Fyrir neðan er grein sem ég gerði fyrir skólablað mitt um Eurovision. Álit á henni væru vel þegin.
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) is a European Song contest held every year last 52 years (since 1956). Loads of people around the globe watch the contest and laugh and have an incredible fun watching this contest. Below you can read interview with a former participant and an ESL-teacher at ISB, the most funniest and desperate moments and a short description of the contest if you want to know more.

The rules of the contest…
The rules of the ESC have been changing many times throughout the years, but the current rules are simple: The show must be broadcasted live and uncut, and only members of the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) can participate. The performers can’t be more than six people on the stage at the same time. People under the age of 16 are not allowed to participate. The younger ones go to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. After all songs have been performed, a recap of all songs will start and the voting will go on. The top ten voted from each country gets 1-12 points (one for the lowest, 12 the highest). The winning country from the year before gets to hold the contest net year.

How it works
The first Eurovision Contest was held in Lugano, Switzerland on the 24th of May, 1956. Seven nations participated then (Belgium, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Italy, Germany and The Netherlands). On that time slow, sweet songs won the contest again and again and again. Today creepy monsters from the Arctic Circle rule the contest. And that is not the only change, the number of the nations participating has moved up from seven to 43.

Eurovision 2008
This year, the ESC is probably going to be interesting. Old Elvis fans and former winners return. Since there are so many nations participating, only 5 countries are qualified for the finals. There are two semi-final and the countries with the top 10 score (in each semi-final) get to the final.
This year the Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Belgrade, Serbia. The first semi-final is the 20th of May (Tuesday), the second is on the 22nd (Thursday). The finals will then be on the 24th of May (Saturday).
Below is a list of every song participating this year. Bolded ones are the top ten on an ESC 2008 poll on a popular Eurovision website.
Eurovision Song Contest
By: Hendrik Jonsson
The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) is a European Song contest held every year last 52 years (since 1956). Loads of people around the globe watch the contest and laugh and have an incredible fun watching this contest. Below you can read interview with a former participant and an ESL-teacher at ISB, the most funniest and desperate moments and a short description of the contest if you want to know more.

The rules of the contest…
The rules of the ESC have been changing many times throughout the years, but the current rules are simple: The show must be broadcasted live and uncut, and only members of the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) can participate. The performers can’t be more than six people on the stage at the same time. People under the age of 16 are not allowed to participate. The younger ones go to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. After all songs have been performed, a recap of all songs will start and the voting will go on. The top ten voted from each country gets 1-12 points (one for the lowest, 12 the highest). The winning country from the year before gets to hold the contest net year.

How it works
The first Eurovision Contest was held in Lugano, Switzerland on the 24th of May, 1956. Seven nations participated then (Belgium, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Italy, Germany and The Netherlands). On that time slow, sweet songs won the contest again and again and again. Today creepy monsters from the Arctic Circle rule the contest. And that is not the only change, the number of the nations participating has moved up from seven to 43.

Eurovision Song Contest
By: Hendrik Jonsson
The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) is a European Song contest held every year last 52 years (since 1956). Loads of people around the globe watch the contest and laugh and have an incredible fun watching this contest. Below you can read interview with a former participant and an ESL-teacher at ISB, the most funniest and desperate moments and a short description of the contest if you want to know more.

The rules of the contest…
The rules of the ESC have been changing many times throughout the years, but the current rules are simple: The show must be broadcasted live and uncut, and only members of the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) can participate. The performers can’t be more than six people on the stage at the same time. People under the age of 16 are not allowed to participate. The younger ones go to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. After all songs have been performed, a recap of all songs will start and the voting will go on. The top ten voted from each country gets 1-12 points (one for the lowest, 12 the highest). The winning country from the year before gets to hold the contest net year.

How it works
The first Eurovision Contest was held in Lugano, Switzerland on the 24th of May, 1956. Seven nations participated then (Belgium, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Italy, Germany and The Netherlands). On that time slow, sweet songs won the contest again and again and again. Today creepy monsters from the Arctic Circle rule the contest. And that is not the only change, the number of the nations participating has moved up from seven to 43.

Eurovision 2008
This year, the ESC is probably going to be interesting. Old Elvis fans and former winners return. Since there are so many nations participating, only 5 countries are qualified for the finals. There are two semi-final and the countries with the top 10 score (in each semi-final) get to the final.
This year the Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Belgrade, Serbia. The first semi-final is the 20th of May (Tuesday), the second is on the 22nd (Thursday). The finals will then be on the 24th of May (Saturday).
Below is a list of every song participating this year. Bolded ones are the top ten on an ESC 2008 poll on a popular Eurovision website.

Taflan komst ekki fyrir í greininni á Huga

Winners of the contest
Throughout the years, many world famous artists have participated and often won. Celine Dion, Cliff Richards, Johnny Logan, Abba and Olivia Newton John all participated once or twice, and most of them did that before their super fame. Below you can see every winner of the contest.
Taflan komst ekki fyrir í greininni á Huga

Sigríður Beinteinsdóttir speaks to the Excalibur
Ms. Sigríður Beinteinsdóttir is one of Iceland’s beloved singers and also a former participant in the contest. I contacted her and asked some questions to her about her opinions and favorites in the contest.

Ms. Beinteinsdóttir is no scrub when it comes to participating in the ESC. The first time was when she and the song-group Stjórnin performed the song “Eitt lag enn” (En: One more song). Stjórnin received 124 points and the 4th place was theirs. Only two years later she “re-entered” the contest by performing Nei eða Já? (En: Yes or No?). Europe’s answer was yes. She and the group (Heart 2 Heart) ended in 8th place receiving 80 points. Again two years later, she came back with a song called Nætur (En: Night time) with 49 points ending in the 12th place. After that Sigríður took a twelve year break from the contest. Two years ago, 2006, she returned to the contest singing in the back of Silvia Night’s hated make-a-scene show in Athens.
Is she coming back? She hardly beliefs that. “Going three times and succeed like that is amazing and I’m really happy about that. It would need to be a really strong song.”

What’s your favorite song in the contest? Was the first question I asked her. To an ordinary fan of the contest, this question is hard to answer by mentioning a single song. “It’s hard to say which one is my favorite. There have been so many good songs throughout the years, but the songs that have been my favorite are f.ex. All kinds of everything by Dana (Ireland 1970, 1st place), Waterloo by Abba (Sweden 1974, 1st place) and Non ho L'Età (En: This is my prayer, Italy 1964, 1st place)”.

What is your opinion of your songs this year? Though Ms. Beinteinsdóttir hasn’t been listening too many of this year’s songs she still has some strong opinions on the ones she has heard.
“The songs I’ve heard f.ex. Spain and Norway are not really that special and strong, I think the contest is changing and the nations don’t put as much ambition into the songs this year as before. It has changed into a comedy and costume contest instead of being a song contest. Also the Eastern Europe nations are so many and always give each other the biggest points, but since they have reorganized the contest this year we’ll see how it goes.”

What is the best thing about being in the contest? Sigríður had no problem answering that question since she is a professional. “Everything is fun about being in the contest. The trip takes a whole week and every second day is a practice, but the other days are parties and sightseeing’s where participants are invited. You feel like a superstar all that week and you meet a lot of people. A lot of security is where the contest is held every year. It is really not possible to describe how much fun it is.”

Mr. Rollo speaks to the Excalibur
Mr. Rollo, an ESL teacher at ISB, is a big fan of the Eurovision Song Contest and watched it at early age. The Excalibur asked him some questions.
Mr. Rollo was only eight years old when he first started to watch the Eurovision Song Contest with real interest. Then a typical Eurovision evening to him was quite similar to the typical evening for others. “The whole family used to get in front of the TV and support our singer”
Mr. Rollo hadn’t a problem finding is favorite songs. His favorites are Abba’s Waterloo (Sweden 1974, 1st place), Cliff Richard’s Congratulations (United Kingdom 1968, 2nd place), Non Ho L’Eta (Italy 1964, 1st place) and UN Banc, UN Arbre, UN Rue (Monaco 1971, 1st place).
Mr. Rollo hasn’t been listening too many of this year’s songs but he listened to Britain’s song. He doesn’t think the song is really good but it’s definitely better than last year’s failure of Britain, Flying a Flag by Scooch.

Links
If you’d like to hear some songs, know more, or read everyday news about the contest, below I’ve added some good links.
- www.youtube.com/user/pf9015
- www.eurovisioncovers.co.uk
- www.eurovision.tv
- www.esctoday.com
- www.youtube.com/user/esctoday