What is the Eurovision Song Contest?

Hundreds of millions of people tune in every year for a live extravaganza of multi-cultural entertainment called the Eurovision Song Contest.

Eurovision what?

The Eurovision Song Contest is probably better known for its colourful costumes and dodgy dancing than its music!
Every year countries from all over Europe send a song and performers to fight it out for Eurovision glory.
It's hosted by the country that won the year before.

When did it start?

Eurovision started in 1956 when just 14 countries took part. In 2008, there were a record 43 countries.
The contest was created by the European Broadcasting Union - an organisation of national broadcasters in and around Europe.
The idea originally came from an Italian song contest and it was also a chance to test out early live TV technology.

How does it work?

There are two semi-finals and a final. The top 10 countries from each of the semi-finals go through to the final.
They join the nations that are automatically qualified - last year's winner, along with the 'Big Five' (UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy), the nations that give the most money to the contest.

How's the winner decided?

A combination of viewer phone votes and the opinions of an expert 'jury' are used to score the countries.
Each country that takes part can give points to 10 other countries - 1 to 8 points and then 10 and 12 for their top two countries.
All the points are totted up as we go along to decide the winner. Sometimes countries end up scoring nothing and getting the dreaded "nul points", as the UK did in 2003. (CBBC Newsround)