Rules

Chapter 1: Format
§ 1.1: The current format of the Redditvision Song Contest (RSC) consists of a country claim period, a song submission period, semi-finals, a grand final and a live voting show.

§ 1.2: The winning user will have the first rights to host the next edition. Should they decline to host, the next-placed user will be offered to host.

§ 1.3: The top six in each edition are automatically qualified for the final in the following edition. Should one of the top 6 withdraw the following edition, the next-placed entry will take its place in the final and so on.

§ 1.4: RSC is composed of three semi-finals and one grand final. The grand final consists of 30 entries; 6 automatic qualifiers and 8 qualifiers from each of the three semi-finals. Should the participant count drop below 46, there will be two semi-finals instead with 10 qualifiers instead.

§ 1.5: After every tenth edition, a separate Special Edition is held. Special editions run separately from ordinary editions, for instance, automatic qualifiers will carry on from one special edition to the next special edition. The format of a special edition will generally function the same as an ordinary edition but will feature a theme or a twist. This theme or twist is voted on by the community before the edition starts.

Chapter 2: Country Claim
§ 2.1: To enter RSC, your account needs to be at least three months old at the time of signing up.

§ 2.2: Signing up for someone else using their account or having others sign up for you is not allowed.

§ 2.3: Claimable countries include:

1. The 193 United Nations member states;

2. The United Nations observer states; (Palestine and the Vatican City)

3. Members or observers of a United Nations Specialized Agency; (Cook Islands, Kosovo, Niue, and Taiwan)

4. The United Kingdom in its four constituent parts: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

§ 2.4: Countries are given out on a first-come, first-serve basis.

§ 2.5: The host will include a unique title for the country claim message. Sending a country claim without the title will not be valid.

§ 2.6: A maximum number of 66 participants are permitted in one edition.

§ 2.7: A waiting list is used when the cap is reached. Users on the waiting list can enter the edition should someone either withdraw or fail to submit a song before the beginning of the semi-finals.

Chapter 3: Song Submission
§ 3.1: Each participating user submits one song per edition.

§ 3.2: Do not spoil your entry prior to the song announcement by the host. If you’re hosting a national final, do not spoil your competing entries until the song submission period.

§ 3.3: Posting ‘teasers’ or ‘hints’ to your entry or song in a national final is not allowed, unless in a dedicated teaser thread posted by a moderator or the host. Posting teasers to the concept of a national final is fine.

§ 3.4: There is no required link or affiliation between your artist choice and country. It is encouraged to try to affiliate them if you can, however.

§ 3.5: The host can implement the following restrictions:

1. A limit on a songs runtime

2. A limit on a songs age

3. A limit on the amount of YouTube views a song can have

§ 3.6: All songs that meet the hosting restrictions are allowed in RSC. However, the following is not permitted:

1. Songs that have previously been entered, or a cover or remix of a song that has previously been entered

2. Songs that have taken part or are due to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest or Junior Eurovision Song Contest. This also includes songs that are part of an ongoing national selection. Songs that have been eliminated from a national selection are permitted

3. Songs that contain heavy swearing or hateful messaging

4. Songs that are meant to deliberately provoke or cause disruption

§ 3.7: Failure to send an entry after claiming a country will not result in a disqualification in the following edition.

§ 3.8: The same artist cannot represent more than one entry as a main artist per edition. In the case of multiple users wanting to send the same artist, the first-come-first-serve principle serves. This principle applies to both internal submissions and national finals.

Chapter 4: National Finals
§ 4.1: Competing users have the option to arrange a national final during the song submission period. All national finals must be posted to /r/redditvision_nf.

§ 4.2: All songs in the national final must meet the requirements as per chapter 3.

§ 4.3: A national final post must contain:

1. The songs competing in the selection

2. The closing date and time for voting

3. Voting details

4. The phrase chosen by the host in the song submission post

§ 4.4: Results must be posted to /r/redditvision_nf. Any further national finals will be removed until previous results have been posted.

§ 4.5: National finals are free to use whatever concept or voting system wished. Songs must still be submitted to the host as normal.

§ 4.6: Should the same main artist appear in multiple national finals, the national final posted earliest will have first preference.

§ 4.7: Play fair! Attempts at manipulating or obstructing your own or other’s national finals is not allowed.

Chapter 5: Voting
§ 5.1: Absolutely no vote revealing. Under no circumstances are you allowed to reveal your votes before you are called during the results show. This includes semi-final votes.

§ 5.2: Absolutely no vote manipulation. This includes knowingly adjusting your votes with one or several other users in order to boost your own chances, controlling multiple accounts and other forms of intentional or tactical voting. A breach can lead to a ban from the contest.

§ 5.3: The voting system used is 12, 10 and 8 through 1 points.

§ 5.4: Users send in a ranking of their top 15 entries to the host when voting in the final, and a full ranking of their semi-final votes. Voting can only be done through the voting form on Reddit.

§ 5.5: Users are required to vote in the semi-final they are either participating in or allocated to vote in as an automatic qualifier.

§ 5.6: All participating users, including users that failed to qualify, are required to vote in the final.

§ 5.7: Cross-voting

1. Users also have the option to vote in the semi-finals they’re not required to vote in.

2. Users submits crossvotes as any other vote (cf. § 5.4)

3. The sum of all crossvotes will be combined. The combined crossvotes will have one-third of the total voting power in the semi-final, while the internal votes count for the other two-thirds.

4. When the number of crossvoters are more than half of the number of internal voters, the crossvotes will be scaled down to hold 33% of the total voting power in a semi-final. Should the number of crossvoters be fewer than half the number of internal voters, the raw point totals from the crossvoting will be used, giving the crossvoting less than 33% of the total voting power in a semi-final.

§ 5.8: Disqualification

1. Failure to vote will result in a disqualification from the current edition and the following edition.

2. All votes cast to a disqualified entry will be removed and reallocated to other entries.

3. Should an automatic qualifier fail to vote during the semi-final period, their entry will be disqualified and the grand final will proceed without their entry.

§ 5.9: Withdrawals

1. Users have the option to withdraw from the edition before a deadline.

2. All votes cast to a withdrawn entry will be removed and reallocated to other entries.

3. A withdrawal will not result in a disqualification in the following edition.

4. A withdrawal must be messaged to the host and done in a reasonable time before the deadline.

5. Should an already eliminated participant wish to withdraw during the final, it will have to be discussed with the moderators.

§ 5.10: Should two or more entries share the same scores, the ties will be broken in this order:

1. Songs that received points from the greater amount of countries

2. Songs that received the greater amount of 12 points, 10 points, 8 points and so forth until the tie is resolved.

3. Should there still be a tie, the entries will be tied.

4. Should there be a tie between two songs in the semi-finals, the song that received the greater amount of points from the internal votes will precede.

Chapter 6: Live Show
§ 6.1: For the final, the host will call each voter one by one. Posting one’s votes prior to being called in the live show thread is strictly forbidden.

§ 6.2: Each user has three hours to post their votes after being called.

§ 6.3: The voting message is strictly to showcase your points. Any discussion or other attempts at derailing the thread is not allowed. Friendly banter is still perfectly allowed.

§ 6.4: A green room thread will be opened for any discussion of the live show.

Chapter 7: Hosting
§ 7.1: The host has full control over the general outline and schedule of the edition.

§ 7.2: The host has the freedom to keep the country they won with.

§ 7.3: Deadlines

1. The host can freely extend any deadline if it’s done at least 24 hours before the originally announced deadline. If the host wishes to extend when there are less than 24 hours remaining, it has to be approved by the moderators.

2. All deadlines have to apply to all participating users.

§ 7.4: The only person who is allowed access to the results during the voting period is the host. The moderators and the team responsible for the graphic design can be informed of the results prior to public reveal. For semi-finals, this will usually extend to just knowing the qualifiers and non-qualifiers, and not full disclosure of the voting results.

§ 7.5: The moderators reserve the right to veto a host or to take over the hosting of an edition should the surrounding circumstances render a host incapable of hosting.