Uniovision Song Contest

From SCJU Wiki

The Uniovision Song Contest or short USC is a competition held among active member countries of the SimCity Journal Union (SCJU).

Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. Each country participates via one of their national television stations, whose task it is to select a singer and a song to represent their country in the international competition. The Contest has been broadcast every four months since it's inauguration in 2007, except for November 2008 when it was cancelled due to a huge fallback. It is one of the most-watched non-sporting events in the world, with audience figures having been quoted in recent years as anything between 80 million and 300 million internationally.

Format

The format of the Contest has changed over the years, though the basic tenets have always been thus: participant countries submit songs, which are performed live in a television programme transmitted across the SCJU-Network simultaneously to all countries. A "country" as a participant is represented by one television broadcaster from that country. The programme is hosted by one of the participant countries, and the transmission is sent from the auditorium in the host city. During this programme, after all the songs have been performed, the countries then proceed to cast votes for the other countries' songs: nations are not allowed to vote for their own song. At the end of the programme, the winner is declared as the song with the most points. The winner receives, simply, the prestige of having won—although it is usual for a trophy to be awarded to the winning songwriters, and the winning country is invited to host the event the following year.

The programme is invariably opened by one or more presenters, welcoming viewers to the show. Most host countries choose to capitalise on the opportunity afforded them by hosting a programme with such a wide-ranging international audience, and it is common to see the presentation interspersed with video footage of scenes from the host nation, as if advertising for tourism. Between the songs and the announcement of the voting an interval act is performed, which can be any form of entertainment imaginable.

The theme music played before and after the broadcasts of the Uniovision Song Contest (and other Uniovision broadcasts) is the prelude to Marc-Antoine Charpentier's "Te Deum".

Participants

Eligible participants include Active Members (as opposed to Associate Members) of the UBG. Active members are those whose states fall within the Union's Broadcasting Area, or otherwise those who are members of the SimCity Journal Union. The Union's Broadcasting Area is defined by the Telecommunication Union.

Active members include broadcasting organisations whose transmissions are made available to at least 98% of households in their own country which are equipped to receive such transmissions.

If an UBG Active Member wishes to participate, they must fulfil conditions as laid down by the rules of the Contest (of which a separate copy is drafted annually). As of 2009, this includes the necessity to have broadcast the previous year's programme within their country, and paid the UBG a participation fee in advance of the deadline specified in the rules of the Contest for the year in which they wish to participate.

Eligibility to participate does not have any relation to the SimCity Journal Union, despite the "Unio" in "Uniovision". Also countries outside of the Union can participate if they become a member of the UBG.

Twenty-five countries have participated at least once. These are listed here alongside the year in which they made their debut:

Participation since 2007:
■ Entered at least once
■ Never entered, although eligible to do so
■ Entry intended, but later withdrew

Year	Country making its debut entry
NOV 2007	Atlantean Empire, Calderwood, Casanares, Royal Cytheria, Savoy, Vercelli, Wales
MAR 2008	East Alba, East Prussia, Populieus, Stropon
AUG 2008	Cascadia, Dutch Columbia, Pheonoia, New Burgundy, Sierrastare
APR 2009	Paranor Island
JUN 2009	Buesti and Ravoi, Cantabrica, Toright
NOV 2009	Latusian Union
MAR 2010	Frenris, Holstrem, Monte-Beausoleil, New Aeland, Shalman Comm., Ventiseri

Winners

To open the detailed indivual pages, please click on the logo from the year of your choice.

Map showing each country's number of Eurovision wins

Edition	Winning country	Song	Performer	Second place	Host city
I	Savoy	"Here Come All The Boys"	Katerine	Casanares	Cérgy
II	Wales	"Dakota"	Stereophonics	Atlantean Empire	Prades
III	Wales	"Come Back Around"	Feeder	Calderwood	New Rhodesia City
IV	Royal Cytheria	"Opera"	Jade Ft. Elisa	Savoy	New Haven*
V	Vercelli	"Headlock"	Imogen Heap	Royal Cytheria	Delphmire
VI	Atlantean Empire	"Stone Cold Sober"	Paloma Faith	Casanares	Passau*
VII					Atlantis City

(*) indicates previous host failed/declined to host.

Spin-Offs

• Christmas Uniovision 2009 - hosted in the Dominion of Wales.