Welcome to Fantasy Eurovision League 2016. After the success of last season (congratulations to our winner, Martin Palmer of LMBTO Eurovision), we're back in a slightly new way which will hopefully prove more of a challenge. This time around, instead of picking 10 teams a round with abandon, this year you've got a 1,000 point budget to spend in each round and as we get closer to the Contest, the songs and singers tipped for greatness will use up a lot more of your budget than those who the bookies and the bloggers don't much care for. Otherwise, it's pretty much the same as we did in the run-up to Vienna. If you need a reminder of the scoring, here goes: You must pick 10 countries from the 43 participating in Stockholm in 2016 to form your team. Points will be awarded as follows: STYLE OF SONG - based on recent successes, your country will score the following points if their selected song for Eurovision follows one of these styles. +5 for uptempo, +5 for anthem, +4 for mid-tempo, +4 for dance, +3 for ballad, +3 for country, +2 for folk/hipster, +2 for rock, +2 for indie, +2 for ethnic, +1 for rap, +1 for metal, +1 for jazz. IF the song cannot be quantified in any of the above styles, 10 points will be awarded for originality. This happened with Finland in 2015. ACT: Based on recent successes, your selected countries will receive the following points for its line-up once their act is selected: +5 for female soloist, +4 for male/female duo, +4 for male soloist, +2 for female duo, +2 for male duo, +1 for group. DEMOCRACY RATING: Any country holding a national final where the public votes for their Eurovision entry receives +5. No extra points are awarded for countries making internal selections. Any country changing its song after a national final receives -10 points. This happened with Germany in 2015. NATIONAL RELATIONS: Countries which make the headlines in other participating nations due to the nature of their act or song will see their scoreline affected. It's also a good way for a country to keep scoring points in the gap between the national finals and the Contest itself. Mostly positive stories receive +5 for every day they are published (regardless of how many stories are published). Mostly negative stories receive -1 for every day they are published (regardless of how many stories are published). Eurovision 2016 acts performing at another country's national final receive 5 points per appearance. Eurovision 2016 acts appearing on a TV show in another participating country (but not a national final) receives +2 points per appearance. ODDS ON: Any country in the top 10 odds on Oddschecker.com in the run-up to Eurovision 2016 receives: +12 for being favourite, +10 for being second favourite, +8 for being third favourite, +7 for being fourth favourite, etc, down to +1 for being 10th favourite per week in the run-up to Eurovision 2015. The country/countries with the longest odds on Oddschecker.com will receive -1 per week in the run-up to Eurovision 2016. Awarding of points due to joint odds is at league manager's discretion. GENERAL: Following Eurovision week, your selected countries will also receive the number of points that they are awarded on the final Eurovision scoreboard (only those countries which make the final). Countries which fail to qualify from the semi-final will only receive half of the points they were awarded on the scoreboard at that stage (so, if Czech Republic scores 11 in its semi and fails to qualify, it will have 5 points added to its final score in Fantasy Eurovision League). There are no half points in Fantasy Eurovision League so odd-numbered scores that are split in half are rounded down to the nearest whole number. Each country which qualifies from the semi-final stage receives +3. The winning nation in Eurovision 2016 will receive 50 bonus points, The runner-up will get 40, third place will get 25, fourth place gets 15, fifth place gets 10. The country finishing in last place in the final receives -25. Best of luck. Don't be shy about leaving a comment and you can keep up with the updates on Sight & Song. Bonne chance!

There aren't too many rules to follow. It's just a birra fun really. 1. You may have 10 countries in your team in each round. You have a budget of 1,000 points per round in which to populate your team. You can't go over 1,000 points - but you can go under it. 2. Before the points are allocated for each round, the league is locked. You cannot change your team once that lock's on. 3. If you have *any* questions, you can leave a message for me or contact me on jamiemcloughlin@hotmail.com