The Barbara Dex Award was a fan-voted accolade awarded annually to the worst-dressed contestant in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

. The award was created by the

fansite A fansite, fan site, fan blog or fan page is a website created and maintained by a fan or devotee about a celebrity, thing, or particular cultural phenomenon. Fansites may offer specialized information on the subject (e.g., episode listings, bi ...

The House of Eurovision in 1997, which hosted it until the site's closure in 2016. Songfestival.be presented the Barbara Dex Award from 2017 onwards, changing its criterion to the "most striking look" in 2019. Prior to the

Eurovision Song Contest 2022 The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 was the 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Turin, Italy, following the country's victory at the with the song "" by Måneskin. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and h ...

, the site announced the award's discontinuation, intending to replace it with a more positively connotated accolade.

History

The Barbara Dex Award created by Edwin van Thillo and Rob Paardekam, the founders of the Dutch Eurovision fansite The House of Eurovision, in 1997. It was named after Belgian singer

Barbara Dex Barbara Maria Karel Deckx (born 22 January 1974), better known by her stage name Barbara Dex, is a Belgian singer who represented her country in the Eurovision Song Contest 1993 with the song "Iemand als jij". Dex had qualified via the Belgian n ...

, who represented Belgium in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1993 The Eurovision Song Contest 1993 was the 38th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Millstreet, Ireland, following the country's victory at the with the song " Why Me?" by Linda Martin. Organised by the European Broadcastin ...

wearing a self-made, semi-transparent dress, which William Lee Adams of ''

Wiwibloggs Wiwibloggs is a fansite and YouTube channel focusing on the Eurovision Song Contest, launched in 2009. It has a seasonal audience, peaking at 250,000 page views per day during the week of Eurovision in May 2016, based on Google Analytics data. ...

'' described her "looking like a

lampshade A lampshade is a fixture that envelops the lightbulb on a lamp to diffuse the light it emits. Lampshades can be made out of a large variety of materials like paper, glass, fabric or stone. Often times conical or cylindrical in shape, lampshade ...

". The Barbara Dex Award was initially awarded to the worst-dressed contestants. Malta's

Eurovision Song Contest 1997 The Eurovision Song Contest 1997 was the 42nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held on 3 May 1997 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RTÉ) and prese ...

entrant,

Debbie Scerri Deborah (Debbie) Scerri (born on 25 March 1969 in Toronto) is a Maltese television presenter and singer. She represented Malta in the European Union, Malta and Cyprus Song Festival in 1994, held in Thessaloniki. She also represented Malta in the ...

, was the first recipient. After two years of deciding the recipient internally, The House of Eurovision opened the award to public voting in 1999. The House of Eurovision shut down after the

Eurovision Song Contest 2016 The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw. Organised by the European Broadcasting ...

and handed the Barbara Dex Award to the Belgian website Songfestival.be and its founder, Jasper van Biesen. Van Biesen hoped that this transition would broaden the award's reach. Starting with the

Eurovision Song Contest 2019 The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following the country's victory at the 2018 contest with the song " Toy" by Netta. Organised by the European Broad ...

, the award criterion was changed to the "most notable outfit", refined to "most striking look" for the . Songfestival.be noted that "this prize for the most striking outfit does not intend to say what is ugly and what is not and does not want to place the Song Contest in a bad light". On 13 March 2022, Songfestival.be announced that they would be ending the Barbara Dex Award, citing the negative connotation associated with it. Instead, the website would organise a new, replacement award for the "most notable outfit". Following an online vote, Songfestival.be announced on 29 April that the new award would be named the " You're A Vision Award", adding that the new name would serve the purpose of promoting creativity, diversity and positivity in Eurovision on-stage fashion. Australia's

entrant,

Sheldon Riley Sheldon Riley Hernandez (born 14 March 1999) is an Australian singer. He represented Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with his song " Not the Same". He first appeared as a contestant on the eighth season of The X Factor Australia. ...

, was the first recipient of the new award.

Reception

In a January 2006 interview with ''ESCToday'', Dex stated that there was "nothing wrong" with the Barbara Dex Award. A 2015 poll by ''Wiwibloggs'' found

Guildo Horn Horst Heinz Köhler (born 15 February 1963), known under his stage name Guildo Horn (), is a German Schlager singer. He is best known for his eccentric stage persona, which includes outrageous clothes and extroverted antics. At the Eurovision ...

, Germany's 1998 Eurovision act, to be considered the worst-dressed of the previous award recipients.

Award winners

By country

References

External links