SuRie: BBC Eurovision contest announces winning UK act

SuRie will represent the UK at the event in May

A graduate from the Royal Academy of Music has been chosen to represent the UK at this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

The BBC show Eurovision: You Decide! saw a jury of music industry professionals and the public combine votes to decide who out of six contestants would go forward to sing at the competition in Lisbon, Portugal.

SuRie - real name Susanna Cork - was revealed as the winner with the song "Storm" after the artists performed in front of a live audience at the Brighton Dome, broadcast on BBC Two.

SuRie previously appeared at Eurovision as a backing dancer for Belgian act Loic Nottet in 2015, and as a musical director for another Belgian act - Blanche - in 2017.

She also performed for the Prince of Wales as a child soloist, and more recently provided backing vocals for singers Will Young, and Chris Martin from Coldplay.

The song "Storm" was penned by Nicole Blair, Gil Lewis and Sean Hargreaves.

Responding to her win at the live show she said she would celebrate with "a bottle of something bubbly and a straw".

The UK has triumphed at Eurovision five times, but has not won a competition since 1997 when Katrina and the Waves sang "Love Shine a Light". Last year's entry, Lucie Jones, came in a respectable 15th place.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 takes place in Lisbon on 12 May.