by Kevin Fansler, USA

I met him in 2007 and we started dating. It wasn’t clear at first whether we were a match, but we were both communicators, working professionally as a writer and an editor, so it seemed that we had a good framework for solving problems and communicating our desires to each other. I don’t know when exactly I fell in love, but I remember the first time I said the words. It was Valentine’s Day 2008. “I love you, R___.” The winning song that year? Believe.

Obviously, young love is a clear pool that you swim in, or a whirlwind that carries you away. That next year, 2009, is a blur of shared intimacies, meeting each other’s friends, spending a month together in Israel and Jordan, finding a larger community that we each belonged to, but mostly… mostly… and perhaps unexpectedly… deeper love. The winning song: Fairytale.

By 2010, we were seeing each other five nights a week and were in each other’s lives every day. Our annual Eurovision party was going well, though our German friend always complained about how bad the German entries were. We introduced other Americans to this phenomenon of Eurovision. Some laughed at the over-the-top quality of some entrants—perhaps this was the year of the butterfly costumes or gymnasts with glow sticks—and some learned the songs in a heartbeat and sang along by the second chorus. The invite list for the party grew a little more each year. The winning song: Satellite.

Then my father became ill. It was 2011 and I was flying back and forth to my parents’ home deep in the heartland of America. I knew it was my last chance for The Boyfriend to meet The Parents, so off we flew. The winning song: Running Scared.

The call came late on a Sunday early in 2012. Friends were over to watch Mad Men. My father was in the E.R. and wouldn’t last many more hours. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t focus enough to book a flight. But The Boyfriend and our friends rallied and arranged it all for me, including packing my bag and getting me on the flight the next morning. I made it in time to have a last moment with my father. And for the first time in 30 years, all of my siblings were in the same city at the same time. The next day was my mother’s 80th birthday, so we had a combined birthday party and wake. Strange emotions coursing through the day, both highs and lows. The winning song: Euphoria.

Another year and this time my mother is ill and passes away. My sister is diagnosed with stage IV cancer and passes away. It’s still too painful to write about in detail. I could not make it through all of this without the love of my life being there and holding me when I needed it. He is my rock. The winning song: Only Teardrops.

In 2014, the memorial services behind us, we have some breathing room. Gay marriage nationwide becomes the law of the land about this time and I propose. Wedding planning is stressful, but we use the tried-and-true method of delegating some of that work to our best men (or in my case, my BFF, a woman who prefers to be called best person). The weather holds for our outdoor wedding and it’s a perfect day. Our combined Jewish/Christian/atheist household is now officially sanctioned and blessed by our government and we pledge our lives to one another. The winning song: Rise Like a Phoenix.

Finally, in 2015, for my 50th birthday year I have plans to spend as much time as possible in Sweden, the country where I graduated from high school. The Husband, as he is now called, has been learning Swedish, and he is a whiz at languages. His grasp of grammar already outpaces mine and it’s kind of amazing. I land a dream job, yet somehow, it can still accommodate my wish to telecommute from Sweden. The stars align when Sweden wins Eurovision and becomes the host nation! It’s all coming together. I have a personal hero. The winning song: Heroes.

I can’t say what the future holds, but I do know one way to measure the years is to look back at the friends we made, the parties we held, the events we attended, and the milestones in our lives. Seeing our Eurovision friends at our house for our annual party is a highlight of our year. And the synchronicity of Sweden hosting in a year when we had already planned on being in Sweden just seems like such a great way to start looking ahead to what might be in our future.

by Niall Drennan

Every year in the lead up to Eurovision, facts are figures about the contest are quoted at length by both fans and the media. Top of this list is which country has won Eurovision the most times – the answer being Ireland with an impressive 7 wins under its belt.

Ireland was the dominant force in Eurovision in the 1990’s racking up an impressive 4 wins in a 5 year period. It even holds the record as having the most successful interval act with Riverdance.

However, Ireland’s recent performance in Eurovision has been a far cry from its glory days in the 90’s. Since 2007, there have been 4 failures to qualify for the final and 2 last place finishes. Not an impressive record for the most successful Eurovision country. If it was not for Jedward’s 8th place finish in 2011, it could be argued that Ireland is currently one of the worst performing countries in Eurovision, keeping company with Portugal (sorry Portugal, fingers are always crossed for your first win).

This year, Molly Sterling’s gentle and well written ballad failed to strike a chord with Eurovision voters. Putting her behind a wooden upright piano that blocked any relationship with the audience and cameras certainly didn’t help. This is another example of RTE getting the staging completely wrong – something that has been apparent over recent years. At least with Molly, they ditched the clichéd Celtic theme that featured in Ireland’s recent entries (Kasey Smith’s Heartbeat in 2014 and Ryan Dolan with Only Love Survives in 2013). However it is evident RTE don’t have the capability of creating a modern and creative stage presentation, or have no interest in doing so. Many fans suspect it’s the latter and speculate that RTE do not want to win the contest again due to the high costs involved. Even if this is the case, it does not excuse the poor result and several failures to even qualify for the final.

Perhaps the turning point in Ireland’s relationship with Eurovision was the choice to send Dustin the Turkey to represent the country in 2008. What was intended to be a tongue in cheek joke to show that Europe that Ireland didn’t take the contest seriously, certainly backfired and turned into a national embarrassment. This was predicted by Ireland’s first Eurovision winner, Dana, who said that by sending Dustin, Ireland was essentially sticking two fingers up at the contest.

Sometimes you have to reach the lowest point in order to start the slow climb upwards. Ireland is not unique in this regard. Take a look at Norway – a country with the most “nul points” in the history of the contest but has turned this around in recent years with three top ten finishes in the past 3 years and a win in 2009. This shows that just because you are down, it doesn’t mean you are out.

Ireland’s return to its glory days is going to take time, effort and investment along with smart, well-researched choices and good judgment on the part of RTE. The selection format needs to be overhauled into a national event, similar to what is happening in other countries that have had recent success in Eurovision (hello Azerbaijan and Sweden). To RTE’s credit they have taken the initial steps by ditching the mentor system and opening up the selection process to all songwriters as they did this year. However RTE also need to step up when it comes to the staging and performance and invest the time and resources into creating the best performance possible.

Eurovision 2016 in Stockholm will the 20th anniversary since Ireland won Eurovision. A lot has changed in the contest since Eimear Quinn’s win in 1996 and RTE need to start to take the contest seriously and enter with a view to win. If they can find a good song and singer and come up with a great production, perhaps 2016 will be the year that the Emerald Isle regains its Eurovision crown….of course the luck of the Irish can also help.