Eurovision Song Contest is one of the most popular and best organized annual competitions. In USA, there are many similar, but no one is so favorite and with so many participants from different parts of the continent.

The countries, active members of European Broadcasting Union, each year submit a song to be performed on live television show. Each country has the chance to choose the best singer, who can popularize his country and music, not only around Europe but and in the rest of the world. Because Eurovision Song Contest has many fans in the different parts of the world. As one of the most watched events, Eurovision is broadcasted in Australia, New Zealand, India, Canada, South Africa, Hong Kong and many other counties outside Europe, despite the fact that these countries do not compete. It is enough to say that in 2006 Eurovision Song Contest has been watched in 140 countries via internet.
The successful and modern televoting system has been placed in 1975. Since then the audience can vote for their favorite singers via televoting and in our days by SMS, in addition. In case of televoting failure, there is jury who can take the final decision.

Very good is the rule that the countries may not cast their vote for the song from their own country. It gives equal chances to all participating countries to win the most popular Song Contest in the last 51 years.

Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2003 was the first Eurovision Song Contest for children between 8 and 15 years. One of the most important rules in this festival is that the text writer and the composer of the song  has to be also kids to 15 years and he has to take part  on the stage as a singer or as a player.

It was organized in Copenhagen on November 15. Young talents from 16 countries competed for the prestigious award. The winner was Dino Jelusic with the song “Ti si moia prva lubov”. In the next year, 2004, 18 nations took part and the Contest was in Lillehammer, Norway. For first time France and Switzerland presented their young singers. Part of the show was the famous boy band Westlife. They performed their hit “Ain’t that a kick in the head”. The Spanish beauty Maria Isabel won the first place with her song Anthea Muerta Que Sencilla.

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The European Broadcasting Union was firstly established on the 12^th February 1950. It was created by twenty-three broadcasting organizations from Europe on an annual meeting in England.

Since now the EBU has a list of seventy-five members from countries all around Europe and forty-three associates also. These members are usually broadcasters owned from the government or private channels with public mission.

Nowadays the EBU members are broadcasters not only from Europe but from Canada, Japan, India, Mexico and many others. But the so called ‘active members’ are broadcasters from countries members of the Council of Europe.

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The first Eurovision contest was held on 24^th May 1956, where the participants were only from seven countries. The European Song Contest is based on the Italian Sanremo Music Festival. The first host of the contest was Lugano, Switzerland, where the winner was Lys Assia with the song ‘Refrain’.

In the beginning, the songs had to be sung in the participants’ native language, but then in 1965 after the song ‘Absent Friend’ was presented in English the European Broadcasting Union gave the opportunity to all of the participants from then on to sing their songs in English. Afterward The European Broadcasting union set very strict rules, in which it is said that the song has to be written only in English or the native language.

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