarlett Kao is based in the United States. She discovered Eurovision in 2009 when she spotted Alexander Rybak’s winning performance on the news while living in Hungary. Scarlett joined Team Wiwi because she figured that writing about the contest would be more fulfilling than posting memes about it. She appreciates a thumping electronic dance track like Go_A’s “Shum” to get her through workouts at the gym, and regularly rewatches Will Ferrell’s Eurovision movie on Netflix, if only for its iconic “song-along” scene.

Instagram: @loyalchameleon

Ron with Nathan Trent (Austria) at Eurovision 2017

Ron Kavaler, one of our Israeli correspondents and videographers, says his biggest Eurovision memory is the unforgettable night in 1998 when Dana International won with “Diva”. He’s also a big Melodifestivalen fan and has followed the event every year since 2003. “Euphoria” is his favourite Eurovision song ever. He attended ESC 2013 in Malmö where he met Wiwi in the press centre and has been contributing to the web site ever since.

Instagram: @ronsvision
Twitter: @Ronkesc

Lauren is our Israeli-Norwegian correspondent, based in Bergen and Haifa. She fell in love with Eurovision after seeing Aminata perform “Love Injected” in 2015 and has been in the bubble ever since. Lauren started writing for wiwibloggs in August 2019, and composes and produces music in her free time.

Instagram: @lauren.no.il
Twitter: @lauren_no_il

Forrest Thomson is a video editor and motion graphics designer based in the United States. He first discovered Eurovision in 2014 when news of Conchita’s victory was picked up by US media and was immediately captivated by the scale of the contest; both as a cultural touchstone and a technically complex live production. This fascination increased further in 2016 upon discovering the national finals, where he has developed a particular fondess for Sanremo and Melodifestivalen. Outside of the Eurovision bubble, he works in the live events industry and is an avid motorsports fan.

Twitter: @forresttsn

Angus Quinn, one of our UK correspondents, is a marketing Manager from Manchester and now lives in London. He’s followed Eurovision since 2006, but fell head over heels for the contest in 2009 when Jade Ewen took the UK back to the top five. He’s followed the semi finals since 2011 and knew it was love when he saw Lena perform “Taken By A Stranger” to rave applause in Düsseldorf. And, courtesy of trips to the final of Melodifestivalen in 2015 and 2016, is a committed Scandifanboy.

Instagram: @anguslquinn
Twitter: @angus_quinn17

Esma Jansen, one of our correspondents from The Netherlands, lives near to Eurovision 2021’s host city Rotterdam. Her love for the Eurovision Song Contest makes her travel all around Europe. Besides Eurovision and travelling, she’s passionate about art, culture and politics. Esma is currently preparing for her bachelor degree in European Studies.

Julian Geiser, one of our German correspondents, lives near to the heartbeat city of Düsseldorf. Since 2010 he’s been following the Eurovision Song Contest exponentially. Sadly he wasn’t able yet to watch the Eurovision Song Contest live in the arena, but he was happy to visit Eurovision In Concert in 2018! Besides Eurovision Julian is interested in playing the piano , wakeboarding and dancing hip hop or competing in the Just Dance World Cup (yeah, that’s a thing). He also loves watching Anime, Cosplay and japanese stuff in general!

Cristian with Sweden’s Måns Zelmerlöw at Eurovision 2015

Cristian Scarpone, our Italian correspondent who lives in Germany, has passions for Sanremo, drag queens and geography. Eurovision sums it all up; maybe that’s why since 2008 he can no longer do without it. Thanks to the contest he has visited beautiful European cities, such as Vienna, Stockholm, Kiev and Lisbon. His biggest dream is to experience the thrill of seeing his country winning again.

Antony with 2017 entrant from Montenegro, Slavko Kalezic

Antony Roso is one of our correspondents from Australia, having avidly watched Eurovision for a long time now since childhood. Coming from a Croatian family, Antony takes particular interest in Eurovision news that happens in the Balkans. His favourite genres at Eurovision are dance music and Balkan ballads and therefore some of his favourite songs include “Euphoria” by Loreen and “Molitva” by Marija Serifovic. During his spare time, Antony loves to travel and listen to new music within the Balkan region.

Josue Gil Aleman, one of our graphic designers, says “Hola, Europe!” from Latin America. In 2016 he made his way into the group by creating content and graphics for the website and social media channels, and spicing things up with his Venezuelan style. Nowadays we can enjoy part of his work through his Eurovision stars illustrations (the #Euroarts), which have been very popular with the fans and even our favourite ESC Stars. He knows how to slay!

Oliver with Nevena Božović, Serbia’s 2019 representative

Oliver Rainbird currently lives in Switzerland, but originally hails from the UK, and comes from a Serbian and English family. His first Eurovision encounter was with the monsters of Lordi, but he fell in love with the contest after attending the dress rehearsal for the 2008 final. “Rändajad” by Urban Symphony and Nina Sublatti’s “Warrior” still reign supreme as his favourite Eurovision entries.

Patrick Melbler lives in Malta, but originally hails from a small village in Tyrol, Austria. He’s been a Eurovision fanatic since he first watched the contest in 2006. “My family likes the show too, but they don’t understand why it’s my biggest hobby,” he says. His favourite national selection is Melodifestivalen, and his biggest wish is to watch Eurovision live in the arena.