Eurovision Song Contest Austria 2015

After Conchita Wurst won the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Denmark with the song called Rise Like a Phoenix, Eurovision Song Contest 2015 took place in Vienna, Austria. This was the second time Austria hosted the competition. Total of 40 countries participated including Australia as a guest appearance. The first Semi-Final was held on May 19th and the second Semi-Final was held on May 21st. The winner was selected at the Grand Final on May 23th. The winner of the competition was Måns Zelmerlöw from Sweden with the song called Heroes. The song gained a total of 365 points. This was the sixth Eurovision Song Contest victory for Sweden.

Because of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, during the reveal of the results at the Grand Final the audience was booing whenever Russia received high points. It was reported that Russian’s performer Polina Gagarina was seen crying in the green room while the points were announced. The presenter had to remind the audience that “music should stand over politics tonight”. For the first time during Eurovision history an “anti-booing technology” was deployed.

It was revealed that Montenegro and Macedonia announced their voting results based 100% on the televotes, when 50% of the result should have come from the jury votes. It was then decided that jury results from both Montenegro and Macedonia were excluded from the end result. The jury votes wouldn’t have changed the total results of the competition.