The outcome of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest will be decided by you, the public, alongside a group of expert juries in each of the 43 participating countries. Today we can exclusively announce the names of the 215 music industry professionals who will cast their votes in the Semi-Finals and Grand Final of this year's contest.

⬇️ Download the full list of jury members (.pdf)

Each national jury is made up of five music industry professionals who will evaluate each entry. The jury members are asked to judge the vocal capacity of the singer, the performance on stage, the composition and originality of the song and the overall impression of the act. Jurors rank all entries, except their own country's contribution.

Prior to the announcement, the jurors were vetted by PwC.

Last week, the EBU announced a subtle but significant change in the way the individual jury rankings are being weighed.

What happens when

Jury voting traditionally takes place during the Dress Rehearsal in the evening prior to each live show. The rehearsal is broadcast to the juries via satellite and their individual voting results are to be kept secret until after the Grand Final.

Juries and televoters from all 43 participating countries will vote in the Grand Final. For each Semi-Final, only juries and televoters from the countries that take part in the respective Semi-Final will vote. The so-called 'Big Five' — France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom — and host country Portugal have been allocated to vote in one of the two Semi-Finals by draw. Jurors from Spain, the United Kingdom and Portugal will vote in the first Semi-Final. In the second Semi-Final, the jurors from France, Germany and Italy will cast their votes.

Keeping things fair

To keep things fair, the work of the juries is supervised by a notary in each country, and the EBU's independent observers of EY reserve the right to pay surprise visits to the jury panel in order to ensure that the voting is being conducted in accordance with the Rules of the Eurovision Song Contest. After the submission of their vote, the EBU works together with EY to check and verify the jury results. In case of apparent irregularities, a national jury vote may be discarded.

Becoming a juror

There are strict admission rules for becoming a member of the jury.

Members of the jury must not have been part of the jury in the previous two years;

Members of the jury must be at least 16 years old on the day they vote;

Members of the jury must not be employees of Participating Broadcasters;

Members of the jury must pursue a profession in or related to the music industry;

Members of the jury shall be citizens of the country they represent;

No member of a jury shall be connected in any way with any of the participating songs entered and/or artists performing in the contest in such a way that they cannot vote in complete independence and impartiality.

Juries are selected by the Participating Broadcaster that represents each country. For example; the Belgian jury is appointed by VRT, while the Greek jury is appointed by the ERT, and so on.

Facts and figures

A total of 215 jurors — five in each of the 43 participating countries — will vote. Each broadcaster also appoints a backup juror, in case one of the five jury members becomes unavailable (not listed).

The youngest juror, aged 16, comes from Estonia. The oldest, at 74, is part of the Croatian jury;

The average age of the jurors is 40.8 years old, just a few months older than last year's average;

102 jurors are female, 113 are male;

Georgia, Lithuania and Montenegro all invited professors to their jury.

Several of this year's jurors have previously participated in the Eurovision Song Contest.

The list includes two winners; Emmelie de Forest won the contest 2013 for Denmark and Niamh Kavanagh won the 1993 contest for Ireland;

Mary Roos, who represented Germany twice, in 1972 and 1984;

Bob Savenberg, who represented Belgium as part of the group Clouseau in 1991;

Hanne Haugsand, who represented Norway as part of the group Charmed in 2000;

Tom Dice, who represented Belgium in 2010;

Cristina Scarlat, who sang for Moldova in 2014;

Bojana Stamenov, who represented Serbia in 2015;

Aminata Savadogo, who represented Latvia in 2015;

Amber, who represented Malta in 2015;

Laura Tesoro, who represented Belgium in 2016.

Did you spot an interesting fact or notable jury member who should be highlighted in the Facts & figures section? Let us know in the comments!