Will Australia compete at the forthcoming 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv? Will the Aussies return to the contest next year for the 3rd time?

Eurovision fans are all asking themselves if the Aussies are returning to Eurovision next year? Well there is no reason to believe they won’t as the country nearly won the contest last May with Dami Im‘s Sound of Silence.

Dami Im won the juries’ hearts in the contest this year and narrowly missed out on belting the Eurovision Grand Prix to Ukraine’s Jamala.

Whilst there are lots of rumours and rejoinders on who’s coming to Kyiv and who’s not, we decided to investigate further and find out what the Aussies have in store!

Dami Im at the Grand Final in ESC 2016

Australia was invited to compete at the 2015 and 2016 Eurovision editions in Vienna and Stockholm. Back in 2015  EBU cited it was just a one off participation for our Aussie friends, but due to Guy Sebastian‘s successful 5th placing in the Grand Final in Vienna the country was invited back to the competition in 2016.

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 is credible to believe that the country is set to return to the contest next year and maybe become a permanent participant in the competition. Australia has aired the contest for more than 30 years whilst the contest enjoys a massive fan following down under.

The Story so far….

In 2013 a special video message from our Aussie friends was aired during the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo.

Hereafter in 2014 Australian Jessica Mauboy was invited to perform as the interval act at the ESC Grand Final in Copenhagen.

 Australia’s Jessica Mauboy was the interval act in Eurovision 2014 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 was invited back to the competition in 2016, but this time it had to compete in the Semifinals in order to qualify to the Grand Final. In Stockholm Australia not only qualified for the Grand Final but achieved an honorable 2nd place in Stockholm. More the reason the country should be invited back to contest after its merited results and hard work.

Australia has also been invited to compete at the forthcoming 2016 Junior Eurovision Song Contest scheduled to be held in Malta next November. This will be the country’s second participation at JESC.

What awaits the country next?

We must not forget that SBS is not an active EBU member and is an associate EBU member, thus the country has to be invited by the EBU to compete in the contest as has been the case in the last 2 years.

ESCToday contacted SBS in order to shed more light on the matter, the Australian broadcaster neither denied or confirmed its participation at the 2017 Eurvision Song Contest thus leaving the door open for a potential participation in Kyiv:

We have nothing to announce yet on Australia and The Eurovision Song Contest 2017, but will keep you updated.

The 2017 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held on 9, 11, and 13 May at the IEC in Kyiv Ukraine.

So far a total of 34 countries have confirmed to ESCToday their intention to participate at the 2017 Eurovision edition. The EBU is expected to release the complete list of the 2017 Eurovision participating countries by the end of the year.

There are still many questions in the air…. Will Australia return to Eurovision next year?  Will Australia become a permanent participant in Eurovision?