The Eurovision Song Contest French : Concours Eurovision de la chanson , often known simply as Eurovision , is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union.
Each participating country submits an original song to be performed live and transmitted to national broadcasters via the Eurovision and Euroradio networks , with competing countries then casting votes for the other countries' songs to determine a winner. The contest was inspired by and based on Italy's national Sanremo Music Festival , held in the Italian Riviera since Eurovision has been held annually since except for due to the COVID restrictions , making it the longest-running international music competition on television and one of the world's longest-running television programmes.
Active members of the EBU and invited associate members are eligible to compete; as of , [update] 52 countries have participated at least once.
Each participating broadcaster sends an original song of three minutes duration or less to be performed live by a singer or group of up to six people aged 16 or older.
Each country awards 1β8, 10 and 12 points to their ten favourite songs, based on the views of an assembled group of music professionals and the country's viewing public, with the song receiving the most points declared the winner. Other performances feature alongside the competition, including a specially-commissioned opening and interval act and guest performances by musicians and other personalities, with past acts including Cirque du Soleil , Madonna , Justin Timberlake , Mika , Rita Ora and the first performance of Riverdance.
