User:Jochem van Hees/Drafts/Wikipedia:WikiProject Eurovision/Manual of Style

This page is a draft proposal for a manual of style for WikiProject Eurovision, that would replace the current Formatting &amp; Guidance page. It exists in addition to Wikipedia's manuals of style on music and television.

These guidelines are based on past consensus and the status quo on articles and talk pages throughout the project. Relevant discussions are referenced where applicable.

General
Since almost all articles about Eurovision are centered around Europe, British English and DMY dates should be consistently used. Furthermore, Citation Style 1 should be used for citing sources. For a list of reliable sources useful for Eurovision articles, see WikiProject Eurovision/Sources.

For marking divisions within a sentence, spaced en dashes ( – ) should be used, rather than em dashes or spaced hyphens. Although the character itself can be inserted into the wikitext, using the template (or  for short) is preferred.

Words and phrases
Wikipedia's wording sometimes differs from what is used in official sources (such as the European Broadcasting Union).


 * Grand Final is simply final.
 * Similarly, words like semi-final, contest and host city do not need to be written with initial capital letters.
 * Prior to the 2018 Macedonian referendum, the country North Macedonia competed in Eurovision as F.Y.R. Macedonia. However, Eurovision articles about those participations simply use the name Macedonia (or Republic of Macedonia) to comply with Naming conventions (Macedonia).

Although the word "Eurovision" may be used in article text to refer either to the Eurovision Song Contest or to the Eurovision network, it should be disambiguated in titles of articles and categories (for example, Category:Eurovision Song Contest winners rather than Category:Eurovision winners).

Song titles
In general, Wikipedia's Manual of Style guidelines at Titles § Capital letters and Text formatting § Names and titles should be followed. This means that:


 * Song titles are always given in double quotation marks.
 * English-language song titles use title case (e.g. "Born to Sing").
 * Song titles in other languages generally retain the casing, which is often sentence case (e.g. "Tout l'univers").
 * The "English translation" of a foreign-language song title is not (or is only very rarely) a title in its own right, so the original casing is still retained (e.g. "Autant d'amoureux que d'étoiles" ("As many lovers as stars")).
 * Foreign-language titles should be wrapped in the template.

In tables, English translations of songs should not be added, although they should be added in prose.

TBD vs TBA
The abbreviations "TBD" and "TBA" may be used based on their specific and individual purposes. Below are details on the definitions for each of the abbreviations, along with the usage below to decide when each should be used.


 * To be announced (TBA): For anything that has already been determined but has yet to be announced. Example: broadcaster opts for an internal selection. We would be waiting for such information "to be announced".
 * To be confirmed (TBC): For anything that suggests a decision has been made, but is awaiting final (formal) confirmation from authorities and/or organizers.
 * To be determined (TBD): For anything that has to be determined by a voting method. Example: Melodifestivalen relies on a public vote "to determine" the singer and song.

Categorisation
All Eurovision-related articles are in appropriate subcategories of Category:Arts competitions, with most being in Category:Eurovision events.

Articles and categories about Eurovision spin-off shows should not be in Category:Eurovision Song Contest or its subcategories, since they are separate competitions. Instead, put them in their own categories, like Category:Junior Eurovision Song Contest or Category:ABU Song Festivals.

Article footers
External links sections should generally only include a link to Eurovision.tv, and the content guideline External links should be followed.

Articles about contest editions
The titles of these articles contain the name of the competition followed by the year in which it was held, such as Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2003.

Do not create these articles (or redirects from these article titles) too soon, even if there is already information about the competition. Generally, these articles are only created after the previous edition has happened.

Infobox
These articles should use the template at the top of the page, containing basic information about the competition. Keep in mind that information must only be added once it has been officially confirmed. In particular, do not add the number of participating countries, or the debuting, returning or non-returning countries, until the full list of participants is published by the organisers.

The infobox can contain the logo of the event, which should be uploaded on Wikimedia Commons. However, keep in mind that logos of television broadcasts almost always are not free images, so before uploading a logo you must make sure it complies with Wikipedia's non-free content criteria. Past discussions have often led to the deletion of Eurovision logos.

The maps of participating countries are named in the same format as File:ESC 1956 Map.svg, so that the infobox automatically detects and displays it. These maps should be in SVG format.

Lead section
The lead paragraph mentions the following information about the contest:


 * Which edition it is (e.g. 50th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest);
 * In which city and country it was held;
 * In short, the reason why it was held there (often referring to the country's victory at the previous contest);
 * The organising broadcasters;
 * The date(s) of the final(s);
 * The winning country, act and performer.

An example of how the lead may be formatted (after the event) can be seen at the template articles for the Eurovision Song Contest and the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. No citations need to be included in the lead, since all of this info is already cited in the body of the article.

Other information that may be included in the lead section, but not always in the lead paragraph, includes:


 * The number of participating countries, and any debuting, returning or non-returning countries (again, only if the full list of participants has been confirmed);
 * More information about the winner, such as songwriters and number of points received;
 * Other countries that scored well in the competition;
 * A summary of ratings and viewing figures;
 * In rare cases, incidents that had a large impact on the event.

Location
This section mentions in which city the contest was (or will be) held, and how it was chosen. Other information about the host city should not be mentioned, unless it is relevant to the contest. The section also includes a map of the host country, showing the location of the selected host city with a red dot, and (if applicable) the locations of other bidding cities with blue dots and the cities that expressed interest but ultimately did not bid with yellow dots. Political maps are preferred over relief maps, to make the labels more readable.

Do not include capacity figures for bidding venues that did not end up hosting the contest.

Participating countries
This section should only be titled "Participating countries" after the official list of participating countries is announced. Until then, it should be titled "Provisional list of participating countries".

If the competition has semi-finals, another SVG map could be added to the article highlighting in which semi-final each country competes (similar to File:ESC 2021 Semi-Finals.svg).

Returning artists should be mentioned in prose format. This may include JESC-ESC crossover participants, or backing singers who become main artists or vice versa.

The countries that took part in the final should be listed in a table, with some details about the entries. If the competition has semi-finals, each semi-final should have a participants table as well. The rows for qualified entries should be styled with. For the final, only decorate the winning entry with. Do not display medals in the table.

The participants table(s) should contain the following columns (in order): "R/O", "Country", "Artist", "Song", "Language(s)", and after the final was held, "Points" and "Place". When there is a separate televote and jury result, like in ESC since 2016, the "Points" column can be split up into "Jury", "Public" and "Total". The table should not contain columns for genre, nature or rhythm, or an English translation of the song title. It should be sortable (by giving it the  class), although by default the entries should be listed in the order at which they appeared in the show (the running order). In the languages column, English is the only language that does not need to be wikilinked.

If the list of participating countries is provisional, references to reliable sources should be given for every participant that explicitly confirms the country's participation. Otherwise, the country should not (yet) be included in the list. A broadcaster holding a national selection show does not confirm its participation.

Detailed voting results
This section contains tables for each show of the competition, showing how every country awared its points. They should be hidden by default. Colours may be used to differentiate between different voting systems. For editions that had each country award separate sets of televote and jury vote points, there should be separate tables for televote and jury vote results. Each table should contain total columns for both votes, as well as the overall total.

In Eurovision, the points awarded by countries are announced by their spokespersons. Their names should be listed in a numbered list, in the order they appeared during the show. The entry for each spokesperson looks something like this: Do not add explanatory notes about who the spokespeople are; relevant information should be on the person's own article. If the subject does not have an article in English, then interlanguage links may be added instead, or the wikilink may simply be omitted.
 * 1)  – Name of spokesperson

Other countries
This section lists countries that are not in the (provisional) list of participants, but did either: For the upcoming edition, also list the names of the countries that confirmed non-particpation without further information, until the full participants list is announced.
 * make an attempt to participate, or
 * participate in the previous edition and has a reason for not returning.

For the Eurovision Song Contest, this section is always formatted in a specific way. At the top of the section, there should be a hatnote linking to List of countries in the Eurovision Song Contest. It should be introduced by explaining that eligibility for participation requires EBU membership. The list of countries itself is divided into subsections by membership status (so one section called "Active EBU members", another called "Associate EBU members", etc.). Each country's list item looks something like this:
 * – Info on the country's non-participation.

Broadcasts
The article should may include a table showing which broadcasters aired the competition and who the commentators were. Do not include spokespersons in this section. Per-country viewing figures are generally better placed on the individual country's articles.

Incidents
The article may have a section dedicated to specific incidents, but only if those incidents are directly relevant to the contest, and if the information is well-sourced. In compliance with Wikipedia:Criticism, this section should contain only negative material.

Other awards
Unlike the detailed voting results section, this section contains notable results that aren't part of the contest, such as awards given by fans. For the Eurovision Song Contest, these awards include the Marcel Bezençon Awards, OGAE's voting, and the Barbara Dex Award. Each award gets their own subsection, but keep it short. Each subsection should contain a hatnote linking to the main page about the award, one paragraph to introduce the award and how the results are decided, and (if applicable) a table summarising the results, listing not more than the top five. The prose for the introductory paragraph can be adapted from the template article.

Articles about countries in competitions
These articles contain an overview of the country's participation. Countries that have not participated in the competition may, in rare cases, still have an article, but only if there is significant verifyable information about a likely future debut. However, these articles are often merged into broader articles such as List of countries in the Eurovision Song Contest.

If a country has participated in the competition before as part of another country (such as Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest or Wales in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest), then the two are still considered separate countries, and the one article should not detail on the participation of the other. Sometimes however, two technically different countries are considered the same in Eurovision, such as Germany and West Germany.

For statistics about the country's highest placement, any result in the final is considered to be higher than a semi-final result, and the total number of participating countries is not taken into consideration. Do not call something the "worst" or "best" result, since there is no clear definition for it.

Participation overview
If the country has participated multiple times, the article should contain a table listing all the past participations of the country, with their associated acts and the results at the competition. Also add some introductory prose above the table.

What columns are present in the table varies depending on the competition, but generally there is at least a "Year" column, and an "Entrant" column. The years should be the row headers, but do not make the years bold, and do not include rows for years in which the country did not participate. If the country sent multiple entries to a competition, such as in the Eurovision Song Contest 1956, use one row for each, and  may be used for rows with the same year. Do not group identical names from different contests.

Song contests have additional "Song" and "Language" columns, and contests for musicians may have an "Instrument" column. The results of the country at the competition should also be mentioned, at least with a "Place" column, and if applicable, "Points". If the contest has multiple rounds, the place could be in a "Final" and "Semi" column (both with their own points column). If the country did not participate in the (semi-)final for a given year, the template should be used, with in short the reason why. In the language column, like with the table in the contest edition article, English is the only language that does not need to be wikilinked.

The following key should be used for the table. If a legend colour is not used in the table, it should also not be included in the legend. The affected table rows in the contestants table should be entirely in the appropriate background colour, except for the year column which should stay in grey, being row headers.

Other sections
If applicable, "Hostings" and "Awards" sections can be added, although they should only be summaries and link to the main articles. People who were involved in the country's particpation, such as commentators and spokespersons, or musical directors and conductors, may have their own tables below the contestants table. If both exist, they should be grouped under "Related involvement".

These articles should generally not include image galleries of all past representatives of the country; instead, display stacked images of a few noteworthy contestants.

These kinds of voting tables should be on participation-specific pages only. Furthermore, do not include sections dedicated to trivia or records, although these records may still be mentioned in the history section.

Lastly, the "See also" section may include the country's participation in similar contests.

Articles about individual participations
The titles of these articles are formatted as "(Country) in the (Contest) (year)"; for example, Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1956. The main purpose of these articles are to detail on the selection of the country's representative for the competition, and the country's results at the competition. Since the titles of these articles are descriptive, they should not have a short description.

If a country has only participated in the competition only once, then that participation should be merged with the main article about the country's participation instead, similar to Morocco in the Eurovision Song Contest.

The lead sentence should include a link to the article about the country.

Infobox
These articles should use. The selection date does not refer to when the song was released, but selected (so the date of the national final).

National selection shows
Many participating broadcasters organise televised national selections (or "national finals") for international music competitions, where either the performer(s), the act, or both are selected. The article about the country's participation should include details about the format, the competing entries and the final results of this show, in a section titled "National final" (or the name of the national final, e.g. "Eurovision: You Decide"). A main article for the national final may already exist, such as Melodifestivalen 2015, in which case a link should be added, and the national final should only be summarised on the participation article.

Voting
The article may contain a table that lists the points that were awared to this country, and one that lists the points that this country awarded to others. If the country competed or voted in both a semi-final and the final, then there should be one table for each. This means that in total there could be four voting tables, which would look something similar to the tables at. The tables should not be initially collapsed.

Detailed voting results tables should be collapsible. Do not include them if the data has not (yet) been released.

In all voting tables, when a country's name is linked, it should link to the country's participation in the same edition of the contest (for example, link to San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, not San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest or San Marino).

Articles about songs and artists
These articles are already covered by other style guidelines and policies, including:


 * Biographies of living persons
 * Manual of Style/Biography
 * Manual of Style/Music
 * WikiProject Musicians/Article guidelines

This section only covers Eurovision-related content on these pages.

Note that participating in a Eurovision event is not a guarantee for notability. Non-notable songs or artists may be covered in their own subsections of the appropriate participation articles instead, such as in. Links to the artist or song should link to those sections instead.

Articles about songs should use, with embedded. The two infoboxes have some identical parameters, such as lyricist; in those cases, only include them in the song infobox. If the song's composers and lyricists are the same, only use the "Songwriter(s)" field.

These articles may contain awards and achievements boxes or succession boxes at the bottom of the page.