Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015

Australia in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2015
Eurovision Song Contest 2015
Participating broadcasterSpecial Broadcasting Service (SBS)
Country Australia
Selection processInternal selection
Announcement dateArtist: 3 March 2015
Song: 16 March 2015
Competing entry
Song"Tonight Again"
ArtistGuy Sebastian
Songwriters
Placement
Final result5th, 196 points
Participation chronology
2015 2016►

Australia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Tonight Again", written by Guy Sebastian, David Ryan Harris, and Louis Schoorl, and performed by Guy Sebastian himself. The Australian participating broadcaster, Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), internally selected its entry for the contest. SBS received, for the first time ever, an invitation to participate from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) as a "one-off" special guest to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the contest. This was the first-ever entry from Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest.

SBS announced Sebastian as its representative on 3 March 2015 during a press conference in Sydney. The song Sebastian performed, "Tonight Again", was presented to the public on 16 March 2015. The Australian coloratura soprano –of Armenian descent– Mary-Jean O'Doherty also participated in the 2015 contest as part of the group Genealogy representing Armenia.

Along with the members of the "Big Five" and Austria, Australia automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. In the final, Australia performed in position 12 and placed fifth out of the 27 participating countries, scoring 196 points. In terms of individual votes, Austria, Denmark, Hungary, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, San Marino, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom all placed Australia in the top three. Host nation Austria and winner of the contest Sweden awarded 12 points to Australia.

Following the 2015 contest, the EBU has considered the possibility of similarly inviting other guest countries to future editions of the contest. However, it was revealed in May 2015 that Australia might become a permanent participant following some reports by executive supervisor Jon Ola Sand to Sveriges Television. In November 2015, the EBU announced that SBS had been invited again to participate in the 2016 contest.