Oops. Danish Eurovision juror admits voting error for Ukraine.

“We wuz robbed!” is a common catch-cry after any Eurovision event, but this year it was Australia’s turn, and subsequent news certainly alludes to reasons why Dami Im fans are feeling it.

It has emerged that Danish jury member Hilda Heick misunderstood the ranking system and ended up giving eventual winners Ukraine 12 points, instead of the zero she intended.

“It is my great mistake and I admit it honestly, but I want to emphasise that I am not senile yet, although several write on Facebook that I should retire and keep me away from everything, and that I don’t know anything ,” she told bt.dk.

That said, even correcting the numbers would not have affected the outcome.

But more than 325,000 fans have signed a petition calling for Eurovision to review the voting process, after Jamala won while not actually topping either the audience (won by Russia) or jury (won by Australia) votes.

However, a lengthy statement posted on the Eurovision Facebook page formally re-enforced Ukraine’s Jamala as the winner.

“Australia’s Dami Im won the jury vote and Russia’s Sergey Lazarev won the televoting,” the group acknowledged.

“They both deserve credit for their world-class performances, their great songs and for taking their loss as true professionals. They may not have won the contest, but responded to the outcome as winners. We respect and appreciate them for that.

“The Eurovision Song Contest is a competition. There can only be one winner. We understand that not everyone agrees with the outcome of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest however in a competition where the results are decided based on a subjective and often very personal opinions, there will always be people who do not agree.

“Regardless of this, the result remains valid by all means, in accordance with the rules as they were known to each participating broadcaster, each artist and each dedicated fan.

“Ukraine is, and will remain, the winner of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. Whether you agree or disagree, we call upon those who signed this petition to embrace the result, valid in accordance with the rules, and to continue a constructive dialogue about how to further strengthen and improve the Eurovision Song Contest.”

Meanwhile EurovisionWorld claims that if the voting system from last year wasn’t changed this year, the winner would have been Australia.

It outlines that the voting was not only presented in a different way than last year, it was also calculated differently -despite the claims of the ESC hosts.

The old rules:

The jury ranks the songs from 1 (best) to 26 (worst)
Tele televoters rank the songs from 1 (best) to 26 (worst)
The ranking is combined
The highest 10 songs in the combined ranking get points (12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1)

The new rules:

The jury ranks the songs from 1 (best, Hilda) to 26 (worst)
The televoters rank the songs from 1 (best) to 26 (worst)
The highest 10 songs in the jury ranking get points (12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1)
The highest 10 songs in the televoters ranking get points (12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1)

Elsewhere, DNA Songs composers David Musumeci and Anthony Egizi, were awarded the Composer Award at the Marcel Bezençon Awards, for Sound of Silence.

The Marcel Bezençon Awards were introduced in 2002 to honour the best competing songs in the Eurovision Grand Final. The Composer Award is determined by a jury made up of the participating composers.

SBS Managing Director Michael Ebeid said, “This is a truly special prize for the best song at Eurovision, as voted by the composers from this year’s 43 competing countries, and SBS is absolutely thrilled for DNA and Dami to have been recognised by this expert group of global music industry representatives. DNA are amongst the biggest hit-makers in the country, writing songs for the likes of Delta Goodrem, Ricky Martin and Jessica Mauboy, and it is fantastic to see their composition Sound of Silence not only performed on the world’s biggest stage, but awarded this prestigious prize, while also reaching number one in Australia and charting around the world.

“Between Dami Im, as our fantastic artist, as well as her representatives and the talented composers, the SBS Eurovision team truly embodied Australia’s diversity. Supporting Dami in the green room during the competition was a group of Australians with origins as far-ranging as Korea, Vietnam, Italy, England, Ireland and Denmark. Eurovision is all about uniting communities and exploring cultures through music, so it was wonderful to see such a diverse Australian team recognised with this award.”

Source: Digital Spy
Photo: Anna Velikova (EBU)