Pravian Song Contest

**Original release** | 12 May 1984; 33 years ago

The **Pravian Song Contest** (sometimes abbreviated to the **PSC**), is an international song competition held annually between the members of the Pravian Broadcasting Union since 1984.

Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. The contest has been broadcast every year for sixty thirty, since its inauguration in 1984, and is one of the longest-running television programs in Pravia. It is also one of the most watched non-sporting events in the world, with audience figures having been quoted in recent years as anything between 100 million and 300 million internationally.

Currently, Resha holds the record for the highest number of wins, having won the contest seven times; in 1984, 1989, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2011, and 2015. The highest scoring winner is Danika Holm, who won the 2011 contest, earning a total of 284 points.

## Format

The format of the contest has remained relatively unchanged over the course of its history in that the format consists of successive live musical performances by the artists entered by the participating broadcasters. The program is always screened on a Saturday night in May and lasts approximately three hours thirty minutes.

Traditionally the contest will consist of an opening ceremony in which the performers are welcomed to the event, the performances of the entries, a recap of the songs to help televoting viewers decide which entries to vote for, an interval act usually performed after the televoting has closed, the results jury voting, and the results of the televoting, which is then followed by the declaration of the winner and a reprise of the winning song. At various points throughout the show, networks may opt out for a few minutes to screen a commercial break.

Since the contest's inception in 1984, it has followed the same voting format. Each country sends a delegation of music industry professionals, who rank their top ten songs after viewing the dress rehearsal. During the night of the final, the viewing public may vote up to ten times for their favorite songs, although they are not allowed to vote for their own country. Televoting was entirely conducted by dialing a voting line until 2008, when SMS votes began being accepted, and in 2015, when app voting was introduced. After all the votes are collected, each country sends a spokesperson, who reads out the the results of the averaged-together jury vote for each country; awarding 12 points to their favorite song, 10 points to their second-favorite song, and 8–1 points for the remainder of their ten favorite songs. After the jury vote is revealed, the televotes are averaged together, and each country receives a certain amount of points in proportion to the percent of the televote they received. These two sets of points are added together, which eventually reveals the winner. The winning country receives a trophy, which is passed down each year. While winners do not get to keep the trophy past their reigning year, they are each given a miniature version of it to keep after they hand over the actual trophy.

Each year, the winning country is then given the right to host next year's contest. While it is not mandatory, no winning country has ever refused the right to host. The contest is typically presented by two hosts; a man and a woman (although this format is not used every year). Occasionally, countries will add a third presenter to host green room activities and interview singers in the green room. The presenters are tasked with hosting the show, and specifically, repeating the results immediately after the spokesperson of each broadcaster to confirm which country the points are being given.

## Entry restrictions

Each song must be no longer than 4:00 long, and cannot have been released or performed publicly before 1 September, the year before the contest. While there is no actual restriction on whether someone can represent a country they do not hold citizenship to, many individual countries regulate this on their own. There are also no restrictions regarding the nationality of a songwriter, however some countries regulate this as well.

In 1985, it was ruled that each country must perform in a language that has official status within their country. However, this rule had significant backlash amongst artists who cited the right of artistic expression, and that many of them had never released a song in their native language previously. Because of this backlash, the rule was struck down prior to the 1988 contest.

Until 1987, there was no age restrictions for performers. However, after rumors began circulating that Fransert was considering sending a 5-year-old to the 1987 contest, the Pravian Broadcasting Union enacted a rule stating that no performers may be under 18 years of age at the time of the final. In addition to this, prior to the 1987 contest, it was ruled that no more than eight people may be performing onstage at once. In 2002, live music was banned from the contest, and all non-vocal parts of the song must come from a prerecorded backing track. Up until 2010, all vocals must have been performed live, but a rule was enacted allowing for singers to use a backing track instead of bringing backup singers on stage with them.

## Organization

Each year, the contest is produced by the Pravian Broadcasting Union (PBU). The executive supervisor is a position within the PBU that is responsible for overseeing the Pravian Song Contest. Since 2008, the position has been held by Irma Ledd.

The list of executive supervisors of the Prvaian Song Contest appointed by the PBU since the first edition (1984) is the following:

  Albernia
  Velkanian Isles

## Winning entries

*Main article: List of Pravian Song Contest winners.*

Resha holds the record for the highest number of wins, having won the contest seven times; in 1984, 1989, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2011, and 2015. Zornia is second with five wins. Jahastia and Titovania are in joint third place, with three wins each. Four countries have won two times: Bleckfork, Dresperland, Orland, and the Velkanian Isles. Eight countries have won once: Asharsia, Berats, Fransert, Gregaria, Gregus, Ilenia, Loght, and Norsom.

Along with their seven wins, Resha remains the most successful country in the contest of all-time. They have at least one win in every decade, and have also never finished outside of the top fifteen. On the other hand, East Resha is the least successful country in the competition, having never finished in the top ten. The most successful country that has never won is Kypa, who have placed second seven times and third nine times.