The Eurovision Song Contest has long been known to enjoy a popular following with lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) audiences, but what role does the Contest itself play in advancing LGBT equality and rights beyond the dazzle of the stage and the frazzle of the voting? Monty Moncreiff explores the issues.

Steven Newby continues his look at the best songs to never leave the Eurovision semi-finals, and as a special treat this week he also looks at the ultimate epic Eurovision fail… nul-points on the Tuesday and Thursday night show.

Five people in each jury decide half of the score from each country at the Eurovision Song Contest. What checks and balances are in the system, and how could it be improved to reduce bias and create a fairer Contest? Ewan Spence investigates.

Song selected, do some rehearsals, fly to Malmo. If only it was that easy. The stage performance can make or break a song at Eurovision, so Sam Ross turns her eye to the dangers that lie in wait as people tweak their country’s Song for Europe.

This year’s ‘Top 100 Songs’ list will be all about the semi-finals. Over the next four weeks, Steven Newby is going to take you through all the songs that made it to Eurovision, but missed out on the Saturday night. Which songs made the grade, but were left behind? Today it’s time to look at numbers #100 to #76.

With sixty-four entries into the National Finals over fourteen years, eight songs qualifying for Eurovision, and one winner with Euphoria, perhaps SVT should offer Swedish writer Thomas G:son his own Melodifestivalen semi-final. Yes, we could write it like an April Fool, but looking back ESC Insight have found he has more than enough material from 2013.

As every Eurovision Song Contest fan pours over the running orders announced for the two semi-finals, Ewan points out some winners and losers in the race to qualify for the Grand Final in Malmo on May 18th.

Just before we get the running order announcement, how much of a headache does Martin Osterdahl have? We ask two professionals to order Semi Final 2, examine their thinking, and wonder just how many delegations SVT are going to upset now the EBU have handed them a no-win scenario.

We’re expecting a lot of contrast between songs in the semi final running orders when they are announced this week, with the big names held back for the end of the night. When you consider how people judge Eurovision songs, this method is likely to introduce bias and distort the competition. Are the EBU and SVT aware of the psychology of comparison?

Last week’s announcement of Bonnie Tyler as the singer for the United Kingdom in the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest has got John Kennedy O’Connor thinking about the historical precedent behind the selection, and wonders aloud about the similarities between this ‘Believe in Me’ and ‘Love Shine A Light’.

So now we know the UK’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. Bonnie Tyler will be flying the flag, and the 61 year old Welsh singer will be hoping to improve on last year’s result from Engelbert Humperdinck.

There’s a lot of it about in Eurovision land this year – no sooner has a song been selected for the Contest it gets accused of being a plagiarised version of another song. This is an incredibly serious claim to put towards anyone in the industry, and Ewan thinks we need to calm down and think about the differences between plagiarism and musical creativity.

In 2003 the Eurovision Song Contest took its first (and for the moment only) trip to Lativia and Dr Paul Jordan attended the Contest in Riga. Ten years later, he looks back at arguably the last ‘old school’ Contest, the political background, and the controversies.

Eurovision fans go to National Finals. Some of them jump on a plane to head round Europe because it’s fun. But what do you do when you are half way round the world, almost a day behind, and the Contest is calling across the sea to you? ESC Insight’s Samantha Ross knew exactly what to do…

While it has never managed to escape the shadow of it’s older sibling, the Junior Eurovision Song Contest reached double digits with its tenth show last weekend. What challenges face the Junior Contest as it looks towards its second decade of music?

Missed out on tickets to the Eurovision 2013 finals? Don’t have your accommodation sorted for Malmo? Still don’t want to give up the opportunity to attend the biggest song contest on the planet? The solution to your trouble lies within…

The production team will decide the running order of the shows instead of the drawing of lots; Jon Ola Sand says the running order does not impact on the final result so the focus can be on making a good television show; and the Eurovision community are up in arms about changes they believe are to the detriment of the worlds biggest entertainment show. Let’s take a look at the new rule change, try to make some sense of it, and see if there is room for improvement…

Ewan has an issue with people who lump the Eurovision Song Contest into the ‘reality TV show’ bandwagon. The Song Contest was around long before the current fashionable trainwreck of reality TV exploded at the end of the twentieth century. While there are reality elements that seem to appear in Eurovision, let’s be clear. The Song Contest is as far removed from the world of Strictly Come Dancing or The X-Factor as it can possibly be.

If the smaller programming budgets at the BBC may prevent a ‘Song for Europe’ style show to select the UK’s Eurovision 2013 song, “why not use the money from the phone vote to pay for the National Final?” Time to break out the ESC Insight calculators to see if this really is an option.

Still suffering from Post Eurovision Depression (PED)? Sam has the cure, or at least some placebos to help get you through May to December, as she looks at some of the other big Song Contests and Festivals around the world.