Eurovision Song Contest

And the winner is....
Helena Paparizou from Greece.
The Greek song "My number one" was voted first among the 24 countries participating in the final of the ESC that took place yesterday in Kiev, Ukraine.
Greece came first with 230 points, followed by Malta ("Angel", 192 points) and Romania ("Let me try", 158 points).
It was the first time ever that Greece won the contest (the best position they had ever got was 3rd in 2001 (Antique) and last year (Sakis Rouvas) in Istanbul, Turkey.)
O.K., this is not actually a Mozart or Beethoven style event, but still...
The Eurovision Song Contest started in 1956 in Lugano, Switzerland and since then it is hosted every year in the capital of the country that wins the competition the year before. 25 countries across Europe compete in a what has become more a media event than a song contest. Each participating country forms a contest committee who during the final they vote for the rest of the countries (they cannot vote for themselves!) by giving them points that range from 1-12. It has become customary now the committees's decision to be determined by a tele-voting procedure where viewers choose their favourite song (from another country).
Famous winners of ESC include ABBA (Sweden,1974) and, believe it or not, the Canadian Celine Dion (representing Switzerland (!) in 1988). And last but not least, Israeli Dana International became the first trans-sexual ever to win the contest in 1998 with the song "Diva".
Congratulations Helena and see you all next year in Athens...