Aussievision Team: Craig

Name and where you live

My name is Craig and I’m a North Queensland expat currently based in Melbourne, after several years spent in Brisbane. I was finally convinced to move south in 2021 by my partner, after we spent most of 2020 doing long distance with Australia’s state borders closed due to COVID-19!

Where to see more of Craig

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/craig.land96/

Twitter/X: @landofesc

Tell us about yourself

I am a solicitor based in Melbourne by day, where I work on commercial disputes in a number of areas. By night, I'm slaving away in the national final salt mines, where I have a particular fondness for Festival da Canção and MESC. I live with my long-suffering partner Jordan and our sometimes live-in French bulldog Herbert.

Outside of Eurovision, I'm passionate about cinema, books and languages - you can usually find me queued up outside a Palace Cinemas branch at least once a week. My favourite films are Muriel's Wedding, Cléo de 5 à 7 and Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, while my favourite novels of all time are Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright, Illusions Perdues by Honoré de Balzac and The Lover by Marguerite Duras. I'm fluent in English and French, and have made a number of attempts to add Portuguese, Arabic and Mandarin to my arsenal over the years to varied degrees of success. In the least surprising crossover ever, I'm also a big Doctor Who fan and previously used to edit the magazine of the Doctor Who Club of Australia, Data Extract, for five years from 2014 to 2019.

What is your Eurovision journey?

I describe myself as having become a proper fan in 2014, although I had been peripherally aware of the contest before then. I was channel flicking one Friday night with some friends and caught the SBS replay of the first semifinal in 2014, and was instantly hooked when I saw the epic staging for Aram MP3’s Not Alone! Having just come out around 2013-14 as well, Conchita’s win was also a massive moment for my self-confidence.

Since then, I’ve gradually fallen into the rabbit hole of national finals, list-making and predictions. In 2017, I watched my first Melodifestivalen, and by 2019 I had discovered all the rest of the national finals as well. I used to try not to listen to more than a handful of the songs before the Contest week, but eventually that becomes untenable for every fan and since 2020 I have been completely immersed in the brainrot for the whole national final season. I joined the Aussievision team in 2022 to build connections with other fans, and since 2024 I have been a member of the coordinator team.

I have attended one contest in person (hoping to make it two next year!) when I took a month off uni in the middle of semester to go jaunting around the Mediterranean (note: don’t do this). I am now, according to my partner, a very proud superfan.

Do you have any affinity to nations other than Australia?

My grandma will happily tell you that my great-grandparents were Danish and Norwegian and met on the boat over to Australia.

However, as anyone who knows me well will tell you, my one great love is la langue de Molière (and Mylène Farmer and Céline Sciamma and Maryse Condé). I took French as a major at university, which has launched a lifelong interest in France and the many other francophone cultures across the world. It would be a dream to see the Contest make its way to Paris one year.

My other delusional stan country has unpexectedly come from my time at Aussievision, where I have been the long-suffering (not really) Malta correspondent since 2022. I love the island that gave us Kant, The Busker and Emma Meh-scat, and finally had the opportunity to visit in 2024, when I watched the Eurovision final live from Valletta and got to see Matt BLXCK deliver his 12 points!

Any Aussievision Highlights?

My undoubted Aussievision highlight to date was getting to be interviewed live on ABC News about the Contest in 2023! The opportunity came out of the blue as a result of me being one of the only people left in Australia while the rest of the team was off jaunting about Liverpool! I toddled on down to the ABC News studio early one Saturday morning and, while very nervous, hope I did Aussievision proud. The part I wasn't expecting, though, was for my clip to get repeated every hour for the rest of the day, with a new collection of frieneds messaging me each time to say they'd just seen me on TV!

I also loved seeing Hera Björk on Ice - strangest concept for a gig ever, but I was entertained.

Quickfire Eurovision Questions

Best Winner

Tattoo (Sweden 2023) – I like to think I'm cool and cultured, but I love Loreen like everyone else.

Favourite Three Non-Australian Entries

Rhythm Inside (Belgium 2015), Voilà (France 2021), Molitva (Serbia 2007)

Favourite Australian Entry

Zero Gravity (2019) – Kate Miller-Heidke had been a childhood favourite of mine, so to see her at Eurovision (and to see her live!) was a dream come true.

Robbery

Pop icon Hera Björk getting LAST PLACE - Europe just hadn't progressed enough to understand the subtle sophistication of Scared of Heights.

Makes Me Dance

'Miracle' (Romania 2014), 'Shum' (Ukraine 2021), 'Fuego' (duh).

Guilty Pleasure

Moustache (France 2014) – come for the bopping tune, stay for the great commentary on consumerism!

Favourite Eurovision Year

I genuinely don’t think we’ll see a year as good as 2021 again for ages now – the year off really gave everyone time to make the show perfect.

Favourites from the last century

Si la vie est cadeau (Luxembourg 1983), Ne partez pas sans moi (Switzerland 1988), The Voice (Ireland 1996)

Favourite National Final songs

Maeva (France 2021), Oh Boy (Germany 2024), Raw Stuff (Australia 2020), Désolée (Belgium 2025)

Favourite non-qualifier

Dance (Our Own Party) (Malta 2023) – a cautionary tale in not getting too invested in an entry with questionable qualification chances.

Any Final Comments?

For me, the Eurovision Song Contest is joy compressed into audiovisual form and projected into the inside of my brain for far more of the day than I would care to admit. I find its contradictions and its sudden swings in tone constantly fascinating, and never tire of finding new things to discuss (although I need to increase my knowledge of some of the older contests!)

I am so grateful for the musicians it has introduced me to, the friends it has made me, and the places it has taken me - including halfway across the world!