What is the Eurovision Song Contest?

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

Every year countries from all over Europe - and some from outside Europe - send a song and performers to entertain a worldwide audience.
The contest is hosted by the country that won competition the year before. The 2013 show will be held in Sweden.

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 TV companies 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?
Many countries hold a national competition to select their entry. In the UK, the BBC chooses an act to send.

Most competitors then sing in a semi-final to win a place in the grand final - but some countries go straight into the final.
Last year's winner always gets a place in the final - along with the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. They give the most money to the EBU and get a guaranteed place.

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 enters gives points to their favourite song. The song with the most points wins!
Sometimes countries end up scoring nothing and getting the dreaded "nul points".

Political voting?
Some people think some countries just vote for their neighbours and friends instead of voting for the best song.
For example, Greece and Cyprus usually give each other points, while the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland) often exchange votes.
Organisers reintroduced the expert juries in 2009 to try and combat this. (CBBC Newsround)