How do I watch and vote for Doncaster singer Raya in Eurovision: You Decide?

Doncaster singer Raya is going for glory as she bids to represent the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest - and here's how you can support her.
Doncaster Eurovision star Raya.Doncaster Eurovision star Raya.
Doncaster Eurovision star Raya.

The former Hungerhill School pupil is one of six UK hopefuls bidding to carry British hopes at the famed competition - here's all you need to know about how you can watch and cheer her on.

What's happening?

Eurovision: You Decide will select the UK's 2018 entrant. Six hopefuls will go head to head LIVE for the chance to represent the UK in May at the final in Lisbon.

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The competition will take place at the world-famous Brighton Dome, where ABBA stormed to victory at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo.

The winner will be selected by a combination of the public vote and by a panel of industry experts who will be at the Brighton Dome to dish out their verdicts.

When is it on?

Eurovision: You Decide will be broadcast live on BBC Two on 7 February from 19:30.

Who is presenting Eurovision: You Decide?

Mel Giedroyc will return to present Eurovision: You Decide for the third time. She will be joined by 2015 Eurovision winner Mans Zelmerlow.

Who are the UK hopefuls?

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As well as Raya, the other hopefuls are Asanda Jezile, Goldstone, Liam Tamner, SuRie and Jaz Ellington.

Voting details will be revealed during the show. But here's what the BBC has announced in advance.

When the vote is open, head over to the Eurovision homepage HERE

You’ll find the vote at the top of the page.

Before you can vote, you need to be signed in with your BBC account. You may be a Eurovision superfan and voted online last year, but this year you’ll need to sign in again and provide a little bit more information.

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You can sign-in directly from the Eurovision homepage during the show. Alternatively, you can sign-in any time at bbc.com/signin.

Don’t have an account?

You can register from the Eurovision homepage during the show, or any time at bbc.com/register

If you sign-in from the Eurovision homepage you’ll be taken to the sign-in page. Once completed you will be returned to the vote automatically.

You only need to register once and you will stay signed in on the device you registered with unless you choose to sign out.

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Make sure you’re registered, signed-in and ready in plenty of time before the vote opens as you don’t have long to vote.

How do I vote and how does the vote work?

When the vote is open, it will appear at the top of the Eurovision homepage. If you can’t see it, try refreshing the page.

You can then select your favourite act by clicking the small circular button next to their names.

Once you’ve made your mind up, simply click ‘Vote Now’ and your vote will be submitted. Remember you can only vote once online so choose your act carefully.

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If you don’t want to vote online you can still vote by phone. The phone numbers will be given out in the show and be made available on the Eurovision homepage whilst the vote is open.

The public vote and jury vote both take place immediately after all 6 songs have been performed in the live TV show and the result of the jury vote will not be revelaed prior to the public vote, or vice versa.

Once both votes are complete and verified, they will each reveal a ranking of the 6 songs from 1st to 6th. The rankings will then be used to award points from 6 (1st position) to 1 (6th position) for each vote.

The points each song has been awarded by both votes are then added together. The song with the highest combined total of points will be declared the winner. In the event of a tie break for first position, the song which received more points in the public vote will be declared the winner.

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As happened with the ESC Final in 2016, a win of only the jury vote or only the public vote doesn't guarantee an overall win.

The song that will win, is the one that performs best across BOTH the public and jury vote, so the artists need to impress both the jury AND the public as their votes have equal weighting – apart from the tie-break situation where the public vote is the decider.