Explained | Ukraine’s Eurovision win and its significance

Amid the ongoing Russian incursion, Ukraine clinched this year’s Eurovision title for a song by the Kalush Orchestra

The story so far: Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra won the 66th Eurovision Song Contest held in Turin, Italy, for its song ‘Stefania’, in a clear show of popular support for conflict-hit Ukraine that went beyond music.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed his country’s third victory in the singing extravaganza in a Telegram post, writing “Our courage impresses the world, our music conquers Europe!”

Traditionally, the winning country hosts the next edition of the contest. However, taking into account the current humanitarian crisis, Mr. Zelenskiyy said “we will do our best” to host next year's contest in the besieged port city of Mariupol. He underlined “Ukrainian Mariupol,” adding: “free, peaceful, rebuilt.”

The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) is an annual pan-European singing-songwriting contest organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). It largely features participants from European countries with some non-European entrants such as Australia and Israel. It is one of the longest-running and most viewed television events with some of its televised finals having garnered a viewership of over 200 million.

The first-ever Eurovision contest, inspired by the format of the Italian Sanremo Music Festival, was held in 1956 in Lugano, Switzerland, with just seven participating countries. It was won by Swizz artist Lys Assia for the song ‘Refrain’. Now, many more countries participate, with a record 43 countries competing in a single contest for some years.

It is believed that Eurovision was created by the EBU to bring together European countries after the Second World War. Eurovision’s website says the competition was “designed to test the limits of live television broadcast technology.” Its final rounds, where artists perform one original song on a live broadcast, have since then been aired annually by the public broadcasters of all participating countries, barring some exceptions during some years.

The winner of the competition is determined by a set of judges and by numerous civilian votes from participating countries. Juries and fans in each country list their top ten favourites by giving two sets of points- from 10-12 and 8-1, with 12 points being given to the favourite. A country cannot vote for its own contingent.