NoNonsense Song Contest

The **NoNonsense Song Contest**, often shortened to **NNSC** is a song contest on YouTube held among countries of the world since June 2020. The competition is based upon the existing Eurovision Song Contest held among the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1956. The current and official executive supervisor is Esc Nns.

Each country's head of delegation gets to select an entry for each edition internally. All entries are revealed in previews known as 'sneak peeks'. Then the countries get to vote for each show (semi-final or final) to determine the qualifiers and the winner of the edition.

## Origins

The first ever NNSC started in July 2020. It was held in the city of Finland which also was the first ever country to host the NNSC. Fourty-seven nations took part in the first edition, with an online selection being held to determine the entry of each country. Followers of the contest awarded 12 points to their favorite, 10 points to their second favourite and then 8 points to 1 point for the rest. The first contest was won by Ukraine.

The name of the contest originates from the host of the contest's former channel name. When it was changed to **esc nns** in 2021, they announced that the name of the contest would not change in a YouTube comment.

## Participation

Any full member of the NoNonsense Broadcasting Union is allowed to send a song for the NoNonsense Song Contest. Each full member has got a certain broadcaster that is responsible for the choice of the artists and songs the country is sending for each edition. The head of delegation makes the final choice and submits it to the reference group at the earliest opportunity.

Sixty-three countries have participated at least once. These are listed here alongside the edition in which they made their debut.

## Format

The contest's format has changed slightly over the editions, but most elements have remained the same. The contest has two semi-finals and a final. From editions 2-9, the top twelve highest scoring countries from each semi-final advanced to the final. In the first edition, six countries were automatically qualified for the final. From the second edition onwards, only the host country has qualified directly for the final. The borderline non-qualifier of each semi-final goes into the second chance round, to decide the twenty-sixth finalist. From the tenth edition onwards, the qualifiers number was reduced to ten, just like in the first edition.

Since the very first edition the winning country of each edition is automatically chosen to be the host of the next edition. As the host broadcaster, the heads of delegation can decide how and when they want to host the competition and offer suggestions to the reference group that will be highly considered. The winning head of delegation also wins the privilege of choosing an entry earlier than other people. In the event of the host winning, the second-place head of delegation wins this privilege.

### **Autoqualifications**

From the first edition, a varying number of countries have been automatically qualified for the final. In the first edition, the big 5 and host country Finland were automatically in the final. From the second to ninth editions, only the host country doesn't have to pass a semi-final. The remaining countries have to enter a semi-final.

From the tenth edition onwards, the five highest scoring countries of the previous edition will have the right to go straight to the final. The number of qualifiers from each semi-final was also reduced to ten.

The winning head of delegation does not always to choose to participate again with the same country. Should they choose this option, they will not be automatically qualified for the final and the head of delegation who chooses the host country will be automatically qualified.

## Rules

There are several rules of the contest in order to enter. Main rule of the contest is that the country has to officially join the NoNonsense Broadcasting Union with a certain broadcaster before applying to enter the contest. When song submission opens, users can take the position of head of delegation of one of the participating countries. It is common for users to change the country whose delegation they lead each edition, however sometimes they will choose to stay with the same country. All songs must be approved by the reference group of the contest. The song must have been released from 2010 onwards, and have less than 1 billion views on YouTube. Participants can be of any age and each head of delegation can only represent one country.

### **Borrowing**

Some participants are authorised to borrow artists from other countries, due to a small music industry and a lack of interested artists.

In the first two editions, San Marino could use artists from anywhere in the world. This was removed in the third edition. However an artist that represented San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest could participate for San Marino. This happened in edition 3, when Jenifer Brening represented the microstate. From the fourth edition onwards, only Italian or Sammarinese artists could represent the country.

## Voting

The voting system used in the contest has been in place since the beginning. Each country awards one set of 12, 10, and 8–1 points to their 10 favourite songs. Followers of the contest who do not participate are also allowed to cast votes, as long as they are approved by the executive supervisor. In case of the country not being able to deliver the voting or fail to deliver votes in time, replacement votes are used. The user may receive a warning from the contest reference group. All votes are counted equally, and each vote holds the same weight in the overall result.

### **Presentation of Votes**

The presentation of votes often changes between editions. Since the second edition, all finalists have been required to vote. If they did not fulfil this requirement with no explanation, the council would remove an amount of the country's points. A scoreboard is usually used to present the votes. All votes are counted equally.

In the ninth edition, the semi-final results were presented in the running order instead of the typical format. This was due to the hiatus during the edition, with the reference group and broadcaster wanting to resume the edition as quickly as possible. This change was met with positive reception, and it is set to continue as a staple for the contest.

### **Nul points and ties**

No entry has received 0 points in a semi-final or final. The lowest score was achieved by Croatia in edition 6 of the contest, only receiving 5 points in the semi-final. If a country casts votes in the semi-final that their song is participating in, the reference group awards an additional 5 points to that country.

Ties between countries are common in the contest. In the event of a tie, the country that received the most sets of 12 points takes the higher place. If this amount is the same, then the number of 10 points are counted, then 8, and so on. If the tie can still not be broken, the song that performed earliest in the running order breaks the tie.

## Winners

The contest has so far 9 different winning countries. No country has won the contest twice yet. 'Green Light', New Zealand's winning entry, currently holds the record for the highest scoring winner, achieving 243 points in the final of edition 7. Italy's entry in edition 7, 'Fugitive' by Halflives, holds the record for points scored in a semi-final, with 325, despite finishing second place overall. The most recent winner is Russia, with the song "Komety" by Polnalyubvi.