Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

Australia originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam with the song Don't Break Me written by Jessica Cerro, Anthony Egizii and David Musumeci. The entry would have been performed by Montaigne. The Australian broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) chose the song in the national final Eurovision – Australia Decides on 8 February 2020.[1] However, due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in Europe, the contest was cancelled.

Eurovision Song Contest 2020
Country Australia
National selection
Selection processEurovision – Australia Decides
Selection date(s)8 February 2020
Selected entrantMontaigne
Selected song"Don't Break Me"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Semi-final resultCancelled
Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2019 • 2020 • 2021►

Background
Main article: Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Australia debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015 by invitation from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) as a "one-off" special guest to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Eurovision. On 17 November 2015, the EBU announced that SBS had been invited to participate in the 2016 contest and that Australia would once again take part.

In 2015, Australia was guaranteed a spot in the final of the contest and was allowed to vote during both semi-finals and the final. For 2016, Australia would have to qualify for the final from one of two semi-finals and could only vote in the semi-final in which the nation was competing. Dami Im sang Sound of Silence and finished second in the 2016 contest.

In 2019, the country was represented by Kate Miller-Heidke with "Zero Gravity," which was chosen in a national selection. Australia received ninth place in the grand final with 284 points.

Before Eurovision

Eurovision – Australia Decides
Main article: Eurovision – Australia Decides

On 29 August 2019, SBS announced that they would hold a national final to select the Australian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The Eurovision – Australia Decides national final will take place at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre on 7 and 8 February 2020, hosted by Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey.[2]

Competing entries

On 29 August 2019, SBS announced an open submission for interested songwriters to submit their songs. The submission period lasted until 30 September 2019.[3] SBS announced the first two participants for the national final on 8 November 2019,[4] the next two on 19 November 2019,[5] with the final names revealed on 16 December 2019.[6]

Format

The Jury voted based on the performance of each act from a special preview show, which will occur the night prior to the main broadcast. [7] The jury consisted of:[8]

For the televote, Australia's total votes cast by the Australia public was divided by 290 to determine the number of votes that would equal 1 point. The vote total of each act was divided by this value to determine and be rounded up to the nearest whole number to determine the points received by each act. This rounding could result in slightly more than 290 points being awarded by the public.

In the event that there is a tie in point totals, the tie will break in favour of the act with the higher number of votes from Australia's vote. In the unlikely event the vote number from Australia's vote be identical, the Jury's vote is used as the further tie-breaker.

Results
Final – 8 February 2020
Draw Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) Jury Televote Total Place
1 iOTA "Life" English Jesse Watt 19 13 32 9
2 Jordan-Ravi "Pushing Stars" English Mattias Lindblom, Tania Doko, George Sheppard, Martin Eriksson 11 12 23 10
3 Jaguar Jonze "Rabbit Hole" English Deena Lynch, Aidan Hogg 18 28 46 6
4 Jack Vidgen "I Am King I Am Queen" English Jack Vidgen, Andrew Lowden 19 15 34 8
5 Vanessa Amorosi "Lessons of Love" English Vanessa Amorosi, Aleena Gibson, Trevor Muzzy 42 40 82 3
6 Diana Rouvas "Can We Make Heaven" English Diana Rouvas, Louis Schoorl 24 18 42 7
7 Mitch Tambo "Together" English, Gamilaraay Roberto De Sa, Isabella Kearney-Nurse, Andy Hopkins 24 33 57 5
8 Casey Donovan "Proud" English Justine Eltakchi 40 60 100 2
9 Montaigne "Don't Break Me" English Jessica Cerro, Anthony Egizii, David Musumeci 54 53 107 1
10 Didirri "Raw Stuff" English Didirri Peters, Oscar Dawson 39 24 63 4

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2020, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Australia was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 12 May 2020, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[9] However, due to COVID-19 pandemic, the contest was cancelled.

References
  1. "Australia: Eurovision - Australia Decides to Return in 2020". Eurovoix. 29 August 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  2. "Australia: Eurovision - Australia Decides to Return in 2020". Eurovoix. 29 August 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  3. "Australia: Eurovision - Australia Decides to Return in 2020". Eurovoix. 29 August 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  4. "First two artists revealed for 'Eurovision – Australia Decides' 2020". SBS News. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  5. "Two more acts revealed for 'Eurovision – Australia Decides' 2020". SBS. 19 November 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  6. "4 more artists and first song for 'Eurovision - Australia Decides'". Eurovision TV. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  7. "Eurovision royalty to grace Eurovision – Australia Decides – Gold Coast 2020". MY GC. 24 January 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  8. "Eurovision: Australia Decides 2020: guide". TV Tonight. February 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  9. Groot, Evert (28 January 2020). "Which country performs in which Eurovision 2020 Semi-Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
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