Voice of Real Australia is a regular newsletter from ACM, which has journalists in every state and territory. Sign up here to get it by email, or here to forward it to a friend. Today's was written by ACM digital producer Ayden Dawkins.
If life is like a box of chocolates, Eurovision is like a bag of Every Flavour Jelly Beans - you really don't know what you're going to get.
Between divas singing ballads, the wannabe Justin Biebers and monsters performing heavy metal, there is a beauty to this competition missed by so many.
'The Sound of Beauty' was the motto for this year's completion, celebrating that music can unite us all no matter where we come from, and in unity we can build peace.
For some, it is in connecting to the homelands of their ancestors. For others, it may be the inclusion of the niche genre they love. It may simply be a way of escaping the realities of life for just one night.
For Ukraine's winning act, it was receiving the highest points in the history of the competition, like a hug of support in their most tremulous time.
For me, as a young kid in Bendigo, it was Eurovision that opened my eyes to the vibrant, diverse, and exciting world we are all so lucky to be a part of.
It gave me the chance to learn the history of the countries hosting and witness how they live. I could hear languages almost lost to time and see their traditional clothing under a thousand spotlights. It was also one of the few places where I could see LGBT people celebrated for their passion and talent, not just as two-dimensional stereotypes or punchlines for a sitcom gag. Nowhere else in Australian media showed me this as a kid.
When Australia joined the competition in 2015, it became our own time to shine, bringing the world glimpses of our own culture, traditions and musical talents. This year, we were represented by Sheldon Riley, who grew up on the Gold Coast and has a Eurovision story with echoes of my own - albeit with the talent to get to the stage. He grew up in a religious family, facing the pressure to be someone he was not. Eurovision gave him the glimpse of what could be.
Seeing Sheldon Riley perform and even position second in his semi-final, told me that the place between the smoke and sequins, where I found myself and my community, has unapologetically taken to the world. That our country can also be a beacon to kids in other countries who don't have the same freedoms we do.
I know it is a strange place to find myself but it really is the truth, and it is for so many other Eurovision fans too. With the rise of social media, the community and connection surrounding Eurovision is only growing larger.
If something can make the world a little less lonely for someone, or a kid in the country feel seen for the first time, surely it is worth celebrating.
I hope that even if not Eurovision, those around our country can find their thing to build up a community too.
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