Tubevision Contest

Tubevision Contest (abbreviated TVC), sometimes spelled TubeVision Contest, was a song contest on Youtube. The contest is hosted by Dimitris Ioannou. The contest has currently thirty-eight editions, including the three special editions.

Participation
There are a number of rules which must be observed by the participating users. First of all, the user can only enter with one country and one account. Entering the contest by second account is considered as cheating and the user might be punished if the host finds it out. The users have to submit their entry for the next edition while the previous one is ongoing. The singer must have origins from the country that the user selected to represent. Artists with ancestry cannot represent the borrowing countries; for example Lady Gaga cannot represent San Marino or Vatican City and Katy Perry cannot represent Liechtenstein or Luxembourg.

The selected songs can be two minutes the least and five minutes the most. It must also have a studio version in YouTube. However, if the live version is of good quality the host can make exceptions. The song doesn't have to be in the native language of the country. However, there are several editions that the song has to be in the native language which is done once in each decade starting from the third decade.

The entry has to be sent through a YouTube or Forum message to the host. However, the host might accept entries through other websites (e.g. Facebook). Submitting songs along with time frame and picture of the artist is not required but it's allowed to do so.

Voting
The same voting system has always been used. 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points are given to ten of the participating countries. Anyone with a YouTube account can vote. Votes only through YouTube comment or message are accepted with some exceptions. Participants can not vote for their own entry but they can vote for their own country if someone else submitted that entry. The voting system of the contest's national selections, which is the selection's host choice, might differ.

Voting in the semi-final and/or final was not mandatory until the forty-fourth edition. The participating users of the semi-final and final have to vote otherwise they will be disqualified. So far, no more than two countries have been disqualified in one edition.

History
The contest started with a final of thirteen participants with Estonia winning the first ever edition. The semi-finals were introduced second edition and they were used at the fourth and fifth edition. From the six to the tenth edition there was only final with 15 to 20 participants. After the contest grew up, the host decided to permanently introduce the semi-finals and since the eleventh edition. Currently only two semi-finals are held. However, a third semi-final was introduced as testing in the twenty-eighth edition and it was decided to not continue with it.

Many features which were introduced in the contest, were inspired by other contests. National selections, the jury and the awards, inspired from the Ourvision Song Contest, were introduced in the early 10s editions. However the national selection system was different from the one that was used in OVSC.

The contest had several breaks with the first being between April and June 2012 after the fourteenth edition due to host's exams and the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. After the return in June, the contest gained population and voters and the host decided to increase the number of participants and therefore the number of finalists. The second break was between November and December, after the twenty-sixth edition. The contest had the small break because the host wanted to relax and find time later for the contest. The contest returned on 27 December 2012.

The host had announced on March 2013 that the contest would close forever after the almost two years of hosting. A video was also made to inform the participants about the end of the contest. However later, in May 2013, the host announced the re-opening of the contest. The contest returned in June 2013, after host's exams. The population of the contest became even bigger after the introduction of the different recap videos and the host permanently increased the number of the participants to thirty-eight with twenty finalists (ten qualifiers from each semi-final).

Before the thirty-second edition started, a poll was posted asking the users if they'd like the jury to affect the result. Even though most of the users were positive on the idea, the host decided to not introduce it because some of the users had negative opinion about the idea.

Right after the long thirty-seventh edition the host announced that the contest would go on a break due to his hosting of the North Vision Song Contest. The contest returned with the thirty-eighth edition having more than 50 contestants, in mid-November. However, during the edition it was revealed that the contest would close permanently. The contest closed officially on 1 Janury 2014.

Borrowing countries
The following countries can borrow from certain regions from neighbor countries. Only the borrowing country can send artists from the original country meaning that the original country is not allowed to send artists from the borrowing country.

Editions
Each editions takes about 9 days when there are semifinals in it and about 3 days when there is only final. However, every edition since the eleventh had semi-finals. Even though a regular edition with semi-finals lasts 9 days (3 days for each show), some editions lasted longer due to some connection problems

Special editions

 * Main article: The Best of TVC

The Best of TVC was the first special edition of TVC and has so far completed three editions. The first winner was Steve Linden with C'est la Musique which got the first place in the seventh edition for Belgium. Getter Jaani and Koit Toome who represented Estonia in the eleventh edition with "Valged Ööd" won the second edition. Norway was the first country to win three editions in a row with one of them being their victory in the third edition with Adelén and "Bombo" which won the thirtieth edition.

National selections
National selections started to be held since the 20th edition. There was a difference from the national selections of OVSC. In these NS the hosts choose the songs which will compete in the NS. The first national selection was Eesti Laul which was held for the 20th edition. Click here for a full list with national selections.

Winners
Estonia was the first winner of the contest. Cyprus was the first country to win twice but Sweden was the first to win three times. The United States was the first winner outside of Europe, followed by Lebanon. Getter Jaani was the first artist to win twice the contest followed by Ailee. Malta was the first country that won twice with only one edition between their victories. Also, Norway became the first country to win two editions in a row.

Special edition winners
Currently three editions of The Best of TVC have been held. The first winner was Steve Linden with C'est la musique which won the seventh edition for Belgium.

Host cities and winning users
These are the countries and cities that hosted the Tubevision Contest along with the users that won the respective edition. Cyprus and Sweden hosted the contest three times while Norway, Estonia, Malta and Denmark hosted the contest twice.

Participants
As of the thirty-fifth edition one hundred and fourteen countries have participated in the contest for at least one time. The United States has competed in all the current editions. These are listed here alongside the edition in which they made their debut:

Partner contests
The contest has 12 partner contests. The first was Ourvision Song Contest, followed by Simple Song Contest and World Music Contest. OVSC joined on 30 September 2011, SSC on 2 October 2011 and WMC on 9 October 2011. Imagine Song Contest, Widevision Song Contest, The Voice Song Contest and Myvision Song Contest joined on 20, 25, 27 July and 3 August 2012 respectively. Amazing Music Contest and Mad Song Contest joined on 1 and 15 September 2012 respectively. Magical Music Contest and Legendary Song Contest joined on 11 August 2012 and 1 May 2013 respectively. In June 2013, Ili's World Song Competition and ValiumSounds Contest applied to join with the latter one being declined because it hadn't done one edition with semi-finals. All the partner contests of the the Tubevision Contest are inactive or closed apart from the Magical Music Contest.

Awards
Tubevision Contest has currently four awards. In the twenty-fifth edition the User Score award was replaced by the Heart Award.

Jury Award
The Jury Award is given to the song which the jury thought deserved to win the contest. The jury award was introduced along with the jury, in the fifteenth edition and was given to every edition since that edition, excpet the twenty-second, where there was no jury.

12 points Award
This award is given to the country with the most 12 points. If two countries had the same amount of 12 points their amount of 10 points were counted and the country with the most 10 points was the winner of the award.

NS Award
The NS Award, short for National Selection Award, is given to the best TVC national selection. The award is given by the TVC manager and was first introduced for the twentieth edition. A lot of different factors are being taken into account when the recipient is going to be decided. When the edition had only one selection held, the award was not given.

Heart Award
The Heart Award is given to the song which the jury thought most deserved to qualify for the final but didn't. The award is given to the highest placed non-qualifier on the jury rankings. When the edition doesn't have semi-finals, the award will be given to what according to the jury was the most underrated entry on the bottom half of the final results. This award replaced the User Score award since the twenty-fifth edition.

User Score Award
This award was given to the users that managed to collect the most points in one edition. The award was given from the sixth edition until the twenty-fifth edition. The award was replaced by the Heart Award.

Jury
TVC started with two juries, one from the United Kingdom and one from Denmark. However they were later replaced and the next members of the jury were from the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The job of the jury is to listen to all entries and rank them from the best song to the worst song.

The host started a poll asking the members if they would like the jury to affect the results. Even though most of the users agreed, some of them had negative opinion so the host decided to not continue with the change.

On 22 July, the host decided to change the juries so he opened a thread on the forums asking users to apply for a place in the jury. After users applied, a poll was held where the users from Estonia and Greece were selected as the next juries.

Logos
There have been different logos for some editions. However the logo introduced since the thirty-first edition replaced the old logos.