Uniovision Song Contest

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For this year's Contest, see Uniovision Song Contest July 2010.

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

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 60 million and 140 million internationally. Since the 5th edition, the Contest has also been broadcast over the Internet, with more than 74,000 people in almost 140 countries having watched the edition online.

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".

The Eurovision Song Contest final is traditionally held on a Saturday evening, at 19:00 UTC (20:00 BST, or 21:00 CEST).

Participation

Further information: List of countries in the Uniovision Song Contest.

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.

Twenty-six 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, Sierrastare
APR 2009	Paranor Island
JUN 2009	Buesti and Ravoi, Cantabrica, Toright
NOV 2009	East Hungary
MAR 2010	Atridea, Frenris, Holstrem, Murcia, Venray, Ventiseri
JUL 2010	Saint Sophia

Selection procedures

Each country must submit one song to represent them in any given year they participate. There is a rule which forbids any song being entered which has been previously commercially released or broadcast in public before a certain date relative to the Contest in question.

Countries may select their songs by any means, whether by an internal decision of the participating broadcaster or a public contest that allows the country's public to televote between several songs. The UBG encourages broadcasters to use the latter, as this generates more publicity for the contest. These public selections are known as national finals.

Some countries' national finals are as big as—if not bigger than—the international Uniovision Song Contest itself, involving many songs being submitted to national semi-finals. The Savoyard national final, Mélodie Grand Prix (MGP) includes 32 songs being performed over four semi-finals, played to huge audiences in arenas around the country, before the final show in Prades. This has become the most-watched programme of the year in Savoy.

Regardless of the method used to select the entry, the song's details must be finalised and submitted to the UBG before a deadline some weeks before the international Contest.

Hosting

Altex Arena, Passau: host of Uniovision NOV 2009

See also: List of host cities of the Uniovision Song Contest.

Most of the expense of the contest is covered by commercial sponsors and contributions from the other participating nations. The contest is considered to be a unique opportunity for promoting the host country as a tourist destination.

Preparations for the event start a matter of weeks after the host wins in the previous year, and confirms to the UBG that they intend to—and have the capacity to—host the event. A host city is chosen—usually the capital—and a suitable concert venue. The hotel and press facilities in the vicinity are always a consideration when choosing a host city and venue. In New Haven April 2009, hotel rooms were scarce as the Contest organisers asked the Caladian government to put a block on bookings they did not control themselves through official delegation allocations or tour packages: this led to many people's hotel bookings being cancelled.

Uniovision Week

The term "Uniovision Week" is used to refer to the week during which the Contest takes place. As it is a live show, the Uniovision Song Contest requires the performers to have perfected their acts in rehearsals in order for the big night to run smoothly. In addition to rehearsals in their home countries, every participant is given the opportunity to rehearse on the stage in the Uniovision auditorium. These rehearsals are held during the course of several days before the Saturday show, and consequently the delegations arrive in the host city many days before the event. This means, in turn, journalists and fans are also present during the preceding days, and the events of Uniovision last a lot longer than a few hours of television. A number of officially accredited hotels are selected for the delegations to stay in, and shuttle-bus services are used to transport the performers and accompanying people to and from the Contest venue.

Each participating broadcaster nominates a Head of Delegation, whose job it is to coordinate the movements of the delegate members, and who acts as that country's representative to the UBG in the host city. Members of the delegations include performers, lyricists, composers and official press officers. Also present if desired is a commentator: each broadcaster may supply their own commentary for their TV and/or radio feed, to be broadcast in each country. The commentators are given dedicated commentary booths situated around the back of the arena behind the audience.

Rehearsals and press conferences

Royal Cytheria rehearsing at the August 2008 Contest

Delegations would arrive on the Sunday before the Contest, in order to be present for rehearsals starting on the Monday morning.

Shalman Commonwealth hosting a press conference at Eurovision March 2010

After each country has rehearsed, the delegation meets with the show's artistic director in the video viewing room. Here, they watch the footage of the rehearsal just performed, discussing camera angles, lighting and choreography, in order to try to achieve maximum æsthetic effect on television. At this point the Head of Delegation may make known any special requirements needed for the performance, and request them from the host broadcaster. Following this meeting, the delegation hold a press conference where members of the accredited press may pose them questions. The rehearsals and press conferences are held in parallel; so one country holds its press conference, while the next one is in the auditorium rehearsing. A printed summary of the questions and answers which emerge from the press conferences is produced by the host press office, and distributed to journalists' pigeon-holes.

Before the final, one or more full dress rehearsals are held. Since tickets to the live shows are often scarce, tickets are also sold in order that the public may attend these dress rehearsals.

Parties and Unioclub

On the Monday evening of Uniovision Week, a Mayor's Reception is traditionally held, where the city administration hosts a celebration that Uniovision has come to their city. This is usually held in a grand municipally-owned location in the city centre. All delegations are invited, and the party is usually accompanied by live music, complimentary food and drink and—in recent years—fireworks.

After the grand final there are after-show parties, held either in a facility in the venue complex or in another suitable location within the city.

A Unioclub is held every night of the week; a Eurovision-themed nightclub, to which all accredited personnel are invited.

During the week many delegations have traditionally hosted their own parties in addition to the officially-sponsored ones. However, in the new millennium the trend has been for the national delegations to centralise their activity and hold their celebrations in the Unioclub.

Voting

The voting systems used in the Contest have changed throughout the years. The modern system has been in place since 2010, and is a positional voting system. Countries award a set of points from 1 to 8, then 10 and finally 12 to other songs in the competition — with the favourite song being awarded 12 points.

Presentation of votes

Electronic scoreboard showing the final result in AUG 2008

After the interval act is over, when all the points have been calculated, the presenter(s) of the show call upon each voting country in turn to invite them to announce the results of their vote. Often the opportunity is taken by each country to show their spokesperson standing in front of a backdrop which includes a famous place in that country. Votes are read out in ascending order, culminating with the maximum 12 points.

The voting is presided over by the UBG scrutineer, who is responsible for ensuring that all points are allocated correctly and in turn. The scrutineer is notified in advance of the results of the last five countries in the running-order of voting, to ensure that no foul play can take place in the form of tactical voting; where for example a country could change its votes after seeing how the trend has gone before them on the scoreboard.

Rules

There are a number of rules which must be observed by the participating nations. The rules are numerous and unabridged, and a separate draft is produced each year, which explicitly specifies the dates by which certain things must be done; for example the deadline by which all the participating broadcasters must submit the final recorded version of their song to the UBG. Many rules pertain to such matters as sponsorship agreements and rights of broadcasters to re-transmit the show within a certain time. The most notable rules which actually affect the format and presentation of the Contest have changed somewhat over the years, and are highlighted here.

Hosting

Host of the Contest is the winning country from the previous edition. Savoy was selected by unanimous vote to host the very first contest, which it also won, causing them to host again in March 2008. In all but two of the editions the winning country has hosted the show the following year. The exceptions are:

• APR 2009 - hosted by the CBN in New Haven when Wales declined to host. Calderwood was chosen to host because it had come second in AUG 2008.
• NOV 2009 - hosted by the PBC in Passau when Vercelli failed to host. Although the Atlantean Empire had only come fourth in JUN 2009, Royal Cytheria and Populieus (who came second and third) had also declined.

Broadcasting

Each participating broadcaster is required to broadcast the show in its entirety: including all songs, recap, voting and reprise, skipping only the interval act for advertising breaks if they wish. From 2010 onwards, broadcasters who wished to do so were given the opportunity to take more advertising breaks as short, non-essential hiatuses were introduced into the programme.

Other

• In the first Contest in 2007, there was a time limit of 3½ minutes per song. From 2010 on, this time limit was extended to 4½ minutes precisely.
• There is no restriction imposed by the UBG on the nationality of the performers or songwriters. Individual broadcasters are, however, permitted to impose their own restrictions at their discretion.
• The performance and/or lyrics of a song "must not bring the Contest into disrepute".
• Artists cannot be too famous, as it would highly influence the results if an international superstar were chosen. Therefore tight restrictions are in place.

Winners

Further information: Uniovision Song Contest winners.

Map showing each country's number of Uniovision wins

There have been 8 contests, with one winner each year. N/A different countries have won the contest. Savoy won the Contest on their debut—the first Contest, in November 2007. The country with the highest number of wins is Wales, with two.

Edition	Winning country	Song	Performer	Second place	Host city
I	Savoy	"Here Come All The Boys"	Katerine	Casanares	Prades
II	Wales	"Dakota"	Stereophonics	Atlantean Empire	Nice
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	Casanares	"No Dejaré Que Te Vayas"	Sin Animo de Lucro	Vercelli	Atlantis City
VIII	Saint Sophia	"Angels On the Moon"	Thriving Ivory	Savoy	Albaràn

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

Spin-Offs

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