Eurovision Fantasy Song Contest

The Eurovision Fantasy Song Contest, shortened to EFSC is a fantasy contest, held on Reddit since 2019. The contest includes countries who participate, have participated or could participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. The current organizer is the moderator - u/BoukeMarten.

Users are allowed to hold national finals with others from the subreddit voting for the song to represent their chosen country. When the actual contest begins, the participants vote 12-1 points in ESC style format in Semi-Finals and a Grand Final. The Eurovision Fantasy Song Contest is a thing that happens every year and preparations about it start as early as July when the sign-ups begin. Users must find songs from the chosen country, they selected to represent and they must follow the given song criteria. Usually, in April / May the voting starts, and then the 10 qualifiers from each semi are announced. They continue to participate in the final, where the ultimate winner is revealed.

Origins
After the cancellation of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2019, Reddit user HyperVenom_RP21 decided to make a fantasy version of the 2020 contest. The first-ever related post to this idea was on r/eurovision. His idea was met with interest and quickly attracted people. The first edition of the Eurovision Fantasy Song Contest was held on r/eurovison. After the success of the 1st edition, the subreddit of r/FantasyVisionContests was created, where the later editions would be hosted.

Participation
There are 52 eligible nations, that can take part in the contest, but the maximum number of participants is 46. The 3rd edition had 46/46, while the first one recorded the smallest amount of participants: 39. The second edition consisted of 43 participating nations. All of the eligible nations have participated, with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo debuting in the 4th edition.

Format and Voting
EFSC follows a format close to the actual one in Eurovision, the same applies for the other fantasy contests too. Sign-ups open in the summer, while the song submission window is between the 1st of September and the 1st of April of the current season. Between September-April, a lot of NFs are organized to determine the particular nation's entry, while the rest is decided internally. In May, the actual contest starts with its two semi-finals, after that, the grand finale kicks off and the winner is decided, which hosts the next edition. Much like Eurovision, the Automatic qualifiers are the host and the big five - the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain. The user who won also has to keep his winner nation for the next edition.

Voting is presented in the Eurovision style (1-8,10,12 pts.), both for the semi-finals and the final itself. Non-voting is a small issue that has been a part of the contest, which gets its punishment. Some non-qualifications have happened in the 3rd edition, due to it (notably Israel, Russia, and Serbia). Voting in EFSC is not much different from Eurovision. In the first edition jury and televote were introduced, later dropped due to the inability to provide both of them for the contest. Revealing of voting is strongly prohibited in the contest

Rules
The Rules for EFSC are as follows. They have changed through time, but these are the ones for the 4th edition:


 * Songs need to be released from September 1st 2021 or later
 * Maximum song length is 3:40 minutes
 * Songs from any real-life National Finals are NOT allowed
 * Last day to send a song is March 31st
 * You're allowed to hold national finals or select a song by yourself
 * If multiple countries go for the same song or artist, the first country to come up with that artist will get to select them
 * Participant can't change a song after he agreed on it
 * Maximum number of participants is 46

Editions and Winners
There have been 4 editions. The Netherlands has hosted the contest twice (in Rotterdam and Maastricht), Norway (in Hamar), and Sweden (in Gothenburg once). Each of the aforementioned has won once.