Alumni Memories: Eurovision 1998

Posted on: 19 April 2023 by Development and Alumni Relations Team in 2023

In the second of our Alumni Memories Eurovision specials, another of our alumni remembers her favourite Eurovision moment from 1998, and a ground-breaking winner.

Following our call-out for alumni memories, we spoke to Dr Carly Deering (PhD Cultural History 2014), a staff member and huge Eurovision fan, who shared her memories of growing up watching the song contest, and her favourite Eurovision winner from 1998.

“I have so many happy memories of Eurovision going back to when I was a child”, she says. “My family would all sit around the TV with score cards eating snacks from the hosting country. When I moved to Liverpool, we would still do this but remotely, first texting each other then zooming!”

For Carly, an active supporter and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, one of her favourite Eurovision memories was when Dana International won for Israel in 1998 with the song ‘Diva’, written by Yoav Ginai and Tzvika Pick.

As the first trans person to win Eurovision, Dana became a global star overnight and is now considered one of the greatest Eurovision winners. The Guardian, marking the 20^th anniversary of her victory in 2018, described the 1998 contest as “a watershed moment, a major celebration of a trans artist on an international stage”.

Dana has become a cultural icon and in terms of helping achieve representation has led the way for other artists such as Conchita Wurst to share the spotlight, as well as helping cement Eurovision’s reputation as a fun, outgoing, LGBTQ+ friendly event.

As Carly says, “Dana represented everything that Eurovision means to me: fun, glamour and freedom.  She wore a stunning floor-length silver gown and the song was so catchy and feel-good that I still remember the words to this day.”