Aussievision team: Emma

Name and where you live

I'm Emma and I live in Melbourne, Victoria with my husband and two children.

Tell us a little bit about yourself

Before I had children I was a librarian but have since found myself working in the field of early childhood management and administration and have now moved on to a similar role in secondary school administration.

I am a huge music fan apart from Eurovision and can often be found listening to anything and everything with my headphones on trying to get some peace! Or I'll be cooking up a storm in the kitchen where my favourite things to bake are slices, cookies and cakes...all the good stuff! I also love reading of course and am interested in anything to do with space and aviation.

I enjoy anything to do with Olympic and/or Commonwealth sport...more watching than participating! A highlight of mine was attending the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. I look forward to hopefully attending the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Victoria and the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane. And of course I would love to be lucky enough to attend a Eurovision Song contest in person one day!

What is your Eurovision journey?

My high school Italian teacher first introduced me to the contest way back when Toto Cutugno won in 1990. I remember her wheeling a portable television in to the classroom and showing us a video of his win...she was very excited!

Fast forward to 1998 when I met my now husband. He had come across the 1997 contest on television one night and correctly predicted that Katrina & The Waves would win for the United Kingdom. He became a fan and we began to watch the contest together each year from then on. Once it was broadcast online, I would wake up to watch it live every year.

2012 was the year I discovered the songs were released in advance and I began listening to them all beforehand and picking my favourites. I was so excited when Australia joined the contest in 2015 and we could finally watch the show live and also vote!

As Australian fan groups took off online, I became more involved and discovered the Aussievision podcast in 2017. A couple of years later I answered the first call for volunteers and the rest is history! I now watch as many national finals as I can and love ranking each countries entries and discussing the contest with like-minded people!

Do you have any affinity to nations other than Australia?

I do have an affinity for the United Kingdom as I am half Scottish. I also tend to love a lot of the Scandinavian entries and bizarrely Moldova is usually one of my favourites!

Any Aussievision highlights?

I love working with the Aussievision team - particularly when we find time for some online trivia and chat or watch parties to help us determine our rankings for various national finals. It has been great to meet most of the team in person and run into each other at various Eurovision themed events...I have made some great friends!

Quick questions on Eurovision entries

Best winner:

'Heroes' (Sweden 2015)

Favourite three non-Australian entries:

'Caroban' (Serbia 2011), 'Rhythm Inside' (Belgium 2015), 'If Love Was A Crime' (Bulgaria 2016)

Favourite Australian entry:

Live: 'Sound of Silence', Studio: 'Don't Break Me', Staging: 'Zero Gravity'

Favourites from the last century:

'Poupée de cire, poupée de son' (Luxembourg 1965), A-Ba-Ni-Bi' (Israel 1978)

Robberies:

2008 - 'Shady Lady' from Ukraine beaten by Russia's 'Believe'. I'm sure it was all down to the ice skater on stage!

Makes you dance:

'Golden Boy' (Israel 2015), 'Hey Mamma' (Moldova 2017), 'Fuego' (Cyprus 2018), 'La Venda' (Spain 2019)

Guilty pleasure:

'Run Away' (Moldova 2010), 'Be My Guest' (Ukraine 2012), 'Moustache' (France 2014)

Favourite non-qualifier:

'Sing It Away' (Finland 2016), 'Verona' (Estonia 2017), 'Fyr og Flamme' (Denmark 2021)

Favourite Eurovision year:

2016 - Held in one of my favourite countries Sweden with the best hosts ever Petra Mede and Måns Zelmerlöw. Home of the iconic 'Love Love Peace Peace' interval act plus a performance from Justin Timberlake. Oh and Dami almost took the crown for Australia!

Favourite national finals:

Australia Decides, Melodifestivalen (Sweden), Melodi Grand Prix (Norway), Benidorm Fest (Spain)

Favourite national final songs:

'Human' (Sweden 2016), '2000 and Whatever' (Australia 2019), 'Golden Shores' (Estonia 2022)

Any final comments?

I love how Eurovision brings people together from all over the world to celebrate music and the power of song. It has been wonderful getting to meet such a diverse range of people with a shared interest who I might never have met otherwise in my daily life. And the opportunity to learn about and respect other cultures and languages is one that can only unite us.