ESC Insight's Coverage Of The 2013 Contest
Regarded by many as the spiritual home of the Eurovision Song Contest, the 58th edition was hosted by SVT in Malmo, Sweden. A strong win by Denmark means that the Contest will be moving just a few miles west to Denmark next year, and the ESC Insight will be bringing you the build-up to Eurovision 2014.
But there’s still time to look back at the 2013 Contest and the coverage we produced for the Contest, from the moment Loreen picked up the trophy, until she handed it over to Emmelie de Forest in Sweden’s third city.
We’ve gathered together all the links to our articles, podcasts, videos, interviews, and more, on this page. Your Eurovision 2013 memories are just a few clicks away.
How many times will we hear ‘how many times’ in Copenhagen?
The Guide Book
Our fourth guide book to a Eurovision Song Contest proved a popular download both in PDF form and via Amazon. Featuring all 39 countries performing at this year’s Contest, as well as thoughts on each song from the ESC Insight team, it provided the popular mix of information and opinion we’re proud of to everyone. It was also a handy reference for us while we reported from Malmo.
The ESC Commentary Mobile App
Developed for ESC Insight and EscXtra by The Lab (powered by O2/Telefonica), ESC Commentary was a mobile application which provided information on this year’s performers, as well as links to biography data, social media accounts, and their official videos. It also provided a live commentary stream from the Press Room to people watching the show around the world, as well as offering them the opportunity to share their opinions in real-time through a thumbs up or thumbs down button press.
Articles, Editorial and Insight around the 58th Contest
- Your journey to Malmo starts here
- Nine things we expect from Sweden and Eurovision 2013
- Stop blaming everyone else over your Eurovision loss… look in the mirror
- Where’s the UK Stefan Raab? He’s hiding at BBC Scotland
- An open letter to the 2013 Heads of Delegation
- Split Votes and Transparency: Improving the Jury System at Eurovision
- Nine Songs disqualified from the Eurovision Song Contest
- Not Quite Eurovision… Alternative Song Contests from around the World
- Can Phone Votes Cover The Cost Of The BBC’s National Final?
- Five Alternatives To A UK National Final for the Eurovision Song Contest
- James Bond and Adele Can Win Eurovision For The United Kingdom
- Don’t call the Eurovision Song Contest a Reality Show
- All These Changes Are Doing Eurovision Good
- Are You Sure That’s Not a Eurovision Song?
- The Fall And Rise Of Turkey At Eurovision
- A Very Eurovision Christmas
- Who Would Travel Halfway Round The World For A National Final?
- ESC Insight’s Top Musical Moments of 2012
- What’s Another Year? Ten Years On From Riga
- Why the Eurovision Song Contest and the Superbowl Are Practically Family
- Runners And Riders For The UK Eurovision Entry
- Dear Eurovision Fans, It’s Not Plagiarism, It’s How Music Works
- It’s A Heartache For The United Kingdom
- The New Ranked Scoring System: Looking Forward By Looking Back
- I’ve Got A Secret, Whispers The United Kingdom
- Don’t Be That Fan.
- Should Melodifestivalen Award G:Son His Own Semi Final?
- Overegging the Eurovision Pudding: When Is Too Much Enough.
- Judge, Jury, and the Execution of the Eurovision Song Contest.
- Video, Video: The History Of The Eurovision Preview Shows.
- Hacksaw’s Magical Musical Box Of Delights In Malmo.
- A Balkan Blackout In The First Semi Finals.
- The Spotters Guide To The Semi Finals.
- Balkans To Decide This Year’s Eurovision Winner.
- Analysing the draw, and a shift in Eurovision Geo-politics.
- Eurovision and LGBT Rights: Is It A Party For Everybody?
- The Spotters Guide To The Grand Final.
- The Top Twenty Five Signs Of Post Eurovision Depression.
- Which National Finals Made The Right Choice For Malmö?
Eurovision Juniors
Eilidh (age 10) and Mairi (age 8) are the Eurovision Juniors, watching the videos and rating every song in the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest. Their thoughts on all the songs were spun out to a separate site, www.escjuniors.com.
The Eurovision Lists
ESC Insight is not the only website covering the Contest, and we like pointing out the big stories and opinions from around the web. That’s why we have the Eurovision List, pointing out some of the best stories on the web. You can step back through them in our Links and List index.
SBS Eurovision Radio
The ESC Insight team worked alongside Australian broadcaster SBS to create audio content for their website and for broadcast on their SBS Eurovision Radio station. 11 standalone thirty minute programs were commissioned and aired during April and May (sbs.com.au/eurovision).
Daily Shorts
With the new meet and greet format this year, a number of interviews were combined to make ‘Daily Shorts’ video during the first week. All 39 countries were interviewed and aired ahead of their first appearance, be it a semi-final or the Grand Final.
- May 7th, 2013
(Austria, Estonia, Slovenia, Croatia, Denmark, Russia, Ukraine, and the Netherlands). - May 8th, 2013
(Montenegro, Lithuania, Belarus, Moldova, ireland, Cyprus, Belgium, and Serbia). - May 9th, 2013
(Latvia, San Marino, Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Finland, Malta, Bulgaria, and Iceland). - May 10th, 2013
(Greece, israel, Armenia, Hungary, Norway, Albania, Georgia, Switzerland, and Romania). - May 18th, 2013
(France, Germany, Italy,Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom).
Video Insights
During the Eurovision Fortnight in Malmo, ESC Insight’s Samantha Ross interviewed a number of the performers in a longer format interview that the Daily Shorts that allowed her to take time to really get to know the people singing at this year’s Song Contest.
- ByeAlex (Hungary).
- Amandine Bourgeois (France).
- Klapa s mora (Croatia).
- Igor Vovkovinsky (Ukraine).
- Elitsa and Stoyan (Bulgaria).
- Gianluca Bezzina (Malta).
Juke Box Jury
In the eight weeks running up to the semi-finals and finals, we previewed each country’s song in our Juke Box Jury format, with discussion between two judges and host Ewan Spence before rating each song as hit, miss, or maybe.
- Juke Box Jury 2013 #1
(Switzerland, Cyprus, Lithuania, and Denmark). - Juke Box Jury 2013 #2
(Malta, Slovenia, Belgium, Latvia, and Russa). - Juke Box Jury 2013 #3
(Albania, Bulgaria, Ireland, and Norway). - Juke Box Jury 2013 #4
(Hungary, Montenegro, Netherlands, and Ukraine). - Juke Box Jury 2013 #5
(Serbia, Israel, Iceland, San Marino, and Greece). - Juke Box Jury 2013 #6
(Austria, Romania, Macedonia, Belarus, and Finland). - Juke Box Jury 2013 #7
(Moldova, Croatia, Georgia, Estonia, Azerbaijan). - Juke Box Jury 2013 #8
(Sweden, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom,).
The Daily Podcast Chat Shows
Our successful and anticipated morning chat shows returned in Malmo as our weekly ESC Insight podcast switched to a daily schedule. This allowed us to provide our trademark in-depth coverage and analysis from backstage at the Malmo Arena, bringing all the news and opinions of the 2013 Contest as it happened, though a rotating line up of guests from many Eurovision websites.
- Monday 6th May
(with Ewan Spence, Sharleen Wright, Samantha Ross, and Steven Newby). - Tuesday 7th May
(with Ewan Spence, Samantha Ross, and David Elder). - Wednesday 8th May
(with Ewan Spence, Elaine Dove, and Wivian Renee). - Thursday 9th May
(with Ewan Spence, Luke Fisher, and Garrett Mulhall). - Friday 10th May
(with Ewan Spence, Samantha Ross, and Phil Colclough). - Saturday 11th May
(with Ewan Spence, Roy Delaney, and Danny Lynch). - Sunday 12th May
(with Ewan Spence, Samantha Ross, and Luke Fisher). - Monday 13th May
(with Ewan Spence, Samantha Ross, and Steven Newby). - Tuesday 14th May
(with Ewan Spence, Sharleen Wright, and Luke Fisher). - Wednesday 15th May
(with Ewan Spence, Sharleen Wright, Samantha Ross, and Steven Newby). - Thursday 16th May
(with Ewan Spence, Sharleen Wright, Samantha Ross, and Steven Newby). - Friday 17th May
(with Ewan Spence, Monty Moncrieff, and Jacques Happe). - Saturday 18th May
(with Ewan Spence, Samantha Ross, and Steven Newby) - Sunday 19th May
(with Ewan Spence, Samantha Ross, Steven Newby, and DJ Ohrmeister).
The Alternative Commentaries
Now in their fifth year, our Alternative Commentaries are an integral part of the Eurovision experience for many of our readers and listeners as the download the commentaries to watch alongside the Song Contest, either live or synced with the on-demand streams of the Eurovision Song Contest (via www.eurovision.tv/esctv). For the third contest in a row, Ewan Spence was joined in the commentary booth by Luke Fisher, from EscXtra.
ESC Insight’s Senior Interviewer, Terry Vision
After a successful 2012 season, Terry Vision returned to the Eurovision Song Contest. Our senior interviewer and his fearless camera crew spoke to many of the performers at this year’s Contest, along with a number of Eurovision Legends. With his unique style and gentle acerbic wit, he brings a different angle to the traditional interview.public eye. He met:
- Per Thoresson (the Swedish Ambassador to Switzerland)
- Christoph Jakob, Heilsarmee/Takasa (Switzerland)
- Sven Epiney (Swiss Commentator).
- Emmelie De Forest (Denmark).
- The Herreys (Sweden 1984).
- The Brotherhood of Man (United Kingdom 1976).
- Anke Engelke (Eurovision 2011 Host, Unser Song Fur Malmo).
- Ulrik Munther (Melodifestivalen 2012, 2013).
- Gina Dirawi & Danny Saucedo (Melodifestivalen Hosts 2013).
- Ralf Gylenhamar (Melodifestivalen 2013).
- Johnny Logan (singer Ireland 1980, 1987, composer Ireland 1984, 1987, 1992).
- Gianluca (Malta).
- Cezar (Romania).
- Krista Siegfrids (Finland).
- Amandine Bourgeois (France).
- Klapa S Mora (Croatia).
- PeR (Latvia).
- Birgit (Estonia).
- Ryan Dolan (Ireland).
- Alyona Lanskaya (Belarus).
- Igor Vovkovinsky (Ukraine).
- Moran Mazor (Israel).
- Koza Mostra (Greece).
- Adrian Lulgjarj (Albania).
- Takasa (Switzerland).
- Eythor Ingi (Iceland).
- Elitsa Torodova (Bulgaria).
- Lys Assia (Switzerland 1956, first Eurovision winner).
- Christer Bjorkman (ESC 2013 Show Producer / SVT Melodifestivalen).
- Sarah Dawn Finer / Lynda Woodruff.
- Marco Mengoni (Italy).
Thank you to our supporters
ESC Insight is a year-round operation, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank our supporters from the 2013 season.
BMI Regional
bmi regional, the UK’s most punctual airline for the last seven years, offers a thirty minute check-in, free in-flight food and drink, a generous baggage allowance and flights to the UK and Europe from Aberdeen, Bristol, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford, Manchester and Norwich.
BMI supported ESC Insight with travel throughout the National Final season, and to travel to Malmo for the Eurovision Song Contest.
The Lab
The Lab (powered by O2) are an innovation team, powered by O2/Telefonica UK Ltd. Set up in January 2011, The Lab test new ideas & concepts fast, in an open environment. They developed our mobile application this year, and provided server support for the app.
Thank you to our readers
That wraps up the Eurovision Song Contest 2013, and our coverage from on the ground in Malmo. It’s time to work through the off-season over the summer, and then the 2014 season will kick off during September. If you’ve any comments on our coverage, let us know in the comments or get in touch.
This year’s Contest saw ESC Insight consistently break traffic records every month, leading to our biggest year of coverage. But Eurovision does not stop now. We’ll be here though the summer, the National Finals season, and into Denmark 2014. It might be three hours in May for some people, but the Eurovision Song Contest is a year long affair. And we’re always going to be here to tell you all about it!