Will Australia compete at the forthcoming 2016 Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm? Will the Aussies return to the contest next year? Is Australia country #41?

Eurovision fans are all asking themselves if the Aussies are returning to Eurovision next year? Is Oz country #41?  This is one of the greatest mysteries afflicting next year’s Eurovision edition.

Australia was invited to compete at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna. The EBU cited it was just a one off participation for our Aussie friends. Has anything changed since then?

Well the Aussies debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest with flying colours. Our neighbours down under sent Guy Sebastian with his entry Tonight again, which achieved an honorable 5th placing in Vienna.

Taking into account their merited success in the event this year and the strong love affair between Australia and the Eurovision Song Contest it would be credible to believe if the country was to return to the contest next year and maybe become a permanent participant in the competition. Australia has aired the contest for more than 20 years whilst the contest enjoys a massive fan following down under!

Guy Sebastian in Vienna at the grand final of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest.

In 2013 a special video message from our Aussie friends was aired during the live ESC, then in 2014 Australian Jessica Mauboy was invited to perform as the interval act in the ESC Grand Final in Copenhagen. 2015  saw the debut of Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, SBS aired and voted in all 3 Eurovision shows. Australia was given a Wild Card and was invited to compete in the grand final in 2015.

The country has also been invited to compete at the forthcoming Junior Eurovision Song Contest scheduled to be held on 21 November in Sofia, Bulgaria. What awaits them next?

Jessica Mauboy at Eurovision 2014

ESCToday contacted SBS, the Australian national broadcaster recently in order to get an official confirmation regarding their pontetial participation at the forthcoming 2016 Eurovision Song Contest:

SBS neither denied or confirmed its participation in Eurovision next year. Thus leaving an open window for a possible participation and return to the contest.

Last September the Head of Delegation for Australia Mr. Paul Clarke was invited to attend the Eurovision Workshop in Berlin, where he hinted that if Australia were to return to the contest they would go for a bigger act than Guy Sebastian:

We learned it’s the best community of music producers and music audiences in the world and we were really grateful to take part. For us, Australia was riding on a wave of growing excitement for Eurovision and we wanted to deliver something authentic so we chose a big artist. If we were ever invited again we’d go for an even bigger one – dream big – the show is so big!

The 2016 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held on 1o, 12 and 14 May at the Globe Ericsson Arena in Stockholm.

So far a total of 39 countries have confirmed to ESCToday their pontetial participation at the 2016 Eurovision edition. The EBU has announced today that 41 countries are set to compete in the competition so far.

There are still many questions in the air…. Will Australia return to Eurovision next year? Will the Aussies compete in the semifinals if they are to return to the competition ? Will Australia compete direclty in the final and will the BIG 5 become the BIG 6 if the Aussies compete? Will Australia become a permanent participant in Eurovision?…….

Stay tuned to ESCToday for the latest news on Australia and the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest.