The eagle-eyed of you might have noticed that today is May 29, and therefore we are exactly one year away from the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest final. I’m reliably informed that it’s a beautiful sunny day today in Oslo; indeed the BBC Weather service tells me that it’s around 17 degrees, clear skies, and the temperature is set to rise over the weekend- sounds lovely, and is a far cry from the snow which graced the 1996 contest! I think we should all start praying to the Norse God Freyr that it’s like this for us next year.

Hopefully, this year’s Eurovision will be seen as “the re-birth” of the contest- especially in some of the more old-school countries taking part. Here in the UK we just wanted to get on to the left hand side of the scoreboard, and so to finish in the top five was quite something. The good result, and increased media and public interest in the contest is something that the BBC should be proud of- after the contest, many radio shows were having phone-ins with people saying how much they enjoyed the show, largely due to the fact that we had an entry to be proud of. Personally I don’t remember reading so many Facebook status updates of my (non-Eurovision) friends telling of how they not only watched the contest, but thought it was actually quite good! Granted I’m a student, and we have nothing else better to do, but as far as I was able to make out, this year’s contest seemed to have a large appeal to the younger generation in the UK.

The success of Jade now means that the BBC have some big decisions to make. It has been proved to them this year that, if you send a good song, that is well-staged and well promoted in Europe, you will do well. If you send Andy Abraham (and no disrespect to the man- he was a generally nice person, but it just wasn’t right entry for Eurovision) or Jemini, you will come last. Can they now really go back to the old-style, anyone will do, selection process?

Of course we cannot expect so have Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s reputation and talents every year, nor do I think it would be easy to find and persuade someone of his status to compose our Eurovision entry each year. However I think getting a relatively well-known composer to write the entry should be the way to go. There were also three big factors that made doing Eurovision appealing this year: the six-week exposure on BBC One at prime time; the pre-contest tour to other countries; and, most importantly in my opinion, record company deal. The latter really gave our national selection some standing, as it said “Whatever the result at Eurovision, you have a contract to release the single, written by Sir Andrew, in the UK”, and that gives any form of show huge credibility. If there is one thing I could say to the BBC for next year, it would be to keep the record label deal, or at least find another one to back the show if Colin Barlow chooses not to next year.

I think it should be possible to find another recognised name to compose the entry next year- Gary Barlow is a name being put around, so too Melanie Chisholm (Mel C, or ‘Sporty Spice’), and even Sir Elton John. With this year’s show format, and the success of “My Time” at Eurovision, and the format of the selection, it should be possible to get someone famous to compose the song. If the BBC decide to go back to the previous years’ procedures, it would mark a huge step back for Eurovision in the UK, and I’m not sure if they should continue to enter if they were to do that. It is all very well making a big effort for one year, but some countries are doing this year on year- and they see the rewards come the May final, as we did this time around.

I’m not one for omens in Eurovision, however I think there are two which show the choices the BBC have, and how they could affect the future:

In 2008 Norway came top five, and then won the following year.
In 2002, the UK came top five- the best result since 1998- and then came last with 0 points a year later.

And those are the choices, I think- continue with the new selection method, and reap the rewards of the effort; or go back to the poor selection shows of the earlier 00’s, and get the results which, truthfully, those songs deserved.

I hope everyone has an excellent summer and enjoys the off-season. Let’s hope that by the time the whole event starts up again, the big decisions taken will benefit the contest and its audiences.