It's hard to choose the right gimmick for Eurovision, and Moldova knows this only too well. A projection dress and a hydraulic podium can propel you to the fringes of the top ten, while a pack of loincloth-clad dancers and a detachable pigtail can leave you stranded...

Latvia, once the "quickest" winner in Eurovision history, has struggled a lot in more recent years. The Baltic nation hasn't qualified from the semis since 2008, when it entered the stage of the grand final with the help of a gang of pirates. Is that what it will take...

Italy, the classic Eurovision country that returned to the contest after a long break, has been mostly successful ever since its comeback in 2011. It automatically joined the privileged group of countries that have a default place in the final without having to...

It's been a tough decade for Israel. Back in 2010, Harel Skaat was tipped for a podium finish only to end up in 14th place. Since then, the country on the fringes of Europe has continued to slip backwards, failing to qualify for the grand final on four successive...

Ireland, one of the grand old nations of the Eurovision Song Contest, must be looking over its shoulder nervously. If bookies' favourite Måns Zelmerlöw really does take the victory at ESC 2015, Sweden will be just one behind the self-proclaimed "home of Eurovision" in...

Iceland hasn't been very successful in the Eurovision Song Contest lately, aside from Yohanna's podium finish that is slowly disappearing over the horizon. Pollapönk, something different for the Nordic country at Eurovision, didn't really change that situation either...

As you might have noticed, escgo! is a Eurovision chat website. What does it mean? Many things, but among others, it means that every year during the national final season, many of us gather in a virtual room and watch all the national finals together. We’ve been...

The Greek ESC bandwagon has slowed a little lately, although the wheels are by no means falling off. Following a clutch of podium positions in the previous decade, culminating in Helena Paparizou's victory with My Number One, two of the last three Greek entries have...

Hungary achieved one of its best results ever when András Kállay-Saunders came 5th in last year's Eurovision final with his song Running. The Hungarian national final, A Dal, remains a huge local success even in 2015. Will its winner, Boggie, manage to reach a similar...

This year, Georgia returned to using a national final again after two years of internal selection. Erovnuli Shesarcevi konkursi happened already a while ago, and memories of the daytime show are very vague, but I remember we didn't get to see any full live...

France are struggling to make an impact in the Eurovision Song Contest of late. Since Patricia Kaas snuck into the top ten in 2009, they have entered a televoting favourite that was screwed over by the juries, a bookmakers' favourite that was largely ignored, a...

It's easy to think of Finland as one of the more successful Eurovision participants in recent years because of the huge impact of Lordi's victory in 2006, but you have to go back as far as 1989 before you find another top ten result for the Nordic nation. As such, the...