Jury guidelines and voting

[stroop]

Hi There, not been on here before, so please be kind to my question.

I was just wondering what do people think about likely instructions or guidelines given to the juries - do we think they will be generally guided in any way, and what's that likely to be?

Feel it's a pretty important question, as it effects the choices.

Also, do we know, do the jury members vote separately (and join their marks together for overall mark) or do they jointly 'agree' their mark which represents the jury score?

 

[EurovisionSmile]

Whatever guidelines they are given to follow, juries vote according to what their elements like or not. It's also about taste and not exactly something 100% objective. Sure, they consider what songs could be European hits (which is not less subjective) and have obviously knowledge about music that the average viewers don't have. But I really don't believe they vote for songs they don't like just because their 'quality' is superior to others. Personal taste, whether we like it or not, is always there.

 

[FilipFromSweden]

Hmm, i don't understand the question correctly, but i will go after what i think you asked.

I think the jury is just following their hearts. Did they like it? Is it to much? Liked the song, but not performance? I think they think of all that and not just how it sounds. But i must say they have strange taste. I mean.. Italy 1st??? if i was a jury i would not have given it a single point.


But i also feel that jury is a bit confusing. They are people to, like you and i. It feels like the country they are cheering for gets more attention just because they are a member of the jury. What is so different between they and us? Just because they are '' experts '' at music does not mean that they have better taste. But i must say i like that they stop countrys that just gets vote because they are famous/liked. For an example: Russia

 

[Matt]

Hi There, not been on here before, so please be kind to my question.

I was just wondering what do people think about likely instructions or guidelines given to the juries - do we think they will be generally guided in any way, and what's that likely to be?

Feel it's a pretty important question, as it effects the choices.

Also, do we know, do the jury members vote separately (and join their marks together for overall mark) or do they jointly 'agree' their mark which represents the jury score?

Each National Jury shall meet in its own country on the day of the second Dress Rehearsal of the Semi-Final in which it is responsible for voting and on the day of second Dress Rehearsal of the Final. The National Juries shall watch the live transmission of the second Dress Rehearsals and proceed to vote in accordance with the EBU's instructions […].
All members of the National Juries shall receive their own voting sheet (to be distributed by the pan-European televoting partner) and shall be required to send a form, duly completed, in which they confirm that they will comply with the voting instructions, as well as a signed declaration in which they undertake to vote independently.
After the presentation of all the songs in a given Show, each member shall award 12 points to his favourite song, 10 points to his second favourite song, 8 points to his third favourite song, 7 points to the next, and so on down to 1 point for his tenth favourite song. Abstentions are not allowed. The song representing the country of the Participating Broadcaster which has appointed the National Jury shall be excluded from the vote.
The chairperson shall be responsible for collecting the voting sheets of all jury members after all the songs have been performed, for counting the votes and for awarding the points according to the following system: 12 points shall be allocated to the song which has received the most votes from the members of the National Jury, 10 points shall be allocated to the song gaining the second highest number of votes, 8 points to the song gaining the third highest number of votes, 7 points to the next, and so on down to 1 point for the song gaining the tenth highest number of votes.
Each National Jury's deliberations shall be monitored by a notary, whose tasks shall be to:
- ensure compliance with the voting rules;
- collect, check and certify the calculation of the results and the completed voting papers established by the chairperson before the points are awarded and entered into a computer by the chairperson, to avoid any calculation error;
- send by fax all the certified voting papers to the pan-European televoting partner. Respect for this provision shall be the responsibility of the Participating Broadcasters.
The Chairperson and the Notary shall remain available and must be attainable at any time until the beginning of the Shows.







There were rules and guidelines for the 2009 juries and I assume that are similar this year. I saw them on esctoday but that's gone so I don't know where else to look

 

[stroop]

Thanks for the replies - so it seems that it isn't the 'agreed' mark, rather the separate members marks are collated to give the overall mark. Potentially different I suppose, in that some jury members could differ quite a lot possibly.

When I mentioned guidelines I was meaning whether it was ever suggested to juries that they should look out for specific ideas (e.g. a song that could make it in the current charts etc).

 

[Matt]

I don't remember the exact rules but recall that they're supposed to look at different factors including the composition, performance, lyrics etc. I wish I could find it...damn you esctoday!!!!

 

[A-lister]

* Edit : I am not really sure about this topic, you want to know about existing rules or we should just write our own ideas?

Well, I could very well take the opportunity to add my OWN preferable guidelines for future jury voting :

A quick sum:

+ encourage songs sung in native languages : Eurovision is NOT Anglovision! It's a celebration of ALL Europe! Music is a universal language in itself and languages are unique and have unique linguistic characteristics that adds flavor and diversity to music in general!

+ encourage songs with native motives : Again, this is not a Anglo-saxic-American/Swedish Pop contest only, it's a celebration of ALL Europe and the diverse cultures within! Showcasing the local music scene and/-or adding ethnic motives should always be encouraged!

+ encourage originality : Don't be afraid to think outside the box (as long as its good), it should pay off to have an original entry (as long as it's a good one and not just original for the sake of being original). Originality adds diversity and makes the show more interesting in general. And who knows, maybe Eurovision will help new stars be born or set trends? Originality can pay off!

+ encourage songs with hit-potential : Eurovision has more or less always been behind trends, and thus become a sort of laughing-stock without much credibility in the world of music. There's a problem if the world's larges music event can't even produce ONE cross-over European hit (let alone worldwide hit). It should mean alot for Eurovision's reputation it's possible to gain popularity out of it, if not then it'll just continue keep more popular names away.

^ It may be hard to combine all the above, but as long as the juries keep this in mind it's all good!

- This is NOT a kareoke talent show (Idol, X-Factor, The Voice...), so stop treat it like that!!! : Good live voices are important for sure, but should never be an excuse to vote for BAD songs. Afterall this is a SONG Contest, and not a talent/singing contest! Why even having a concept of original songs if only voices counts? If voices really should matter THAT much, atleast then try to encourage ORIGINAL voices with character rather than Simon Cowell's wail-soap! Also, not all songs sound GOOD with "big voices".

- Try to stay unbiased! : The jury votes are often political in a similar way as the diaspora ones (but different reasons). The juries should be here to judge the songs, not to vote for "political important countries" or help countries based on previous bad results or punish others for previous good results. The songs should be the only thing that counts!

- Don't "punish" big shows! : ESC should be an entertainment show, if putting alot of effort into entertain the public is getting overlooked, we will have more and more boring ESC editions with lazy boring performers who only rely on voices and nothing else. Why spend all this money on big stages, if big shows get overlooked anyways? Less is NOT always more! It depends on the type of song.

 

[Matt]

Those are your suggested rules though, correct?

There were actual guidelines that I cannot find anymore.

 

[stroop]

Those are your suggested rules though, correct?

There were actual guidelines that I cannot find anymore.

Yes, that last point was one of the reasons I asked the question, as I thought there were some floating around somewhere....but don't know where.