Every year oikotimes.com presents at the end of the year a review of the team experience in the Eurovision world. A Year in Review for 2012 is about to commence and we are proud of it despite been a very (but truly very) bad for some of us.
EUROFEST 2012
Fotis and Yannis attended the Belarusian selection this year. An experience which we loved more than nothing. Special press passes, rare champagne from USSR and a purely generous hospitality were the keys for an amazing venture. The organization was simply amazing. We tried to find out if something is fixed in the national selection but we saw everything done under fair play and rules. It was unfair for me to disqualify Alyona but if they have proof for the opposite it’s OK with me. I just know that BTRC was not involved in this scam. Not to forget the wonderful volunteer girls with whom we became friends instantly!
MELODIFESTIVALEN 2012
Fotis, Lilian and Alexander attended the Swedish national selection, one of the greatest in Europe. Full of interviews and reports the team managed to present one of the best results on the web. Amazing photos and videos which no other site had made oikotimes.com once again a special Eurovision fan site.
BRUSSELS 2012
Brussels venture was a great experience. Along with artists from various countries we toured the city and had a great oikotimes 11 years party at one of the famous gay clubs of the city. It was the first time I met a prime minister as Belgian PM was at the Eurovision party meeting us. The Greek dinner with the local diaspora also was great as it was the time I missed the genuine Greek food! Visit in Limburg and TVL was also excellent experience as all of the production team of TVL made us feel comfortable and they made us feel more than welcomed.
BAKU 2012
Thanks to Anton and Ivan from Russia, Lilian from Sweden and Olivier from Belgium, oikotimes.com once again attended the Eurovision Song Contest covering the event full time. Interviews in collaboration with radiointernational.tv and daily reports brough around a million visits to oikotimes.com – Europrediction was also a big success predicting for a second year in a row the winner of the show. Behind the scenes articles and press area livestreaming are traditions which oikotimes.com established back in late 2005. Marija Serifovic was the guest review editor for the 2012 Eurovision entries.
AMSTERDAM 2012
Junior Eurovision celebrates 10 years and oikotimes was there. Despite last minute cancelation from Fotis (due to health problems) and Moshe (due to the war games in Gaza) there was an oikotimes team there membered by Anton, Ivan and Nikki.
IN THE PRESS
Flemish, Greek and Albanian press honored oikotimes.com by sourcing many of their articles to our website. In Flanders the photo of Eleftheria Eleftheriou with the prime minister Elio de Rupo was a huge story. In Greece the latest and most important Eurovision news are in all websites and blogs. In Albania three newspapers including Albanian Observer re-posted the oikotimes exclusive news about Ruslana’s new video in which she is beaten in prison. Malta’s channel ONE hosted two oikotimes editors for a short weekly interview on Eurovision. In the meantime our Russian correspondent, Anton, published his own book in Russia!
OIKOTIMES 11 YEARS
The 11th anniversary for oikotimes been online celebrated this year in Brussels alongside with the Yourovision Party at a famous local club. Greece, Romania, Belarus, Moldova, Belgium, Switzerland wished oikotimes in their press kits the very best for the future. In 2012 we will celebrate in another country the 12 (points) anniversary!
SPECIAL EVENTS 2012
Once again we covered major events like MADWALK and MAD VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS in Athens, Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk (Belarus) and Balkan Music Awards although they were cancelled later on. Of course the oikotimes.com team (Lilian and Alexander from Sweden) helped oikotimes cover the Eurovision in Concert edition in Amsterdam with interviews.
NEW OIKOTIMES VERSIONS
We tried it in the past and we failed. This time we have the potentials to do it. The team of oikotimes presents not only an international edition in English at oikotimes.com but also frequently updated versions in Russian through oikotimes.ru and in Greek through oikotimes.gr – Hebrew version is also available by Moshe Melman while we try to update the Swedish blog. The website suffered a major hacking attack in mid September therefore the restoration kept lots of months after since we lost all the previous edition and archives.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL
The oikotimes.com Team
