Appreciating Austrian awesomeness

28 October 2016 at 19:00 CEST
The Makemakes represented Austria in 2015 Elena Volotova (EBU)
Austria made its debut in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1957 and has participated 49 times in total. Austria has won the contest twice, in 1966 and 2014. Conchita Wurst's victory in 2014 took the contest back to Vienna for the first time since 1967. Today, as we have with other recent winners, Sweden and Ukraine, we look back at the top ten entries from Austria.

It hasn't been plain sailing for Austria and the country has finished last in the Eurovision Song Contest eight times, including the 2012 Semi-Final where Woki mit deim Popo failed to reach the Grand Final. Austria did not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest between 2008 and 2010 but returned to the contest in 2011.

It didn't take Austria long to triumph and the country won the contest for the first time since 1966 when Conchita Wurst stole the show with Rise Like A Phoenix in Copenhagen in 2014. As a result of Conchita's victory the 2015 contest was held in the Austrian capital Vienna. The slogan for the 2015 competition was Building Bridges which in some ways, can be a metaphor for Austria's relationship with the Eurovision Song Contest itself. After withdrawing several times in recent years, it looks like those bridges have been built and Austria is here to stay.