A singer-songwriter from Wales has beaten 500 other candidates to reach the final 40 to represent Finland at Eurovision 2012.

Thirty year old Tom Morgan, from the Pembrokeshire area of Wales, has lived in Helsinki for eight years.

According to WalesOnline, the freelance graphic designer entered a song-writing contest last year without even being exactly sure about what it was for.

‘There were only two weeks left until the deadline and I was going on holiday so wasn’t sure if I had time to enter, I ended up submitting something really quickly but amazingly I got through to the next round,’ he told the newspaper.

From 540 entries, Morgan, who has fronted various bands both in Finland and Wales, has made it down to the final 40. But his rushed track ‘Melt’ will be up against some fierce competition.

‘Because I submitted the song at the last minute it is quite a raw demo compared to some of the well known acts,’ he explained to WalesOnline. ‘I’m up against acts who are already with big record labels and have heavily produced tracks and a bigger fan base than me in Finland.’

‘It’s harder for me because I’m not able to get involved with the Finnish media so well which is why I need everybody in Wales to vote for me.’

He also told the newspaper that in Britain people see Eurovision as ‘a bit of joke’ but that in other countries, such as Finland, they take it more seriously.

Morgan is now vying with the other shortlisted bands to be one of the final 12, to be announced on 27th January. One of these will represent Finland at the contest in Baku, Azerbaijan, in the spring.

Wales is one of the constituent members of the UK alongside England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It has a population of three million and its recent sons have included singer Tom Jones and film-star Anthony Hopkins. It has a devolved legislature and is a principality, nominally headed by the Prince of Wales, the monarch’s oldest son (currently Prince Charles).

Known as ‘Cymru’ in its native Welsh language, about twenty percent of Welsh people speak Welsh. Related to Irish and the ‘Breton’ of Brittany in northern France, Welsh enjoys equal status in the principality, alongside English. People can even study at the University of Wales through the medium of Welsh.